Your Pills Might Be Making This Heat Wave Torture

Millions of people are sweating through record heat across the eastern United States, but some folks are getting hit way harder than others. The reason? Their medications are turning up the heat dial even more.

Common drugs like antidepressants cause crazy amounts of sweating and make people super sensitive to hot weather. Other medications mess with how your skin handles sun exposure, making time outside downright dangerous during heat waves like this one.

TikTok Teaches What Doctors Don't

Antidepressants called SSRIs can trigger something called diaphoresis – basically nonstop sweating caused by the medication. People call it "SSRI sweats" and many are finding out about it through social media instead of their doctors.

"Shoutout to the girlies and the doctors on here that have educated me on the medication I'm on," one TikTok user posted during the heat wave. "I recently started taking SSRIs and I was not informed about the heat intolerance and just reaction to the heat that is different now that I'm on them."