Pittsburg, PA
Pittsburgh pharmacist explains how medications can make people susceptible to heat-related illness
A pharmacist warns that certain medications may put people at greater risk of dehydration, heat exhaustion and heat stroke.
While people in the Pittsburgh area are trying to stay cool in the extreme heat, be aware that some medications don’t mix well with hot weather.
“Heat, humidity and sunlight are all factors that can impact medications and how a person responds to them,” said Trisha Miller, a pharmacist at UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside.
She said it’s important to know if your meds can put you at higher risk for heat-related illnesses. Medications that increase risk from heat include diuretics, beta blockers, anticholinergics, antidepressants, antipsychotics, antihistamines, antibiotics, antifungals and more.
“Some medications, like diuretics, these are frequently called water pills,” Miller said. “They can lead to volume depletion or electrolyte imbalances and increase the risk of someone becoming dehydrated. Other medications, like certain antipsychotics or anti-seizure medications, can impair somebody’s ability to sweat or regulate their body temperatures and lead to their body becoming overheated. And then there are certain types of antibiotics or acne medications that increase photosensitivity, which is when there’s a sensitivity to sunlight or UV rays that can lead to sunburns.”
Miller also said to never leave medications in hot places.
“Medications should never be stored or left in cars. Most medications, unless it specifically tells you different directions, should be stored at room temperature, protected from sunlight, and from humidity. … We don’t want to necessarily have them near windows that might get direct sunlight,” she said.
But if you have to go out in the scorching heat, stay hydrated. Miller added to act quickly if you’re feeling off.
“That can be lightheadedness, that can be dizziness, that can be short of breath, headaches. I think catching those signs early and reaching out to their providers to make sure that things don’t escalate because things can escalate very quickly in heat,” Miller said.
If you don’t know how your medications react to heat or how to store them, just ask your pharmacist.
In the early 1960s, the peregrine falcon population declined so sharply that the raptors weren’t even nesting in Pennsylvania. But now, the National Aviary says a record number have been counted in Allegheny County.
The National Aviary says six peregrine falcons were recorded in the county during the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count. The nation’s longest-running citizen science project collects data on bird populations for ornithologists, the aviary says. It also plays a role in guiding conservation action, like what was needed to bring peregrine falcons back from the brink of extinction.
Because of the use of DDT, peregrine falcons were no longer nesting in the state of Pennsylvania by the early 1960s, the aviary said. But after the harmful pesticide, which negatively affects reproduction rates in birds, was banned in 1972, conservation efforts have helped the peregrine falcon rebound. It was removed from the federal endangered species list in 1999 and Pennsylvania’s list in 2021.
The record number of peregrine falcons in Allegheny County is thanks in part to the nest on top of Pitt’s Cathedral of Learning in Oakland. For the past two years, biologists with the Pennsylvania Game Commission have banded chicks born in the nest. Three were banded last year, and two the year before that.
People can watch Carla and Ecco raise their family in the nest on a livestream camera run by the National Aviary. Carla laid her first egg of the breeding season on March 16 last year, so the aviary says the start of another season isn’t too far away.
Police are investigating two shootings that happened less than 30 minutes apart on Sunday night in McKeesport.
Two men were injured in the shootings that happened at two different locations.
Allegheny County Police said that the department’s Homicide Unit was requested and responded to assist in the shooting investigations.
According to police, officers were first called to the area of Lysle Boulevard and Huey Street, where a man was shot just after 10:30 p.m. on Sunday night.
KDKA’s news crew at the scene saw the outside of the Sunoco gas station along Lysle Boulevard lined with crime tape and what appeared to be blood on the front door of the store.
Police also had an area taped off around the intersection of nearby 5th Avenue and Huey Street. The man who was shot in the area was taken to the hospital in stable condition.
Police said they are also investigating a shooting that happened in the area of an alleyway behind Madison Avenue, where another man was shot Dispatchers said the second shooting happened around 25 minutes after the first.
The two shooting scenes in McKeesport are located around 1/4 of a mile apart.
At the second shooting scene, KDKA’s news crew at the scene saw police taping off an alleyway between Madison Avenue and Petty Street.
Officers at the scene were shining flashlights and looking into a black sedan that had its flashers on. The man who was shot in the area of Madison Avenue was taken to the hospital in stable condition.
Police didn’t specify if the two shootings are believed to be related.
Vegas allowed two power-play goals on Pittsburgh’s four chances after giving up one on 12 opportunities the previous four games.
“I think we just had poor execution all game long,” Golden Knights forward Reilly Smith said. “Obviously, our penalty kill has been pretty good for us and that wasn’t good enough tonight.”
Rickard Rakell pushed it to 4-0 on another power play at 15:06, stopping a shot from Karlsson with his left skate and wrapping a shot around Hill.
Brazeau scored on a wrist shot from above the right circle at 14:59 of the third period for the 5-0 final.
“Second period, they took it to us,” McNabb said. “We were out of it, basically.”
NOTES: With goals from Kindel, Chinakhov and Brazeau, the Penguins have 73 goals by players in their first season with the team. It’s the most in the NHL this season and 13 more than the next closest (the Anaheim Ducks, 59). … The Golden Knights have been outscored 9-1 in the first and second periods of their first three games out of the break for the Olympics. … Karlsson has 908 points (204 goals, 704 assists), tied with Scott Stevens (908 points; 196 goals, 712 assists) for the 13th-most by a defenseman in League history. … Vegas forward Mitch Marner had a point streak end at six games (seven points; four goals, three assists).
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