NEW IBERIA, La — People who take SSRIs — a common class of antidepressants used to treat depression and anxiety — face an elevated risk of heat stroke and sunburn during summer months, according to a behavioral health manager at Iberia Medical Center.
SSRIs, or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, carry a lesser-known side effect: increased vulnerability to heat-related illness. Dylan Breaux, behavioral health services manager at Iberia Medical Center, said environmental factors like heat exposure are discussed far less than the internal effects of the medication.
How SSRIs affect the body in heat
Breaux said the medications interfere with the body's ability to regulate temperature.
"They interfere with the body's hypothalamus, which is our internal regulating system," Breaux said. "They can cause you to have feelings of increased thirst and excessive sweating. They up the risk for serotonin syndrome, a life-threatening disorder that can be caused by excess SSRIs in the system."
Breaux said users may not recognize when they need to drink more water, even as they sweat more.
"So as we are sweating more and losing more water, we're not necessarily perceiving that we need to take more in," Breaux said. "SSRIs also cause something called photosensitivity, meaning that we would become more susceptible to sunburn and UV radiation. That's why we always recommend individuals on SSRIs wear light but covering clothing and use sunscreen daily."
Awareness and stigma
Catherine Wattigny, with the Iberia Mental Health Initiative, said awareness about medication side effects also serves a broader purpose — reducing the stigma around mental health treatment.
"Unfortunately, there is still a stigma attached to mental illness, and speaking about issues that you might have is not always a bad thing because so many other people are experiencing many of the same things," Wattigny said. "It helps to know that there are others dealing with issues like this concerning mental illness."
