Sweating

Sweating happens naturally when your body needs to cool down. If you're overheated, your sweat glands release a salty fluid. As the fluid evaporates, it cools your body.

During breast cancer treatment, you may find that you're sweating more at night even if the temperature is cool.

Sweating can be a side effect of the following breast cancer treatments:

• chemotherapy
• ovarian shutdown or removal
• hormonal therapy:
  • Arimidex (chemical name: anastrozole) 
  • Aromasin (chemical name: exemestane)
  • Femara (chemical name: letrozole)
  • tamoxifen
  • Evista (chemical name: raloxifene)
  • Fareston (chemical name: toremifene)
  • Faslodex (chemical name: fulvestrant)

Some pain medications also can cause sweating.

Managing sweating

If your sweating is because of hot flashes, talk to your doctor about techniques to ease them. You can also try these tips:

• Bathe once a day to cool the skin.
• Change your bed linens often so they're cool and dry.
• Change wet clothes right away to keep from catching a cold.
• Lower the room temperature to cool your body.
• Keep hydrated. Drink enough water to replace the fluid that you're losing through sweat.
• Contact your doctor if you think you're dehydrated, you have a fever of 100.5 degrees F or higher for more than 24 hours, or you have tremors or shakes.