one in 10 American adults<\/a> reported taking prescription medication for depression in 2023, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.<\/p>\n
\nIncreased Sweating a Common Side Effect <\/p>\n
Turner notes that extra sweating is a frequent occurrence among patients on these medications.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“These medications have a common side effect of increasing sweating, and that’s something I see very regularly, which in and of itself is OK. It’s usually just kind of a frustrating thing,” she said.<\/p>\n
However, during hot summer weather, the drugs’ effects on temperature regulation can create additional health risks for patients.<\/p>\n
\nMedical Advice: Don’t Stop Medications <\/p>\n
Despite the increased heat sensitivity, medical professionals strongly advise against discontinuing antidepressant medications without proper medical supervision.<\/p>\n
“It’s not a reason to stop medication suddenly. It’s not something that is a risk that you know, if there’s a heat wave coming up that you should preventatively stop anything,” Turner said.<\/p>\n
Instead, doctors recommend that patients on antidepressants pay close attention to symptoms of rare, but more serious heat-related illnesses, including headaches and dizziness.<\/p>\n
“If at any point you are feeling like extra hot, that usually is cause for concern,” Turner said.<\/p>\n
\nPrevention and Safety Measures <\/p>\n
To help patients manage the summer heat while on antidepressant medications, Dr. Turner recommends:<\/p>\n
Staying properly hydratedTaking air conditioning breaks to cool downDiscussing side effect management strategies with healthcare providers <\/p>\n
The medical advice comes as summer temperatures continue to rise, making heat safety particularly important for the millions of Americans who rely on antidepressant medications to manage anxiety and depression.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"People who take certain medication to manage anxiety and depression may be more vulnerable to heat-related illness. SEATTLE…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56135,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[64,63,137,490],"class_list":{"0":"post-56134","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-medication","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-medication"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56134\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}