I will offer a few comments on these last posts. First, an infrared heat lamp is by no means the same thing as a Near Infrared Vielight or Kahn's LED pads. The Far Infrared blankets, sheets etc are yet a third thing, that I have only lightly researched to date. I did years ago buy a BioMat, hoping to use it as a kind of cheap portable FIR sauna. That attempt failed--like Lynn, I crashed. I now use it only at the lowest settings for an hour or so to relax. I have since discovered to my dismay that I can have a bad--even very bad--reaction to lying out in the sun for any length of time on a hot day--even once went to ER thinking I was having a heart attack. Have since discovered that there have been several sudden deaths in MS patients (who share a good deal with us) after heavy sun exposure. I am not sure what the mechanisms involved are, but there is no doubt that our temperature control mechanisms are damaged, and I am now very wary. However I doubt that "release of toxins" plays a significant role.
I do note that the people who make that expensive Nanobionic stuff in their study (Voutetakis K, "Ceramic Textiles ...") suggest two hours is the optimal period to wear it, not all day.
The terms "light therapy", "infrared therapy," and "low level laser therapy" get several parameters a bit mixed up. The term LLLT should really be parsed as "Low Level Light Therapy," thus including both LED and lasers as sources, and both red and near infrared light as wavelengths. As far as I know, the Bioflex pad that I think ScottTriguy is using has both red and NIR LED diodes, and does not use laser diodes. The only laser diode in the Vielight series is the V 655--the V 633, 810, and the Neuro use only LEDs. The two are fairly close cousins, but there are differences, which Doidge in Chap 4 does a better job of explaining than I can. Lasers emit light at only a single exact frequency--you can order one at 632.8nm, and that is what it emits, and all in a very direct, coherent pattern. The Vielight 655 uses a tiny diffuser lens to spread the light some. LED's emit most of their light at the specified wavelength, but there is a bit of spillover on both sides, and the light is not coherent and has some natural diffusion. Which is why it is dangerous to look directly at a laser, and safe to use an LED, though the diffusion built into the V655 minimizes any danger.
As I understand the Bioflex pad, it uses both red and NIR LED diodes, in that sequence, but does not have any laser diodes--but I could be wrong about this, and Scott has one and might want to correct me. Anything using lasers should best be used wearing protective goggles tuned to block the wavelength of the laser. Don't know if any of this clarifies anything....
