i read i think on the neural therapy website that lyme patients dont like the sunshine, that it makes us more depressed, does anyone find this is true? i always thought sunshine would only help depression, but i do find i prefer rainy days and dont like the sunshine, anyone else feel this way? radha
Posted by AlisonP (Member # 7771) on :
I loooove the sun. For my first year of being sick though, I stayed out of the sun (it just seemed somehow too overwhelming to my system) but last year and this year I've been spending lots of time in the sun.
Instead of using sunscreen I just gradually worked up the amount of time I spent in the sun. And, at first, my body broke out in a very nasty rash, which is supposedly "sun rash", but I wonder, I really do, if that's what it really is.
I know that most people, Lyme or not, are extremely depleted in Vitamin D, which as I read about it, seems to act more as a hormone than a vitamin, so part of my rationale was to up my vitamin D levels since I know Lyme whacks out hormone levels.
This summer, I am loving the sun, and it makes me feel better and happier. Oh also, being in the sun got rid of my athlete's foot. Sun is a great detoxifier, so that makes me happy. And I got one spot of rash on my neck but other than that no rash.
Alison
Posted by Bon (Member # 5999) on :
Hi Rad,
As for my own experience with the sun.......its not good for me at all.
Should I be in the sun for anything over or close to 20 minutes, I know I'm in trouble!
Theres no doubt that it feels good initially............but with time, it has me heading for the hills !
Various medications warn you about the sun and suggest you refrain from it.
After a trial and error period this I have found for myself...15 minutes tops and get out of it. Should there be any delay my "bugs" come a knocking ! Its the feeling that is all to familiar. Basically I like to call it....Bugs running amuck!!
Posted by dontlikeliver (Member # 4749) on :
I can't tolerate the sun, but have friends (with Lyme) who LOVE it.
DLL
Posted by luvs2ride (Member # 8090) on :
GiGi did an interesting post on this recently.
Lyme and mold symptoms are very similar with a few distinct differences. One is the sun. If you have a mold allergy, you will love the sun and hot and dry climate.
If you prefer cloudy and wet weather, its lyme.
I'm a sun lover. I tested positive years ago to mold allergy.
Find GiGi's post for more comparison symptoms.
Posted by elley0531 (Member # 9434) on :
well I have Lyme, but am also sensitive to mold. I just got an anti allergy mattress pad, and a bunch of air purifiers for the apartment, and have been in the process of cleaning everything. I'm feeling better because of it.
As for the sun, the only time I was out in it for hours was when I was on doxy...which was dumb. I didn't get nasty burns but my skin felt like it was all sunburned, even though it just tanned. Felt like that for a week.
I'm going to Florida from the 11-19, and will be stopping my ABX a couple of days prior to that because Lyme or no Lyme, wild dogs wouldn't be able to keep me from Fort Myers beach.
Posted by bg2711 (Member # 1865) on :
I feel much better on rainy, gloomy days. I feel awful in the sun and avoid it at all costs. I always loved the sun pre Lyme, but not any more. Barb
Posted by 5dana8 (Member # 7935) on :
I guess like everything else with lyme everyones different on the issue of sushine.
I feel better in short times in the sun. Maybe something like 10 minutes a day.
Longer times in the sun tend to take it out of me. I think sometimes if you get a tan or burn or sweat too much your body works really hard to repair the damage.
I feel worse on rainy days and better when the sun's shining, wheather I get out or not.
Posted by jarjar (Member # 8847) on :
I do WAY better staying out of the sun. I think it all has to do with what Trevor Marshal of the Marshal Protocol claims.
J
Posted by nomoremuscles (Member # 9560) on :
My response has been a bit different.
I was a sun-worshiper, and for the first several years of my illness the sun made me feel batter. (Though, it seemed I'd have new syx appear in the summer.)
But over the years my tolerance for sun has progressively gotten worse. And now a few minutes of sunlight on my skin can trigger a flare. When herxing or already flaring (or when on rifampin) my tolerance gets much, much worse. Hut when I am feeling a bit better it seems to improve. ???
Posted by hiker53 (Member # 6046) on :
I love the sunshine and like to be out in it provided it is not hot and humid. My body can't handle these high temps and high humidity.
My body feels fine on rainy days, too, but I get depressed. So, I guess sun wins for me. Hiker
Posted by Mo (Member # 2863) on :
The sun can prevent and heal disease. It's been used throughout history as such (tho not midday sun or frying yourself, that would be extremely taxing, especially with chronic illness). When used to cure TB, patients were instructed to start with just minutes of off-peak sun a day and build up from there.
When I was ill, the sun made me feel horrible. It doesn't now, regardless - I always avoid 10-2 PM sun for prolonged periods. I'm also very fair, so do not have the constitution for "sun-worshiping".
From what I have learned re: health -- I no longer believe the sun causes skin cancer, I beleive skin cancer comes from internal causes. We NEED the sun to be healthy.. as all other living things do.
-----------------------------------------------
The Healing Sun - Sunlight and Health in the 21st Century
by Richard Hobday, MSc, Ph.D.
Reviewed by Sandra Goodman, Ph.D.
{Buy it Online}
This is an authoritative and exceedingly politically incorrect book, with hundreds of references to the scientific literature. Dr Hobday, in addition to challenging many mainstream holy grails regarding the pivotal role of the sun to our health, has presented a quite refreshing juxtaposition of many diverse topics - epidemiology of cancer, heart disease, and multiple sclerosis, treatment of tuberculosis and wounds by helio(sun)therapy, Chinese martial arts, and architecture.
Against the well-accepted mantra that sun and sun tanning is harmful and causes skin cancer, and that exposure to the sun must be avoided at all costs, Dr Hobday begins with the quite remarkable statement that there is a considerable body of scientific evidence demonstrating that `sunlight may play a key role in preventing and ameliorating a number of serious degenerative and infection diseases, including cancers of the breast, colon, ovaries and prostate; diabetes; high blood pressure; heart disease; multiple sclerosis; osteoporosis; psoriasis; rickets and tuberculosis.'
He describes the components of sunlight - visible light, ultraviolet radiation and infra-red radiation, and the two wavelengths which affect the skin - ultraviolet A (UVA - 320-400 nm) and ultraviolet B (UVB - 290-320 nm). Whereas until recently, UVA was considered to be relatively safe, it has now been shown that UVA rays penetrate deeply into the skin. Repeated exposure to the sun over many years leads to premature ageing, atrophy of the skin and even skin cancer. However, exposure to the sun is beneficial to certain skin disorders, including psoriasis, certain types of acne, some bacterial and fungal infections and the rare malignant skin cancer mycosis fungoides.
The author explores the complex biochemical cascade arising from sunlight, including interactions affecting the synthesis of vitamin D, hormones including melatonin, the pigment melanin, the minerals calcium and magnesium, blood pressure and cholesterol levels, even evidence that exposure to sunlight protects individuals from internal organ cancers, osteoporosis, multiple sclerosis and jaundice.
In these days of acceptance of the role of antioxidants to prevent diseases including cancer, I found impressive the less publicized epidemiological evidence showing strong relationships between distance from the sun and death rates of colon and breast cancers. In those countries farther away from the equator, the higher the death rate; in those closer to the sun, the lower the rate. In European countries such as the UK, Netherlands, Germany and Austria, colon death rates, per 100,000 people, published in 1999, are about 16; in Spain, Greece, Chile, Florida, Mexico and Hawaii, they are between 5.5 and 8.5. Similarly breast cancer rates in European countries are about 26-29; in more southern countries they are about 12-15.
Similar evidence also exists for prostate and ovarian cancers, heart disease, diabetes (sunlight has a similar effect to insulin in that it lowers blood concentrations of glucose) and multiple sclerosis. Not only are the precise mechanisms behind the sun's protection of these conditions not known; there appears to be a lack of research into even, for instance, vitamin D levels across the UK population.
Some of the most interesting aspects of this book relate to the historical use of sunlight therapy proving not only that sunlight can kill bacteria, but also describing the clinical application of heliotherapy to cure tuberculosis and war wounds by British and European scientists and physicians of the 19th and 20th centuries. The photos of the afflicted children which were cured of tuberculosis are astonishing!
Not sunbathing in any sense of the word, these doctors employed a totally systematic regime of exposing, very gradually (5 minutes per day to start) very restricted regions of the bodies to the sun, usually early in the morning in cool temperatures, until a tan was established. There was also an emphasis upon a wholefood diet of fresh fruits and vegetables, grains and pulses.
Discussed in the book are depression, SAD, hydrogenated and trans-fatty acids, possible links between fluorescent lighting and malignant melanoma, and the possible role of vitamin D in the inhibition of malignant melanoma and other cancers.
Dr Hobday is exceedingly responsible in not advocating that people go out in the midday sun in hot weather; he advocates that we eat a high quality diet, engage in moderate outdoors exercise in cool temperatures (such as Tai chi at sunrise) and live and work in buildings that let in adequate and healthful amounts of natural sunlight. Here is an important book whose messages we ignore at our peril.
Posted by Radha (Member # 8464) on :
thanks for all your replies, i was talking more about mood and not physical symptoms, how sun affects your mood, thanks for all your input, radha
Posted by hurtingramma (Member # 7770) on :
My mood is definitely better when the sun shines! I hate dark and dreary days, and I tend to get depressed. I fully believe that in the winter I suffer from SAD, and use special lighting in my "reading lamp" by my chair.
If the sun is shining, I'm happy!
Posted by flln_pixie (Member # 9692) on :
The sun always improves my mood. Even though I need to rest after I find that some time in the sun makes me in a really good mood the next day.
Posted by MagicAcorn (Member # 8786) on :
The bright Summertime sun will make me physically ill.
I love the Winter, Fall and early Spring before the sun gets brightest. It is the heat and the brightness that do me in.
Depression? No, I just get ill in the sun.
Posted by hatsnscarfs (Member # 6562) on :
Everything is worse for me on sunny days. Driving is really difficult. My symptoms all get worse, brain gets foggy, vibrating increases...
It is amazing how much better I do on cloudy days. hats
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