Bountyman

Originally Posted by Bountyman

For the last 6 months I've had to deal with night sweats. Not sure what I stopped or started to bring them on...but they're here, nonetheless. They're accompanied by reoccurring dreams of being lost...being somewhere and trying to find a way back to square one...only to have to deal with intense situations along the way. I wake up and there's sweat dripping from my chest and my t-shirt is soaked in my chest area, nowhere else. Sometimes this happens several times before the sun rises.

The problem solver that I am...I first thought it may be something that I'm doing, like food late at night. About 10 o'clock I have a bowl of Lipton Chicken Noodle Soup. 2680mg of Sodium and 40 grams of carb's per package. I stopped that for a week...no change. I thought it might be that since I was injecting my basal insulin in the morning...I might be running out in the early AM..so I switched to a bedtime dosage. That brought my FBG numbers to under 100mg/dL...in the morning...but the night sweats continued. I stopped taking my medicine; Lipitor, Lisinopril, 81mg aspirin and a daily Centrum Silver vitamin. No change. I turned on the AC when I turned of the TV to sleep. No change. When I'd wake up all sweaty I took a BG reading. Average readings...105mg/dL to 115mg/dL. I even had to buy 15 new t-shirts so I didn't have to do laundry once a week. Some nights I went through 3 t-shirts.

I looked up night sweats on the internet. Honestly, the things related to night sweats...I don't want to go in and get tested for. If you knew the hospital they have here in Oroville, CA...you'd understand my trepidation.

Enter my brother. He grows weed legally and uses it for the pain in his hands. He worked for Louisiana Pacific slinging lumber board for 20 years. He had to take a disability leave because he could no longer work a full day. They gave him Hydrocondone to kill the pain but he said it made him loopy...he didn't like the side affects. He tried weed and it relieved the pain. He got a California license to buy medical marijuana and a license to grow.

A few weeks ago he brought by some of what he calls popcorn bud. Not your banana-sized knock-you-in-the-dirt buds...but weed that he'd rather not clean off the branches and bother with. I thanked him for "thinkin'" of me (rolls eyes)...and tossed the bag in the closet. A few days ago...I decided to roll one before I went to sleep. I quit cigarettes about 15 years ago...but I remain a smoker. A JD in one hand and a cigar in the other...I was a happy camper. Anyway...

The first night I did this - I slept through the whole night and woke up sans the soggy t-shirt. A second night...same thing. It's been about a week now with no night sweats and a full night's sleep. I've returned to my medications...but I'm still getting FBG numbers of under 100mg/dL each morning after no basal insulin for the last 5 days. Go figure.

Upon reflection: I suppose I'll no longer speak in jest of those that come here pushing their herbs and spices as a quasi-cure for certain ills. It seems I've not only cured my problem...but Jon Stewart's late-night take on things (The Daily Show)...have become a lot funnier.