Yes, Zoloft and other antidepressants — such as Prozac, Lexapro, and Effexor — can cause increased sweating. With Effexor, this side effect may depend on the dose. SSRIs are commonly prescribed for conditions like panic disorder, PTSD, and for anxiety or depressive symptoms, including those occurring during menopause.
Increased sweating can be attributed to several factors, including underlying conditions (such as panic attacks, nightmares, night terrors or menopausal symptoms) and the use of SSRIs. For example, menopause-related sweating may be described clinically as postmenopausal craniofacial hyperhidrosis (rather grandiosely!). Because multiple causes may contribute, SSRI-induced sweating can sometimes be overlooked and left unaddressed.
Excessive sweating can cause embarrassment to the point that people might cut back on socializing or going to the gym. It can interfere with sleep by waking the person up due to variations in temperature (sweat is a mechanism by which your body cools itself and when you sweat too much you can start feeling cold).
SSRIs cause excessive sweating because they confuse the part of the brain that regulates body temperature. The body thinks that its temperature is too high and it sends signals to the sweat glands to produce more and cool off through sweat evaporation.
What Can Be Done?
So what can you do about it? This side effect of SSRIs often dose-related which means that as the dose is increased the chance that the side effect will occur also increases. Conversely if the dose is reduced the side effect may subside. Sometimes a side effect like this that appears at the beginning of treatment may slowly subside with time. If it does not happen then you might need to consider a reduction in dose, a change in the antidepressant itself or a second medication to treat this side effect (this is always the last option because it is generally poor psychopharmacological common sense to cause a side effect and then treat it with a second medication). However, if the response to the antidepressant is good and a dose reduction is either causing intolerable withdrawal symptoms or a recurrence of the regimen condition then they might be no option but to use a second drug to control the sweating. The most common drug used to control sweating is benztropine or Cogentin which prevents the sweat glands from getting overly stimulated. As with all medications this comes with its own set of side effects including dry mouth and constipation.
Key Takeaways
- SSRIs can cause excessive sweating.
- Sweating may result from both medication and underlying conditions.
- Addressing this side effect may include dose adjustment, medication changes, or rarely, a secondary medication.
- It is important to stay hydrated.