Health

The widespread treatment that thousands and thousands of Americans take every day leaves them vulnerable to deadly heatstroke, doctors warn.

As US temperatures hit record highs, doctors are warning that thousands of Americans taking antidepressants are vulnerable to deadly heatstroke.

This is because certain antidepressants affect the body’s ability to control temperature.

Tricyclic antidepressants are an older class of drugs that are much less commonly prescribed for particularly intense side effects, as well as insomnia, bedwetting, and persistent pain reminiscent of fibromyalgia.

They usually prevent your body from cooling down, such as by sweating, and make you drink extra water to compensate. And this heat intolerance affects several courses of this drug.

However, the very common selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) may very well make you sweat more. However, it causes heatstroke, which can lead to dehydration if you swear too much.

Sertraline is a widely used antidepressant and belongs to a group of drugs commonly known as SSRIs or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors.

Some examples of tricyclics approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) include amitriptyline (Elavil), nortriptyline (Pamelor), and protriptyline (Vivactil).

“Tricyclic antidepressants can reduce sweating,” said Dr Nial Wheate of the University of Sydney in Australia. Insider“because they act as anticholinergics, which means they basically stop your sweat glands from producing sweat.”

“We sweat to cool down, so if you’re not sweating, you can’t regulate your body temperature properly and you’re likely to overheat.”

Some of the more typical FDA-approved SSRIs include citalopram (Celexa), escitalopram (Lexapro), fluoxetine (Prozac), paroxetine (Paxil), and sertraline (Zoloft).

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, several in 10 Americans take antidepressants. They are especially common among girls, 18% of whom have used them in the past 30 days, compared to 8% of men.

In addition to heat intolerance, common side effects of antidepressants include nausea, increased appetite, fatigue, insomnia, dry mouth, constipation, dizziness, anxiety and erectile dysfunction, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Heat stroke is where the physique is now unable to cool itself, and an individual’s body temperature becomes dangerously excessive due to the expansion of publicity right into the daylight.

Common symptoms include confusion, altered psychological status, slurred speech, inability to sweat, loss of consciousness, incoherence, profuse sweating, dry pores and skin, seizures, nausea or vomiting, dizziness, headache, and rapid pulse.

When heatstroke occurs, the body’s temperature can rise to 106°F (41°C) or more within 10 to fifteen minutes. Heat stroke can cause permanent disability or death if a person does not receive emergency treatment.

When using these tricyclic antidepressants, Dr. Wheate encouraged blowing with a fan so that the limited sweat you produce can simply be dissipated.

Those taking antidepressants should be careful to drink plenty of water and electrolyte drinks to replace fluids misplaced by heavy sweating.

However, it’s not really helpful to stop taking antidepressants if you’re dealing with overheating.

“It’s more important to manage the depression,” said Dr. Vit.

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