He summer 2023 It has broken records in the worst possible way, and the scary thing is that 2024 is believed to be even worse. Therefore, we must be prepared for heat waves that can compromise the health of anyone, but especially those who meet certain risk factors. We tend to focus on age or the presence of certain pathologies, but we don’t take medications into account so much. However, it is known that there are drugs that can make us more vulnerable to heat.
It’s mainly about anticholinergics, used to treat a large number of diseases, such as cardiovascular, nervous, digestive, respiratory, and many others. These drugs block certain functions nervous system. Since the brain is the control center of our body, there are many diseases that can be treated by blocking some of its branches.
Directly or indirectly it seems that they antipsychotics and beta blockers those that make their consumers most vulnerable to heat. Does this mean these people should stop taking their medications during the summer? Of course not. Medicines come first. But perhaps they should be better protected from high temperatures.
Self-cooling mechanisms of our body
Man is a homeothermic animal. This means that we have the ability to maintain a constant body temperature, regardless of the heat or cold around us. Both at 40 ºC and at temperatures below zero, our body usually remains between 36 ºC and 37 ºC.
This occurs due to several mechanisms regulated by our nervous system. The most important thing is sweating. The secretion of sweat through the sweat glands increases. It remains on the surface of the skin, but once there it must evaporate, for which it takes away heat from the body.
This also contributes dilation of blood vessels closer to the skin. Thus, blood flow increases and more heat is transferred to evaporate sweat and cool the body.
If our body did not have all these mechanisms, we would be much more vulnerable to heat. And this is exactly what happens with some medications.
Medicines that make us vulnerable to heat
Some medications cause what is called drug-induced hyperthermia. This is usually done with anticholinergic drugs, which are responsible for reducing or blocking the effects caused in the nervous system by a neurotransmitter called acetylcholine.
This is helpful on many levels. For example, by reducing the effect of this neurotransmitter, symptoms of diseases such as Parkinson’s disease or cardiovascular disease can be improved. They are also usually accepted concomitantly with antipsychotics to reduce some of the side effects they produce.
Other drugs such as antihistamineshave some anticholinergic effects, but not all receptors are blocked, so their side effects are not so great.
And those side effects do include sensitivity to heat. Acetylcholine interferes with some of the processes by which the nervous system helps us regulate temperature. When it was discovered that people taking these drugs became more vulnerable to heat, they were modified so that many of them new generation medicines They don’t have that much of an impact in that regard. However, it is expected that as temperatures rise, the few that still cause this susceptibility may fall behind the many. heat strokes.
Not to be confused with malignant hyperthermia.
He is known as malignant hyperthermia to an inherited condition in which some people experience a sudden increase in body temperature when taking certain anesthetics.
This occurs only with these drugs and not with others, and is not a problem of cooling the body, but rather a rise in temperature that is not explained by the heat of the environment. It can have very serious complications, so if it occurs, it is important to treat the fever as soon as possible.
Also be careful with drugs
Some recreational drugsHow amphetamines, also produce an effect that makes their consumers more vulnerable to heat. This also happens with dinitrophenol. This is a drug that has been used in the past for weight loss due to its ability to burn fat. However, its use was banned after it was found to cause death in 10% of people who took it. Despite this, the desperate desire to lose weight has led to it continuing to be sold on the black market without booklets or medical supervision. These users may not be aware that they are more susceptible to heat and add this to the risks they are already exposed to.
People vulnerable to heat should take precautions
People taking anticholinergic drugs should be considered at risk for rapid fever. We all need to take precautions against heat waves, but if we’re taking some of these medications, even more so. If in doubt, of course. ask your doctor or pharmacist.
Source: Hiper Textual
