Sertraline etc and heatwave

Yes I'm on escitalopram and I looked up about excessive sweating and found out it was somewhat to blame.

Thanks. i will tell my friend. She has been on it about a month and is roasting hot even though her house is cool. Definitely not hot sweats either.

Yes, there are a lot of drugs in that category which affect your body's tolerance for heat. I'm on Mirtazapine and I've certainly noticed a big difference since I've been on it. I just can't cope with the heat like I used to.

True, but I've been on those types for a long time and it's been age for me. But - everyone is different.

I did a quick check - Beta Blockers and Anti-Histamines also affect ones tolerance to heat as do diuretics.

Oh dear, we're expecting another heatwave this week in the south of England. Must try not to self-combust!

Now, I have just gone down from 100 mg to 50 mg of Sertraline after being on it for 5 years.
Discussed what I'd seen online about how being on it could make it harder for me to cope with the heat.
What she didn't point out to me was that there can be side effects from reducing the dose.
Woke up one night (on about day 6 of the new dose) and had vertigo so bad found it hard to walk to the bathroom.
Felt sick, had permanent headache and definitely felt unsteady on my legs.
However, by about day 14 things started to improve. So, actually feeling well again now.

I'm not on any of those medications except occasional anti histamines but I've found out that as I've grown older I'm less able to stand the heat, both the heatwaves (sun) and localised heat such as very hot water.

Wyllow3. Thanks for the information. Also had a quick check of heat and beta blockers So it’s not just my age. 😊

I read an article recently about BP medication and hot weather. Periodically I take BP readings for my GP and in the very hot weather last year, particularly when I'd been exerting myself (gardening etc) my BP was very low. I've managed to avoid BP medication but my GP at one point wondered about prescribing it so I said in hot weather with BP lowering medication I might conk out.

Body temperature in hot weather can also be affected by anti psychotic medications. It affects the body's ability to cool down.

Prozac has the same effect - which explains why I'm a sweaty exhausted mess. Not looking forward to the forecasted return of the heatwave.

If you went to half your usual dose in one go you would get side effects. Antidepressants are slow acting they take time to build up to the full effect, they are also addictive so you need to reduce your dose very gradually to not notice any unpleasant reactions

Retroladytyping

Prozac has the same effect - which explains why I'm a sweaty exhausted mess. Not looking forward to the forecasted return of the heatwave.

I am on that- but only 10mg that I take every other day.
No sweats.
In. Fact I have brought my hot water up to bed with me tonight as it’s cooled down outside.

faringdon59

Now, I have just gone down from 100 mg to 50 mg of Sertraline after being on it for 5 years.
Discussed what I'd seen online about how being on it could make it harder for me to cope with the heat.
What she didn't point out to me was that there can be side effects from reducing the dose.
Woke up one night (on about day 6 of the new dose) and had vertigo so bad found it hard to walk to the bathroom.
Felt sick, had permanent headache and definitely felt unsteady on my legs.
However, by about day 14 things started to improve. So, actually feeling well again now.

You need to buy a pill cutter to cut down to 75mgs & stay on that for a few weeks, then cut down again to 50mgs, same again!
Can take a long, long time to taper off these drugs.
Good luck 🤞

Venlafaxine was one drug that made me have cold sweats, liverish & constantly yawning 🥱

A few years ago when on steroids that made me very tearful. Husband pushed GPto give me antidepressants. He prescribed sertraline. I felt worse and although the recommendation is to stick with it and things will get better. He obviously knew me and when I said I was coming off them he didn’t suggest an alternative. His reputation is not to over prescribe. Similarly after aorta replacement was tearful and was offered antidepressants but not pushed.
Sometimes I think people are given such medication and then no one follows them up
Met a nurse who almost proudly told me she had been on them for fifteen years

That’s it, we are put on these medications, then left to languish with dreadful side effects.
No one ever follows up how we are doing.
My skin on my back feels like it’s been scalded. I just can’t stand to have my back touched. I think it might be because I’ve come off co-codamol too quickly.
I panicked as we had a locum for half a day, who smartly took me off all my medication that were addictive when I asked for a repeat.
I flew up to the surgery & the GP who knows me was horrified. He put back on everything & said he would get me help- three years down the line I’ve heard nothing.
So I thought i will try myself but it’s so difficult without any help.
This why I say to people who are struggling try & talk to someone first before encountering these drugs.

I want to make a further comment in addition to the one above as regards heat and anti depressants and some other MH drugs.
As they do make one more vulnerable but the link isnt clear on the information available on the list you get with your meds.

If you look at both the list of common side effects (one in ten) and less common ones (one in a hundred) it is not alluded to. those are worth looking up but effects are very individual.

So I looked for a direct link and found that it appears to be that all these meds - as I'm sure all of us on them know - do give you a dry mouth and in fact can interfere with digestion and the TMI stuff.

But it's the far more rapid dehydration is where the link is. We are dehydrating faster than people of our age more rapidly, and therefore also symptoms like dizziness and dryer skin etc.

The answer is drink, drink, drink water. Cover up dont expose already dry skin etc.

Which we don't always want to do if not near a toilet at the right time!

As for staying on them for years unchecked it's a very bad idea. Many many MH meds are prescribed in slightly lower doses to what they not so tactfully call "the elderly".

There are also developments in terms of better more targeted drugs, new knowledge on old or new drugs, but we are entering the territory of how much specialist knowledge GP's have as compared with a psychiatrist and of course that varies.

A good example of this is Amitriptyline, once the go to drug for depression, and it worked very well for me for some time. But it was not favoured for good reasons (toxicity if overdose) and was used less but is now found with very low doses it helps a lot with chronic pain relief.