I’ve always been a sweaty person, but lately, I’ve been a lot sweatier. I’m talking coming back from runs drenched or rarely making it to the subway without needing to wipe my brow sweaty.
And, while it’s not glamorous, it’s also not my fault: I just started taking a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI). It turns out, those things can totally have an impact on how much you sweat—and might even be a reason to change your dosage or medication entirely.
Here’s what a doc wants you to know about why your SSRI is making you so sweaty and what you can do about it.
Meet the expert: Ludmila De Faria, MD, is the chair of the American Psychiatric Association’s Council on Women’s Mental Health.
Why SSRIs Make You Sweat More
So, no, it’s not just you. Your SSRI might be making you sweat more. In fact, that could be the case for anywhere from five to 14 percent of people taking one, according to a study in Depression and Anxiety. It’s not even a big surprise. “It’s part of the biology of the medication,” says Ludmila De Faria, MD, the chair of the American Psychiatric Association’s Council on Women’s Mental Health.
Basically, SSRIs impact how much serotonin is kicking around in your noggin—including in your hypothalamus, which is the part of the brain responsible for temperature and sweating. “The hypothalamus is the thermostat,” Dr. De Faria says.
When you have too much serotonin in the hypothalamus, it impacts how your body perceives heat, making it think you’re hotter than you are and sending it into overdrive to cool down. In other words: “It changes your thermostat,” Dr. De Faria says. It’s kind of like every yoga session is a heated one now. Plus, the balance of neurotransmitters dopamine and norepinephrine is affected, which can also have an impact on sweating.
If you were hoping that the sweat would subside as you take the medication, like it does for other side effects, there’s bad news: that doesn’t typically happen with this one. Another common side effect that people might experience when starting an SSRI is nausea or other GI problems and that’s because serotonin can also be found in the gut.
Unlike the hypothalamus, the gut learns how to down-regulate that extra neurotransmitter, meaning that your gut should start feeling better after a few weeks. Unfortunately, “the hypothalamus does not necessarily down-regulate the same as the gut, so that is one of the side effects, that if it shows up, it tends to persist,” Dr. De Faria says.
What You Can Do About It
The first thing you can try is (with the approval and guidance of your doctor) lowering your dose. That’s because sweating typically comes at an individual’s high end tolerance of the SSRI, Dr. De Faria says. Of course, there’s a balancing act with that; you don’t want to lower your dose such that it’s no longer effective for what you’re treating.
Another option you have is to switch your med. While all SSRIs have the potential to cause excess sweat since they affect serotonin levels, they’re all metabolized differently, so you might have better luck with another one. “It’s always worth trying a different SSRI,” Dr. De Faria says. “There are so many options nowadays.”
What about meds that help you stop sweating? There are medications (known as anticholinergic meds) that can make you less sweaty, but they’re probably not worth it, says Dr. De Faria. The biggest reason: they tend to make your brain foggy. And, chances are, if you’re taking an SSRI, it’s because you want to get your brain back to working in tip-top shape, she says.
And, finally, if you are gonna stick it out on your current med, consider this your reminder to take good care of yourself, especially in the heat. Drink lots of water and avoid intense exposure to the heat to avoid serious conditions like heat stroke and rhabdomyolysis, Dr. De Faria says. Whatever you do, know that trial and error can be a normal (and well worth-it) journey toward finding a mental health med that works for you.
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