Citizens Commission on Human Rights cautions psychiatric drug users that many psychiatric drugs impair the body’s ability to regulate its own temperature, increasing the risk of heat-related illness.
-- With a forecast of sweltering heat that could last for weeks in large parts of the U.S., the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) is cautioning that many psychiatric drugs impair the body’s response to heat, and that increases the users’ risk of heat-related illness.
By interfering with the body’s cooling mechanism or causing less awareness of signs of overheating, psychotropic drugs can cause body temperatures to rise. If steps are not taken to cool the body down, heat-related illness can occur, ranging from the mild discomfort of heat cramps to more serious heat exhaustion or life-threatening heat stroke.
CCHR points to medical information explaining the risks. Antipsychotic drugs are known to pose a particularly high risk of heat-related illness by reducing sweating, the body’s natural means of cooling, as well as reducing the urge for users to cool themselves by drinking fluids or removing excess clothing. Even a short time in very hot weather can cause a rapid rise in body temperature in people taking antipsychotics.
Stimulant-type ADHD drugs raise body temperature and interfere with the body’s ability to cool itself down, putting active children particularly at risk during heat waves.
Among antidepressants, newer generation selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) and serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI) antidepressants can cause dehydration, which on top of sweating in hot weather can lead to heat-related illness. Older tricyclic antidepressants decrease sweating, as well as inhibit the body’s ability to regulate temperature, which may cause body temperatures to rise excessively during summer heat waves.
“Patients should be aware of the risk of dangerous, even life-threatening medical emergencies that can occur during hot weather when using these psychiatric drugs,” said Anne Goedeke, president of the CCHR National Affairs Office.
When the body’s temperature rises to dangerous levels, steps must be taken to lower the temperatures to avoid bodily damage, which can be fatal. Research has found that taking psychiatric drugs nearly doubles the risk of death during a heat wave.
During the long, hot days of summer, doctors recommend staying well-hydrated, avoiding overexertion, and wearing light, loose-fitting clothing to lessen the risk of heat-related illness – advice that CCHR says is particularly important for those taking psychiatric drugs.
About the company: The Citizens Commission on Human Rights was co-founded in 1969 by members of the Church of Scientology and the late psychiatrist and humanitarian Thomas Szasz, M.D., recognized by many academics as modern psychiatry’s most authoritative critic, to eradicate abuses and restore human rights and dignity to the field of mental health.
Contact Info:
Name: Anne Goedeke
Email: Send Email
Organization: Citizens Commission on Human Rights, National Affairs Office
Address: Washington, DC
Website: http://www.cchrnational.org
Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ufOUHeS-ZY
Release ID: 89165215
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