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INSIDE SPAIN

Inside Spain: Meds to avoid during heatwaves and Ibiza’s quiet summer

In this week’s Inside Spain we look at why Spanish pharmacists are advising customers to be careful when taking certain medications during heatwaves and why Ibiza is receiving far fewer tourists than usual this summer. 

Published: 3 August 2024 12:04 CEST
Inside Spain: Meds to avoid during heatwaves and Ibiza’s quiet summer
No one is exactly sure why there are fewer tourists in Ibiza this summer. (Photo by JAIME REINA / AFP)

Up to 711 people in Spain died during July 2024 as a result of the extreme heat the country experienced, according to data published on Friday by the Carlos III Health Institute.

In the vast majority of cases, it’s elderly people with pre-existing health conditions who lose their lives due to this heat exposure, the cocktail of meds and heat acting in negative and often unexpected ways.

It is estimated that around half of the medicines dispensed in pharmacies may be affected by heatwaves and require special attention. That’s 7,500 according to Spain’s Community of Pharmacies. 

In most cases these already require refrigeration in normal weather, so make sure to always check the medication’s instructions. 

Then there are medications that even though properly preserved can have negative effects on people’s health during heatwaves.

First, it’s important to understand how the body handles heat and strives to maintain the ideal body temperature of 36.5 to 37C.

To cool down, the body either sweats (it evaporates from the skin to cool down the body) and it dilates blood vessels under the skin (to bring warm blood closer to the skin so it can release heat).

However, a number of different medications can disrupt this complex thermoregulation system by limiting the body’s ability to sweat or reduce blood flow to the skin. They can also cause dehydration, and some may make the skin more sensitive to sunlight, leading to rashes or sunburn.

Below are eight types of medications that you should be careful to take during heatwaves.

Heart medications: Diuretics, beta blockers, angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) and antiplatelets.

Antidepressants: Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) and tricyclic antidepressants.

Antipsychotics for mental health problems: risperidone, quetiapine, haloperidol, olanzapine 

Central nervous system stimulants for ADHD: dextroamphetamine, methamphetamine and methylphenidate.

Anticholinergics for Parkinson’s disease and an overactive bladder: benztropine, oxybutynin and tolterodine.

Antihistamines for seasonal allergies, insect bites, and bee stings: diphenhydramine.

Decongestants for the common cold and allergies: pseudoephedrine, phenylephrine, oxymetazoline nasal spray.

Dopaminergic, also for Parkinson’s disease: carbidopa and levodopa.

Of course, in most cases it’s essential that people taking any of these medications continue to do so regardless of the weather, but it’s more important than ever that you take precautions to stay cool, hydrated and out of the sun during heatwaves. 

Now onto something completely different. Ibiza is having an unusually quiet summer so far in terms of tourists, and hoteliers and shop owners are not entirely sure what the main cause is. 

Two factors spring to mind. First, the iconic holiday destination of the rich and famous is getting a bit too pricey for the average Joe Tourist.

A local government study found that the main complaint tourists on the Balearic island had were Ibiza’s high prices (47 percent), costing around €196 a day and €1,662 on average per holiday. 

And in high season it reaches another level, as holidaymakers pay around €1,000 for two nights at a three star hotel.

Want to somewhat imitate the Hollywood celebs and world famous DJs? Two Italian influencers recently found out the hard way that accessing a trendy beach club set them back €200 just for the sunbeds and compulsory bottle of champagne, and another €200 for lunch.

The second cause that could be influencing the lacklustre arrival of tourists in peak season are the recent protests against mass tourism. 

The big ones have been in Barcelona, Tenerife and in Palma in neighbouring Mallorca, but Ibiza has also held its own demonstrations against the impact tourism has on residents’ lives.

In fact, just last Monday, a dozen protesters gathered at the famous es Vedrà lookout point calling for a change of tourism model. 

However, there is no evidence yet that the the negative media coverage of Spain’s biggest over-tourism protests have dissuaded tourists from coming this summer, so perhaps it’s the eye-watering prices that are largely to blame.

Even though the summer season is far from over, and the Olympic Games could be playing a part in the low numbers, the head of Ibiza and Formentera’s Hospitality Association Miguel Tur told Spanish news agency EFE that “the market could be readjusting”.

Does this mean that Ibiza has gotten too expensive for its own good? If you ask the thousands of people who work there and are forced to live in caravans because they can’t afford to rent a small flat, the answer is certainly a resounding yes.

READ MORE: Spain’s Balearics struggle to fill job vacancies due to exorbitant rents

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INSIDE SPAIN

Inside Spain: 10,000 crumbling castles and Galicia’s ‘pyromaniac’ ad

In this week’s Inside Spain we look at the struggle to preserve the country’s more than 10,000 castles and how a promotional advertising campaign for Galicia looks like it’s inciting people to torch the region’s forests.

Published: 27 July 2024 10:48 CEST
Inside Spain: 10,000 crumbling castles and Galicia's 'pyromaniac' ad

You’ve probably spotted a few castles on hilltops over villages as you’ve driven through Spain, and that’s because they’re everywhere. 

Each of Spain’s 50 provinces has at least a dozen or two, if not hundreds, as in the case of Barcelona, Cuenca, Cádiz, Soria, Zaragoza or Guadalajara.

The preservation of these vestiges of Medieval (and more often than not Moorish) Spain were actually a priority for Spain’s fascist dictator Francisco Franco, who in 1949 rolled out legislation which banned any of Spain’s castillos (castles) from being demolished.

However, Spain’s castles are “in general” in a “calamitous, catastrophic” state, Miguel Sobrino , author of the study “Castillos y murallas”, told Spain’s leading daily El País.

From the Napoleonic Wars to poor restoration jobs between the 1960s and 80s, many are the reasons that have meant that only a handful of these castles are in a presentable state. 

“Castles are like beetles, they die and dry up on the inside, but they seem to be alive because the exterior does not change,” Sobrino added metaphorically about the fact that many of these fortresses still look impressive from the outside and from afar.

Others blame the lack of funding from public coffers, and the fact that there is no law in place encouraging private investors to act as patrons for Spain’s heritage. When there is money available, the mayors of the underpopulated villages where these castles are usually located don’t always know how to organise the restoration properly.

Spain’s crumbling castles are another example of how “Empty Spain” is often overlooked and underfunded, despite being some of the most vivid examples of the country’s rich history.

Something that has been getting the attention it deserves (but for all the wrong reasons) is an English-language tourism campaign by the government of the green north-western region of Galicia.

“It’s a match, Galicia” reads the poster, with an icon of a flame and, in the background, a photo of the lush forests of Galicia’s Ribeira Sacra.

It was meant to draw a parallel between Tinder’s “It’s a match” slogan when the dating app puts two people together, and the fact that Galicia is ‘a perfect match’ for tourists.

However, social media users were quick to pick up that the wording and imagery appeared to be inciting people to set Galician forests on fire.

“As much as the Culture Council tells you to, don’t take matches to the mountains,” one X user jokingly wrote in response.

Even though it’s a harmless lost-in-translation gaffe, forest fires are no laughing matter in Galicia, nor anywhere else in Spain. 

Galicia had its worst forest fires ever in 2022 and the following year was a particularly terrible one for incendios (wildfires) in Spain, with more than 85,000 hectares scorched.

2024 hasn’t been as bad a year for forest fires yet (46 percent less than in 2023), but we are now in the midst of the heatwave season in Spain, when these destructive blazes tend to rage hardest and for longer.

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