[*Beth*]

Does anyone have difficulty with overheating from meds?

[fern46]

I'm tapering off a med at the moment. I have had crazy hot flashes on the days I do not take it. I am assuming it is caused by the rush of serotonin and dopamine that were blocked normally by the Geodon.

[sarahsweets]

Beth I forget are you old enough for menopause? I am and I can't tell if it's meds or menopause half the time

[*Beth*]

Originally Posted by sarahsweets

Beth I forget are you old enough for menopause? I am and I can't tell if it's meds or menopause half the time

I am past menopause (I'm 57 & went through final menopause at 54). During menopause the hot flashes were nearly unbearable, between hormones and meds.

I don't think I'd still be having hot flashes, but the medication over heating feels very similar.

[*Beth*]

Originally Posted by fern46

I'm tapering off a med at the moment. I have had crazy hot flashes on the days I do not take it. I am assuming it is caused by the rush of serotonin and dopamine that were blocked normally by the Geodon.

Ugh, yes. Coming off a med can cause the worst heat waves.

[Moose72]

I've woken up in a sweat but I haven't gone through menopause yet- at least I think not. I'm 48. I actually dread going through it. Last time I had bad hot flashes was when I got the depo shot back in 2001.

[HALLIEBETH87]

Yes risperdal makes me stay hot

[BeyondtheRainbow]

In the s ummeres if I go somewhere outside I have a little cooler that fits in my backpack that I fill with frozen washclothes so that I can get cooled down easily and without it being a fuss. It works well for me as my meds make getting hot feel miserable. That's actually been true on all my meds, even when I was on 95% the same meds. Depakote was really bad for that; I remember my mom used to stop me from doing whatever we were doing outside and sending me in to cool off because I got so flushed.

I also get sunburned more easily on clozaril so I use lots of strong sunblock if I'm going out for long.

[*Beth*]

Originally Posted by BeyondtheRainbow

In the s ummeres if I go somewhere outside I have a little cooler that fits in my backpack that I fill with frozen washclothes so that I can get cooled down easily and without it being a fuss. It works well for me as my meds make getting hot feel miserable. That's actually been true on all my meds, even when I was on 95% the same meds. Depakote was really bad for that; I remember my mom used to stop me from doing whatever we were doing outside and sending me in to cool off because I got so flushed.

I also get sunburned more easily on clozaril so I use lots of strong sunblock if I'm going out for long.

The frozen washcloths are an excellent idea! Thank you.

[bpcyclist]

All the ones that really work raise my heart rate and blood pressure and make me warm.

[*Beth*]

Originally Posted by bpcyclist

All the ones that really work raise my heart rate and blood pressure and make me warm.

Yeah. Exactly that. It SUCKS.

[Soupe du jour]

Yes, to certain medications or during weaning off periods. Also, yes because I'm surely going through perimenopause since about March (right before I turned 49). My last menstrual period ended at the end of August, and it was a very light and short one. I'm actually waiting for another for the sake of having a stupid endo biopsy...if I get another one.

As far as medications, Lamictal was the absolute worst for me in terms of overheating and sweating. It sometimes became embarrassing and I complained about the sweating to my psychiatrist a lot. It was much more of an issue at higher doses, like at 300 mg, but I think 200 mg might have also made me sweat. I've only taken 100 mg Lamictal for about 8 or 9 years now. The sweating is not so bad at 100 mg. Now I blame it more on the perimenopause. Like Fern wrote, Geodon withdrawal included sweating for me, as well. It stopped after I got off of it.

Sometimes I must legitimately blame anxiety or panic for bouts of sweating. It's very common in my anxiety. Also, sometimes when I'm very hypomanic or manic I sweat a lot. My whole system is in overdrive, so I suppose it's natural to sweat more then. I'm usually moving very quickly and sometimes almost violently, with anxiety sometimes also mixed in. It's sort of like how running builds up a sweat. It also happens that high doses of Lamictal brought on mania for me. So, sweating because of mania on Lamictal or sweating because of Lamictal. Or both? At that high dose of Lamictal, I was also on Abilify. I don't think Abilify was the culprit, though. I believe Abilify was just a dud when it came to controlling my mania. Abilify did give me mild akathisia, but I don't believe the akathisia caused sweating. I have had even worse akathisia and didn't really notice sweating because of it.

[*Beth*]

Originally Posted by Soupe du jour

Yes, to certain medications or during weaning off periods. Also, yes because I'm surely going through perimenopause since about March (right before I turned 49). My last menstrual period ended at the end of August, and it was a very light and short one. I'm actually waiting for another for the sake of having a stupid endo biopsy...if I get another one.

As far as medications, Lamictal was the absolute worst for me in terms of overheating and sweating. It sometimes became embarrassing and I complained about the sweating to my psychiatrist a lot. It was much more of an issue at higher doses, like at 300 mg, but I think 200 mg might have also made me sweat. I've only taken 100 mg Lamictal for about 8 or 9 years now. The sweating is not so bad at 100 mg. Now I blame it more on the perimenopause. Like Fern wrote, Geodon withdrawal included sweating for me, as well. It stopped after I got off of it.

Sometimes I must legitimately blame anxiety or panic for bouts of sweating. It's very common in my anxiety. Also, sometimes when I'm very hypomanic or manic I sweat a lot. My whole system is in overdrive, so I suppose it's natural to sweat more then. I'm usually moving very quickly and sometimes almost violently, with anxiety sometimes also mixed in. It's sort of like how running builds up a sweat. It also happens that high doses of Lamictal brought on mania for me. So, sweating because of mania on Lamictal or sweating because of Lamictal. Or both? At that high dose of Lamictal, I was also on Abilify. I don't think Abilify was the culprit, though. I believe Abilify was just a dud when it came to controlling my mania. Abilify did give me mild akathisia, but I don't believe the akathisia caused sweating. I have had even worse akathisia and didn't really notice sweating because of it.

Interesting about the Lamictal! For some reason I wasn't targeting Lamictal as the culprit for feeling so easily overheated, but when I look at the time frame it's when I started Lamictal that I also started overheating. And sweating easily. Most psych meds cause the sweating, I think. I remember being told by several pdocs to be very cautious about getting too hot when on psych meds because of elevated blood pressure and so on. AP's are notorious for causing sweating issues. I can be only mildly warm and dripping with sweat, which is not my "normal" tendency.

So true about the anxiety and/or mania causing hotness, too.

Perimenopause and post menopause (for a year or even 2 years) cause that very specific, miserable, embarrassing, uggghhh, hot flash thing. Nothing lovelier than standing in line at the grocery store...or being at a restaurant...or sitting in your stylist's chair...and having a hot flash

I've found that with hot flashes, taking a nice, full breath and letting it out, and taking another big breath, would get me over the most intense part of a hot flash.

In other words, at least hot flashes (as miserable as they feel) are time-limited, predictable. Whereas med-related overheating is a chronic side effect.