As local weather change accelerates, summer season is barely getting longer – and hotter. Although the intense warmth will be troublesome for anybody to take care of, it appears that evidently it may be significantly arduous for individuals with sure psychological well being circumstances.

Throughout a current warmth wave, scores of individuals on TikTok posted about experiencing warmth intolerance whereas taking serotonin reuptake inhibitors, also referred to as SSRIs, a kind of antidepressant. The movies vary from funny (relatable POV photographs of individuals sweating profusely) to instructional (some doctors weighed in on the medical causes behind the phenomenon). It’s true that SSRIs can influence how your physique reacts to warmth, however as with something on social media, the reality about SSRI warmth intolerance is extra sophisticated than it appears.

About 13% of adults in america take antidepressants (of which SSRIs are the commonest type). SSRIs are generally prescribed to deal with melancholy, anxiousness, and panic problems and embody generally identified medicines like Prozac and Zoloft. The drugs function by blocking the mind’s reuptake of serotonin, which is a naturally occurring chemical that regulates temper. However regulating temper isn’t serotonin’s solely job, says Dr. Joshua Wortzel, MD, a psychiatrist and assistant professor on the Yale College of Drugs.

“Sertonin performs a basic function in regulating the physique’s predominant thermostat, the hypothalamus,” says Dr. Wortzel. “SSRIs [are] clearly going to have numerous results on the physique’s capacity to thermoregulate. Ten % of individuals on SSRIs will report elevated sweating, particularly at first.”

Nonetheless, Dr. Wortzel says that SSRIs don’t essentially result in warmth intolerance — it may be the psychological well being situation the medicine deal with that modifications the way you react to warmth. Analysis suggests that folks with melancholy are inclined to have greater physique temperatures, prompting scientists to take a look at whether or not decreasing physique temperature may need a therapeutic impact. Dr. Wortzel says elevated sweating on SSRIs could be a cooling mechanism for the physique, which helps regulate that core temperature.

So, do SSRIs trigger warmth intolerance? Not essentially — however they do influence how your physique regulates temperature, which we all know can already be a wrestle in the course of the summer season months. How will you deal with all that sweating within the warmth? Dr. Elizabeth Haase, MD, a psychiatrist who’s a part of the Local weather Psychiatry Alliance, says it’s key to know your limits.

“The fundamental recommendation could be to remember that you just’re going to be much less in a position to adapt to the warmth than different individuals and to return in out of the warmth earlier,” says Dr. Haase. “You simply wish to be extra cautious.”

Dr. Haase stresses that the potential of warmth intolerance mustn’t hold somebody from taking their prescribed medicines. As an alternative, Dr. Wortzel says sufferers might attain out to their medical doctors to debate SSRI warmth intolerance and plan coping methods.

“My primary recommendation could be to speak to your medical supplier about the way you’re going to handle your medicines within the warmth,” says Dr. Wortzel. He notes that sleep is negatively impacted by rising temperatures and warmth so if an individual has to restrict the place they’re going to make use of air con or different measures, it’s greatest to make use of it within the room the place they sleep. “Air-con is big as a result of we all know that sleep disruption can enhance dangers of melancholy, temper instability, emotional stability, and suicidality. Attempt to keep cool at evening.”