With the constant rising temperatures, it is important to listen to our bodies and understand how our nutrition and supplements impact us. Dizziness, delirium, headaches, vomiting are common symptoms one feels when heat starts impacting us. We are often told that as long as we stay out of the sun and hydrate our bodies can regulate our internal temperatures but what happens when our supplements or medication cause our body to misunderstand information.
Patients with common medications such as antipsychotics or cardiovascular medication have been hospitalized at higher rates for heat related symptoms such as the ones mentioned above. Although the direct mechanism is still unknown in regard to the different medication available, information such as body’s fluid levels and sweat production are know to be the direct link. In the article it states, “Chlorpromazine an antipsychotic used to treat psychiatric condition including schizophrenia is one example… the medication can suppress sweating and divert blood flow away from the skin”. This shows that the blood flow regulation and change can impact the normal flow and pattern of our physiology.
There are many challenges when studying heat regulation symptoms due to the variation of temperatures and heat tolerance. The impact of underlying condition also further make studying the relationship more difficult due to not having a control group such as a healthy individual due to the inability to predict how an individual with the disease may react to the medication or heat test.
This is brought concern as many patients wonder if their drugs are to be stopped or changed. Despite the significant increase in heat stress risk there has been no true evidence to indicate the termination of drugs within patients due to the amount of factors that contribute to someone’s inability to regulate their body temperature such as age, preexisting conditions and medications.
This bring me back to the idea of listening to our bodies and taking extra measures to really care for not only ourselves but those around us. Especially being that we still have so much which is not understood both in terms of medicine and interpersonal relationships.
Jesús, Erin Garcia de. “Your Medications Might Make It Harder for You to Beat the Heat.” Science News, 13 Aug. 2024, www.sciencenews.org/article/heat-medicine-disease-climat-change.
Discussing medication and our body’s response to heat highlights how those on medications like antipsychotics or cardiovascular drugs are potentially more vulnerable to heat. As we face increasingly hotter temperatures, it’s clear that we need to consider medication, hydration, and environmental factors more. This post reminds us to listen to our bodies and adapt to conditions that could unexpectedly challenge our health. I hope that more and more research is conducted in this study area so that patients can feel more comfortable taking the medication they need. Are there any signs people should look for to help them identify when their medication can affect their heat tolerance?
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