Questions Your Doctor May Ask - and Why!
During a consultation, your doctor will use various techniques in his assesment of the symptom: Night sweats.
These may include a physical examination or other medical tests.
Your doctor may ask several questions when assessing
your condition. It is important to remember that your consultation is a two-way process and any extra information
you can share with your doctor may help them with their diagnosis.
Some of the questions your doctor may ask are listed below:
- How long have you had the night sweats?
Why: to determine if acute or chronic.
- How severe are the night sweats?
Why: e.g. while moderate night sweats are common in anxiety states, drenching night sweats requiring several changes of night clothes is a more ominous symptom associated with infection or lymphoproliferative disease such as lymphoma.
- If chills are associated with a fever, what is the pattern of the fever and night sweats?
Why: e.g. intermittent fever of malaria; undulant fever where bouts of fever for several days are followed by several days of normal temperature occur with lymphomas.
- Travel history?
Why: overseas travelers or visitors may have special or even exotic infections.
- Past medical history?
Why: e.g. AIDS; Rheumatic fever; immunodeficiency, cancer; acquired heart valvular disease such as mitral regurgitation, mitral stenosis, aortic stenosis and aortic regurgitation are at increased risk of infective endocarditis; congenital heart disease such as patent ductus arteriosus, ventricular septal defect and coarctation of the aorta are at increased risk of infective endocarditis.
- Recent surgery?
Why: e.g. prosthetic heart valve replacements are at increased risk of infective endocarditis.
- Sexual history?
Why: may help to determine risk of HIV. Night sweats in people with HIV infection may be the earliest sign of major infection or malignancy or can be a direct result of HIV infection.
- Illicit drug use?
Why: e.g. intravenous drug users are at increased risk of right heart infective endocarditis.
Questions your doctor may ask about related symptoms:
Sometimes, other symptoms may be present and may help your doctor analyse
your condition. These may include:
- Symptoms of anxiety?
Why: e.g. nervousness, shakiness, tremor, restlessness, irritability, insomnia, poor concentration, heart palpitations, racing heart, sweating (including moderate night sweats), dizziness, diarrhea, lump in throat and frequency of urination.
- Symptoms of symptomatic HIV infection?
Why: e.g. tiredness, weight loss, night sweats (often soaking the sheets), diarrhea, susceptibility to opportunistic infections and tumors. May have the presence of multiple infections at one time.
- Symptoms of Hodgkin's disease?
Why: e.g. painless neck lymph node enlargement, fever, night sweats, weight loss, itch, fatigue, loss of appetite, alcohol induced pain at the site of the enlarged lymph nodes.
- Symptoms of subacute endocarditis?
Why: e.g. fever, night sweats, weight loss, weakness, symptoms of cardiac failure such as shortness of breath on exertion, orthopnea (breathlessness lying down flat), paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea (inappropriate severe breathlessness causing waking from sleep), painful muscles and major joints.
- Symptoms of tuberculosis?
Why: e.g. tiredness, malaise, loss of appetite, loss of weight, fever, cough. May have drenching night sweats. Sputum may be mucous-like, pus-like or blood stained.
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