Heat and Medications: The Quick Reference
Heat and Medications: the whole thing in five minutes, for when you want the numbers and nothing else.
How some medicines raise your risk of heat illness, and how heat can damage medicines themselves.
Key takeaways
- Medicines that can raise risk: diuretics (water pills), some blood pressure medicines, some antidepressants, antipsychotics, anticholinergics and stimulants
- How they affect you: by reducing sweating, increasing fluid loss, or dulling thirst or alertness
- Most useful single change: Ask your doctor or pharmacist whether any of your medicines raise your heat risk.
- Commonest mistake: Stopping or changing a medicine on your own because of the heat.
- See a doctor if any of the signs under "When to speak to a doctor" below apply to you.
The numbers, in one place
| Measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| Medicines that can raise risk | diuretics (water pills), some blood pressure medicines, some antidepressants, antipsychotics, anticholinergics and stimulants |
| How they affect you | by reducing sweating, increasing fluid loss, or dulling thirst or alertness |
| Storage | most medicines should be kept at room temperature, away from heat and direct sun |
| Heat-sensitive products | insulin, some inhalers and test strips can be damaged by high temperatures |
In one paragraph
Several common medicines affect sweating, thirst, blood pressure or body temperature control, which matters most during heat waves.
Worth doing
- Ask your doctor or pharmacist whether any of your medicines raise your heat risk
- Ask whether you need to change how much you drink if you are on a fluid restriction
- Keep medicines out of hot cars and direct sun
- Check the CDC HeatRisk forecast and plan to stay cool on high-risk days
Worth avoiding
- Stopping or changing a medicine on your own because of the heat
- Storing medicines in a car glove compartment or a sunny windowsill
- Using a medicine that has changed color or texture after heat exposure without asking a pharmacist
Related topics
- Sun and Heat Abroad: What the Evidence Actually Says (Travel Health)
- What the Guidance Really Says About Sick Day Rules (Long-Term Conditions)
- Fluid and Kidney Health: What Published Guidance Supports (Kidney Health)
- Medicines in Older Age: What Published Guidance Supports (Medicines Safety)
Where to go next
- Heat and Medications: What Published Guidance Supports
- What Heat and Medications Is, and Why It Matters
- Heat and Medications — the reference entry
- Weather Safety: The Complete Guide
- Hypothermia: What Published Guidance Supports
- Frostbite: What Published Guidance Supports
When to speak to a doctor
Talk to your doctor before a heat wave if you take medicines that affect fluid or temperature control. Call 911 for confusion, fainting, a temperature of 103°F or higher or hot red skin.
Where this comes from
How this page was put together
Every figure, recommendation and warning above is taken from the guidance named in Where this comes from. Nothing on this page is inferred, summarized or generalized beyond what those bodies publish: where they give a number, it is their number, and where they are silent, so are we. Pages are rebuilt whenever the underlying record changes. Sign-off by a named clinician, where it has happened, is shown at the top of the page along with the date.
Medical disclaimer
This article is general information, not medical advice. It cannot account for your own history, medication or circumstances. Always speak to your doctor, pharmacist or another qualified health professional before making changes that affect your treatment, and never delay seeking medical advice because of something you have read here. In an emergency, call 911.
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