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Sun sensitivity = SOD deficiency?

Sherpa

Ex-workaholic adrenaline junkie
Messages
699
Location
USA
I am extremely sensitive to sun rays.

UV rays wipe me out. I get PEM, feel drained.

10 to 20 minutes of being in indirect or direct sunlight, even with a big hat + glasses + good sunscreen,... can wipe me out.

My theory: poor status of some key antioxidant. I have read about Nickel Toxicity & SOD and I wonder if I don't have some kind of metal / DNA adduct or toxin that is blocking some critical part of my biochemistry that is needed to tolerate oxidation from sun?

Supplemental antioxidants like SOD or astaxanthin help some, but all the supplements get expensive and complicated.

Any ideas on what might cause my extreme sensitivity to sunlight?
 
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adreno

PR activist
Messages
4,841
I crash from UV light as well. I'm not sure of the exact cause, but know that it increases inflammation. For example, prostaglandins:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8423392

Sunlight also depletes folate.

I'm thinking of trying vitamin A (retinol). High vitamin D levels with insufficient A is problematic. Sunlight gives me acne, and my skin is very dry. Retinol protects skin from photoaging, so perhaps it can counter some of the ROS from sunlight.

Lutein might also work well, and vitamins C and E.
 
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ahmo

Senior Member
Messages
4,805
Location
Northcoast NSW, Australia
Any ideas on what might cause or cure sensitivity to sunlight?
The onset of ME coincided with my absolute sun intolerance. It's one of the symptoms on the list for pyroluria. A week after I started pyroluria supps...P5P, zinc, mbdy, se...my reaction to sun ceased. Never returned.
sun-286.gif
 

Sherpa

Ex-workaholic adrenaline junkie
Messages
699
Location
USA
The onset of ME coincided with my absolute sun intolerance. It's one of the symptoms on the list for pyroluria. A week after I started pyroluria supps...P5P, zinc, mbdy, se...my reaction to sun ceased. Never returned.
sun-286.gif

Great! I need a miracle, too.

This fits with my theory that I have a SOD deficiency. Supposedly Copper & Zinc & Maganese levels need to be semi-normal to produce enough SOD. Perhaps taking the zinc, molybdenum helped normalize your element levels?

How much molybdenum did you take?
 

ahmo

Senior Member
Messages
4,805
Location
Northcoast NSW, Australia
yes, I always forget to include manganese. I can't remember how much mbdy I started with. I've varied at times, generally use self-testing. I'm currently taking high doses, as recommended by aaron_c, which is helping decrease my ammonia levels, 750mcg AM/PM. (Country Life 150mcg)

Here's Klinghardt's protocol, which is where I began. Also, the pyroluria questionnaire.

http://www.hputest.nl/evraag.htm Online questionnaire to suspect pyroluria
http://www.lymeinducedautism.com/images/1_KlinghardtKPU_09_PX.pdf
 
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douglasmich

Senior Member
Messages
311
Sherpa did you solve this? i have it too

10min direct sun gives me severe brainfog and fatigue. takes 3-4 hours of lying down for it to wear off
 

Sherpa

Ex-workaholic adrenaline junkie
Messages
699
Location
USA
Hi @douglasmich my sun sensitivity improved significantly as my thyroid function improved, on Dr. Brownstein's iodine protocol. As soon as I started taking iodine my fatigue-threshold and sun tolerance seemed to go up. I cannot prove that it was directly caused by that, but it seems correlated to me. I'm not sure it was SOD although supplementing it for a while could've helped some. I take it no longer
just iodine, B12, folate.If you suspect subclinical low thyroid function might be a problem, I suggest the iodine test in my signature.
 

Crux

Senior Member
Messages
1,441
Location
USA
Another thing sun exposure does is to release nitric oxide from nitrites stored in the skin.

Nitric oxide can be beneficial to healthy people, but if someone is producing a lot of it to fight infections,etc., then increasing NO can cause pain, inflammation, so on.

This article is about the potential benefits of sun exposure and NO production :

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/260247.php
 
Messages
67
Might want to assess omega 3 status as well. Skin needs proper fats for normal tolerance to sunlight.
 

Sherpa

Ex-workaholic adrenaline junkie
Messages
699
Location
USA
Sherpa did you solve this? i have it too

10min direct sun gives me severe brainfog and fatigue. takes 3-4 hours of lying down for it to wear off

@douglasmich

No I didn't solve it. It simply went away for the winter, when the UV rays in my tropical area are less intense. Now that the summer sun is coming back... I am back to crashing after 15 - 20 mins at the beach, with severe brain fog and fatigue, where it takes 3 - 6 hours of lying down for it to wear off. Like you!

I read this link about the Marshall Protocol & Photosensitivity with much fascination. It says:

In individuals with chronic inflammatory diseases, 1,25-D is rapidly synthesized from 7-dehydrocholesterol when sunlight falls on the keratinocytes of the skin. According to the Marshall Pathogenesis, many of the keratinocytes of Th1 patients are parasitized by bacteria, they produce interferon-gamma (which is part of the bacterial defense mechanism) and TNF-alpha. These cytokines cause the cells of patients to produce much more 1,25-D in their skin than their healthy counterparts. Studies show that all 25-D produced in the skin of individuals with Th1 disease from sunlight is hydroxylated directly into 1,25-D, leaving no 25-D to be stored in fatty tissues. In healthy people, however, there will be remnant 25-D generated. Photosensitivity does not seem to be correlated with a patient's level of 25-D.


Then I read posts on PR and on Mercola saying that the Marshall Protocol is not recommended, that it's potentially dangerous and "crackpot."

I am still toying with the idea that the sun produces free radicals and my antioxidant status is poor. I am going to trial MitoQ which is said to be a possible fix for my SOD2 A16V +/+ mutation and see if I do any better. One review of MitoQ on amazon a woman says it helped her "heat tolerance"
 

douglasmich

Senior Member
Messages
311
My d3 was over range. 190 (range 40-140)

That was in september so i quit my d3. Started up d3 again at 5000iu
 

hamsterman

Senior Member
Messages
183
Location
Los Angeles
Wow... its amazing how standard this is. 15 minutes of sun = 3 - 6 hours of PEM. I'm the exact same way... dealing with it now.

Its not just sun, its heat. I got too much heat today from my car's AC not working. I started feeling horrible... and I noticed my Heart Rate went up to 100... is normally around 80 in the car.
 

Sherpa

Ex-workaholic adrenaline junkie
Messages
699
Location
USA
According to Jack Kruse : "NADH is tied to UV light assimilation in all living things. Through these coupled processes, the reduced NADH is oxidized back to NAD+. In all human disease and aging NAD+ drops."

I have been taking Niagen (250mg on awakening, 250mg at ~2pm) to raise my NAD+ levels and I find that I "Crash" less from sun exposure. This has allowed me to gradually build up my sun tolerance from 5 mins.. increasing by 1 minute per week (using a stopwatch) and now I have a tan and I am not as terrified of the sun as I used to be. I can't deal with extreme levels like hours on a summer beach at the hottest part of the day... , but normal amounts like shopping, walking or light sunbathing don't bother me anymore.
 
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caledonia

Senior Member
My guess would be somewhere between pyroluria and adrenal fatigue.

Being in the sun is the same as being in a far infrared or infrared sauna. You may be sweating out electrolytes which you're already deficient in. You may also be moving out metals or other toxins.

I have to be careful to avoid excessive sun, heat and humidity or I can faint. The minute I start sweating I can start to get into trouble.

I have adrenal fatigue and show borderline on the pyroluria quiz. I also have SOD A16V +/+ and oxidative stress. My thyroid is back to normal.