- Certain types of medications can make people more prone to heat-related illness.
- These include antidepressants, GLP-1 medications, and beta-blockers.
- They can cause dehydration, reduced sweating, and problems regulating temperature.
- It’s important to keep cool and drink plenty of water during hot weather, and if you experience symptoms of heat-related illness, seek medical help right away.
July is often the hottest month of the year, with heatwaves becoming increasingly more common.
While the summer sun and warmer temperatures are often enjoyable, for those who take certain medications, the warmer months may contribute to serious health issues.
“[People] are all aware of the risks of overheating, dehydration, and sunburn. But [they] should all be more aware of how medications can cause intolerance to summer heat,” said David Cutler, MD, board certified family medicine physician at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, CA.
Here are 10 common medications that can be affected by hotter weather, and some tips for staying safe.
Heat sensitivity, or heat intolerance, occurs when you’re unable to regulate your body temperature effectively.
“The most obvious effects of heat intolerance are seen in those taking medications which decrease sweating,” said Cutler.
Antidepressants may disrupt typical sweating patterns. This may lead to either hyperhidrosis (excessive sweating) or anhidrosis (reduced sweating) in warmer weather. A disruption in sweating patterns can make it difficult for your body to cool itself, leading to heightened sensitivity to heat.
It may be useful for you to make a heat safety plan with your healthcare professional and share it with your loved ones.
Antipsychotic medications can also affect how your body reacts to the heat. Like antidepressants, antipsychotics can interfere with your body’s thermoregulation. They can also alter your perception and compromise your ability to sense and respond to heat.
Certain antipsychotic medications, like lithium, can lead to dehydration-induced drug toxicity.
To prevent drug toxicity in hot weather, it is important to drink plenty of water and other fluids to stay hydrated. If you believe you are experiencing signs of lithium toxicity, you should contact a healthcare professional right away.
Since they help the heart beat more slowly and with less force, these medications are most often used to treat irregular heartbeat and high blood pressure, but they have a range of other applications, including the treatment of anxiety disorders.
It is important that you continue to take medications as prescribed and speak with your healthcare professional about potential side effects during the hotter months.
Cutler told Healthline that diuretics force fluid through the kidneys and out of the body to control high blood pressure and heart failure. These medications could cause dehydration, a potentially grave danger in hot weather.
Diuretics help increase the amount of water and salt that you expel from your body through urine. This increased fluid loss, along with increased sweating during warmer weather, can lead to dehydration.
This means it is important to drink more fluids during hot weather, especially when taking these medications.
Diuretics may also make you more susceptible to sunburn, so proper sun protection is extra important during the hot summer months.
These medications help suppress your natural thirst cues, causing you to naturally drink fewer fluids. This can lead to dehydration, especially in hotter weather.
These medications may lower blood pressure in some people, leading to dizziness and fainting. This can be further compounded by warmer weather, which can cause you to sweat more and lose more fluids.
Stimulant medications, such as amphetamines for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), can greatly affect your body during hotter weather.
These medications are associated with thermoregulatory dysfunction. This means they affect how your body controls its temperature.
There is some evidence to suggest that this can increase the risk of heat-related illness, especially in athletes with ADHD who take these medications.
“Stimulants also decrease appetite and result in less fluid intake,” Jonathan Jennings, MD, board certified internist with Medical Offices of Manhattan, told Healthline.
This can lead to dehydration, so it is important to drink plenty of fluids.
Research from 2024 found that these medications may reduce the risk of heat-related illness in some people. However, more research is needed.
You should speak with your healthcare professional about heat-related risks with these medications.
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