Why can some medications increase your temperature risk

For millions of Americans who take drugs for common issues such as heart disease or high blood pressure, the thermal wave such as those that cause the conditions hanging throughout the center and southeastern United States this week are an additional risk.

This is because some medications can change how people’s bodies run the heat naturally, says David Eisenman, a doctor and researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles, making people more vulnerable to high temperature.

Eisenman emphasizes that patients still have to take their medications. But he urges them to bear the risks from heat seriously and develop a plan to keep calm – by taking steps such as cooling their homes with air conditioning or fans, drinking water and staying outside the hot sun.

Why do some medications affect heat tolerance?

The consequences of high temperature can be exciting: excessive trained heart, kidney issues, brain damage and even death are possible when the inner temperatures rise very high for a long time.

"Think of the basic temperature like your body’s inner temperature like a car engine," Eisenman says. The car, like the body, needs to keep its engine at a reasonable temperature.

The bodies adapt to several ways. They can calibrate the amount and salinity of the sweat. The mechanism in your mind can lead to a sense of thirst, which makes you drink enough water to create enough sweat. The vascular system avoids more blood towards the skin, as it can be cooled by the breeze or evaporated sweat.

But some categories of medicines – from some beta blockers to diuretics to antidepressants – can affect the way or perception of people’s bodies. ACE inhibitors, which are usually described for heart issues, make it difficult to realize that you are thirsty, and can reduce beta -blockers – other heart medications – of sweating, which makes it difficult to calm.

"When you take these medications and are exposed to heat, it is like a car request to drive a mountain in the summer with the air conditioner, low on the cooling liquid and the absence of warning signals," Eisenman says. "The high temperature becomes more likely."

This does not mean that you should stop taking your drugs during heat waves, as Eisenman confirms. This means that you prevent yourself from becoming very hot in the first place. "Ensure that you can reach a great space" The priority should be whether to manage air conditioners at home or find a local cooling center.

What medications increase the risk of heat?

Disease control and prevention centers It is classified as many different medications that can interfere with the body’s heat management systemBased on how different types of medications work.

• Millions of Americans take ACE or ARBS inhibitors to manage high blood pressure. But they can affect people’s ability to feel thirsty, and may leave them dried.

• Beta blockers can prevent blood from flowing towards the skin, as it can cool and reduce sweat.

• Diuretics, which are usually described to kidney problems, may contribute to dehydration.

• Anti-choline drugs-including some antihistamines that do not need prescription, such as benadryl-can reduce sweating.

• It can make antipsychotics difficult for people to feel a temperature of their own, so they cannot know the time of high temperature.

Many other medications, including hyperactivity disorder medications, attention lack and some antidepressants, can also affect heat risks.

The doctor and researcher at the University of Rutgers, Soko Stegoshi, says that the elderly are generally facing more difficult time to manage heat even without the added drug risk. Lead study Focus on medical care patients-all of them greater than 65 years old-who found the opportunity to violate the hospital after heat waves in the summer were higher for those who take anti-choline and antipsychotics, along with ACE inhibitors.

But like Eisenman, stresses that patients should not stop taking medications when the atmosphere is hot. "The message is currently, there are possible risks," She says, so patients must seek "Avoid heat, expect heat and heat plan."

What is still unknown?

The theoretical methods that can affect drugs that can affect heat tolerance affect known heat, but there was not enough methodological analyzes looking for how, at any levels, and those who affect the heat tolerance. But some messages began to appear.

During the heat dome that slipped in the northwest of the Pacific Ocean in 2021, the people who described medications, including anti -epilepsy drugs, antipsychotics and some beta blockers, were. More vulnerable to died During the intense heat of people who have not been prescribed for these medications.

Another study looked at the danger of heart attacks while Severe heat events in Germany. The chance of death increased if patients used anti -platelets and beta receptors blockers, compared to patients who were not on medications.

Another consideration of the effect of various drugs on kidney -related hospitals in the Atlanta region during the summer months. The main researcher Zakari McCane, who was at Emory University while the study was published, says patients with antidepressants and patients who take multiple medications simultaneously ended up in the hospital at a higher rate.

Macan says that patients will take many medications simultaneously. However, he says, the common risks have not been accurately assessed – a source of concern that Eisenmann and Maros repeated.

Macan says that urgency to answer some of these questions grow. Climate Heat intensifies, The heat waves length extend and the summer pulls later to the year.

"Summer will become hotter. They will go away," He says. "We know that the heat causes a defect to organize all types of organs and occupies chaos on the body in all different types of methods." Therefore, Macan says it is very important for patients and doctors to work together to develop plans to protect themselves.

"Prevention is in fact the best drug when it comes to heat management," He says.

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