Artificial sun (tanning beds), has anyone benefited?

[place]

I have noticed a trend that I feel really sick during the winter months of January, February, March. I honestly think it is due to lack of D vitamin. I feel my best when I get outside a couple of times a week for some sun light.

Has anybody used a tanning bed or other means to create V. D during winter months and did it help with v. d levels and health?


Thanks

 

[*GG*]

Is there another way of CREATING Vitamin D without the sun? I am not aware of it, could be a mental block, tired here and in pain. I take lots of Vitamin D year round, but do cut down to half of my usual dose during the summer months when I might be out an about in the sun, just a little more

GG

 

[minkeygirl]

SAD? I supplement with 10,000 IU D.

 

[Misfit Toy]

I have been using a tanning bed for a few weeks and I am not sure if it helps me, but I like it. I always leave feeling so relaxed. I am doing it because I will be in a wedding and need some color, but I love the way it makes me feel. Does it make the CFS better? Nope. At least it hasn't for me. But, for many, summer is always better. Sun. It's medicine.

 

[AndyPandy]

@place and @Misfit Toy FYI, commercial tanning beds are being banned in Australia due to links with cancer and other health problems.

 

[Misfit Toy]

HA HA HA...@AndyPandy, I know. And, who cares! Being in the sun makes me feel better. If after 25 years of having CFS and all of my health problems, I get cancer, all I can say is YAY! May it be a swift death!! Uplifting, I know, but oh so true. Life is about living and enjoying and since I am so ill, who cares?

 

[place]

@minkeygirl, it's not just SAD, I'm physically sick, no energy, sinuses, throat. basically all my symptoms get worse. I am VDR positive mutation, so there is something.


Tanning beds- I guess everything in moderation!

I will give it a try next year in moderation… and hopefully report back = ) thanks

 

[beaker]

@minkeygirl, it's not just SAD, I'm physically sick, no energy, sinuses, throat. basically all my symptoms get worse. I am VDR positive mutation, so there is something.


Tanning beds- I guess everything in moderation!

I will give it a try next year in moderation… and hopefully report back = ) thanks

I have currently have 2 kinds of skin cancer. I am having a tumor removed this week. {squamous cell} The other will be removed a few weeks later. It happened one other time as well.
It's not pretty. It's painful too.
And having it cut out, while a very good chance of cure, sets the ME/CFS domino effect in motion.
My dermatologist asked me if I had used tanning beds {no } b/c of the location. I have been out of the sun for 27+ years and prior to that 5 years of very little, prior to that the usual childhood in the sun, topped off w/ sitting out to get a tan in college. It is cumulative. It doesn't show up for years. She said the tanning beds are the worst. Everything I have read supports this, and they are considering putting warning labels on them in the US.
I think it's great that Australia is banning them.

I have watched a family member have many many cancers of both basel and squamous cell removed. One required skin grafts and a reconstruction of their nose, another had to be treated w/ radiation. This person catches them early too. They spent a lot of time outside.

It may be very treatable. But it can be quite nasty. Why risk it ?
Vitamin D can be supplemented. There is no need to add extra cancer risk. Plus, evidence points to ME/CFS making cancer more likely.
A tanning bed isn't going to cure this illness or make it any better. It may make it a lot worse.

 

[Deep Soul Diver]

I have noticed a trend that I feel really sick during the winter months of January, February, March. I honestly think it is due to lack of D vitamin. I feel my best when I get outside a couple of times a week for some sun light.

Has anybody used a tanning bed or other means to create V. D during winter months and did it help with v. d levels and health?


Thanks

I know there will always be people who say how dangerous tanning beds are, but I use one, and it absolutely helps give me a boost in energy. I have been really dragging for a couple of months (it's summer, and who wants to go to a tanning salon in the summer?) but I went today for a four-minute tan this morning and feel much better. I don't tan my face, by the way. It's not about getting tan--it's about some reaction that boosts my energy. I am unable to take vitamin D orally in any form without feeling bad side effects. I find I only need a few minutes at the tanning salon, a couple times a week. For many years, I just went in the winter when it's very rainy where I live, but last year, I started back in September, and I felt much better by doing so.

Even though I get more sun in the summer, it's usually in the morning, when I think the rays don't do as good a job at producing vitamin D. All I know is that it's July and I have been getting lower and lower. (And I stopped going to the tanning salon over two months ago).

Please, if you think tanning beds are bad, don't respond to my comment. You will only be making me feel bad about the one thing that helps me feel a tiny bit better.

There is a dermatologist from Scotland studying them and finding how beneficial they can be (link below). He studied cardiovascular health in the UK and Australia. Australians, obviously, get much more sun. I am tempted to write to him about my experience.

https://www.ted.com/talks/richard_weller_could_the_sun_be_good_for_your_heart

 

[sb4]

I have been using a tanning bed for a few weeks and I am not sure if it helps me, but I like it. I always leave feeling so relaxed.

UV light increases POMC. Which is cleaved into, amongst other things, beta-endorphin.

I have been out of the sun for 27+ years and prior to that 5 years of very little, prior to that the usual childhood in the sun, topped off w/ sitting out to get a tan in college.

This is what makes me think there is more to this story than simply sun = cancer. It has been shown that people with inside jobs are I think 4x more likely to get skin cancer than those with outside. Compared to how much sun our ancestors got 100/200 years ago (also no sunblock/glasses), your cumulative UV exposure would be miniscule. I think UV and sun can cause cancer but in specific circumstances, their has to be other factors at play. I also think the sun used correctly could help prevent skin cancers.

I know there will always be people who say how dangerous tanning beds are, but I use one, and it absolutely helps give me a boost in energy. I have been really dragging for a couple of months (it's summer, and who wants to go to a tanning salon in the summer?) but I went today for a four-minute tan this morning and feel much better.

I think thats the beta endorphin and or a-msh.