A sweltering summer day is not just uncomfortable, but potentially dangerous. As you sweat in the heat, you could become dehydrated or even ill.
These risks are even higher if you’re taking certain medications.
Halsey: “There’s really a lot of different ways that medications can impact your ability to tolerate the heat and the sunlight.”
Jennifer Halsey is a professor at the University of Illinois Chicago’s College of Pharmacy.
Some medications, like the antibiotic doxycycline, can make you more susceptible to sunburns.
And heart medicines such as furosemide are diuretics, which promote water loss and increase the risk of dehydration.
Some antihistamines and antidepressants can reduce the body’s ability to sweat and cool off.
And beta-blockers, which lower blood pressure, can limit blood flow to the skin, where excess heat escapes the body. So they increase the risk of heat illness.
Halsey: “If you are taking medications that can make you more sensitive, you may progress more quickly toward something like heat stroke. And that is a medical emergency.”
So Halsey says people should talk with their doctor or pharmacist to find out which medications put them at risk. And they should learn how to recognize the signs of heat stress so they can take action to protect themselves.
Reporting credit: Ethan Freedman / ChavoBart Digital Media
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