Summer Reminder

[nygirl7]

If you have just started treatment than perhaps you haven't realized yet...

The sun is one of our biggest enemies on treatment.  Even if you've baked in the sun like a sun goddess as I used to do pre-treatment, the interferon can and will react BIG TIME during treatment.

At one point since I knew I couldn't go in the sun but I was looking so grey and yellow, I got the brainstorm to try tanning and went into the mildest tanning bed for half the time.

I turned purple and never had a worse sunburn in my entire life.

Right there on the back of the tanning room door in the list of meds not to go into the bed with was INTRON.

Take my advice and cover up as much as you can until you see how you will react.

[charm27]

Your so right! The midst of my tx was the hot summer down here in Florida. I barely made it from the car to the house which is about 20 feet!
Horrible feeling to be burning up from the heat and on tx...

To all stay away from sun!

So true..........

Charm

[portann]

I stayed out of the sun for forty-eight weeks to avoid trouble and now, three weeks post-tx, look deader than dead.

Does anyone know if I can bake in the sun yet, whenever it decides to come out? Or should I play it safe for a while longer?

Sun, sun, Mr. Golden Sun......

[charm27]

I waited till last week to sit in sun but only for a short time.....I just felt to weak after tx to be able to sustain the sun.( I waited over 5 months)- also beacuse of the crocodile skin....It just went away! I dont have the crocodile look anymore and it was bad.
I guess when you physically feel stronger attempt it if you enjoy it. I had issues with plaque in my head and many factors so I had to stay away from the sun.

You'll know when the body repais itself.
Feel well portann.

Charm

[meakea]

Great reminder for everyone!  I started TX last fall so this is my first summer on TX.  I knew from previous posts to be careful of the sun so I have kept long sleeves and long pants on along with a straw hat when I'm outside.  After being out for about a half hour one day, the skin that was exposed by my wrist where my long sleeve stopped was fire-engine red for 4 days!  All I could think of was:  "What if I hadn't been covered elsewhere?"

[GSDgirl]

Port, I would play it safe for a while.  Maybe 15 minutes in the earlier hours.  Although a year post the heat still bothers me, not the sun but the heat, can't tell if it is a hot flash or intolerance to heat.

I bought EVERY self tanner out there and looked gray / orange which was worse.  I wore a UV long sleeve shirt, gloves, and a pinky / salmon colored wide brimmed hat & boy what a sight I was.   I didn't care. I had an underlying problem which was porphyria PCT from the hep c and the sun caused giant blisters on my hands.

NY, what were you thinkin, going in a tanning bed LOL.  I know that we are vain about having a little color but the beds do in 20 minutes what it takes the sun all day to do.  I'm not critizing at all so please don't take it that way.  

[springfever]

I only sit in sun now for vitamin d.  
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez
10-15 mins max - arms, legs, face exposed, no sunscreen.  We'll see how long I can keep it up on tx.

I have noticed the heat zaps me and am not looking forward to aug.

[nygirl7]

Or should I play it safe for a while longer?

I would wait - I'm telling you I am Italian and never burned in my life the sun was nothing like I ever knew it to be in my life. The interferon is probably getting mostly out of you but who knows really if the riba could do it too.

Get one of the lotions like Jergens Express.  I even used it last year I didn't go in the sun and that is a year and a half post.

This year I'm going to start slow and see what happens but if I was you I'd wait at least another month - just to be careful.

[Tippyclubb]

When I did my garden Tuesday I had a straw hat, heavy long sleeve, turtle neck sweater, and a low ( 8 ) sunscreen under my clothes.  That evening my chest and back were red.  Apparently the rays went right through the clothes.

Not looking forward to the heat of summer along with the fevers.  AC bill is going to be astronomical.

[jdwithhcv]

However tempting it is to go back out in the sun for that post-tx tan, try not to give in to that urge.  Even long past tx (10 months later) I can almost feel the skin damage, even from fairly moderate exposure.  I know you want to look human again, but then again keep in mind, one of the treatments for melanoma is .......................... INTERFERON!!!

jd

[thegypsy9164]

I've tried to stay out of the sun, but as a skydiver, it is hard to escape.  I've actually not jumped since beginning treatment January 9th.  The sun isn't the only reason of course.  Less oxygen from a lowered RBC could result in passing out at altitude and weakness due to treatment have kept me earthbound.  I miss my sport a great deal though and hang out at the DZ sometimes just to torture myself as my friends fly skyward.

Joey  

[jdwithhcv]

I know what you mean.  I'm a scuba diver and its hard to stay out of the sun on a dive boat.  Also, I can't put any sunblock on my face because that makes the mask leak.  Oh, yeah, and my hat blows off too.  I just cover up with a towel as much as I can, because a girl's gotta dive!

You must miss your sport - hang in there.  Tx will end and then the world is your oyster.

jd

[Rockerforlife]

If Your Sunscreen Contains Any of These Chemicals That I Consider Dangerous and Potentially Life Threatening, Do Yourself a BIG Favor...

Dump it in the trash now


Para amino benzoic acid...

Octyl salicyclate...

Avobenzone...

Oxybenzone...

Cinoxate...

Padimate O...

Dioxybenzone...

Phenylbenzimidazole...

Homosalate...

Sulisobenzone...

Menthyl anthranilate...

Trolamine salicyclate...

Octocrylene...

[YuK]

Has anyone had their Vitimin D levels check while on tx?  

[jdwithhcv]

Yes, it was low.  My hep doc has me taking vitamin D supplements

jd

[winner727]

yes I noticed these things . I dont think i will spend much time in the sun this summer .also the heat is affecting me .

[Marjorie_Lard]

It's a myth that our Sun is enemy # 1.
I have just stared directly into the Sun this morning for exactly 16 minutes and 20 seconds.
Each day I add 10 second as HRM instructs in his 2 part video lecture on Solar Gazing at Youtube. The Sun is the supporter of all life. It is humans who lather their skin with lotions which cause cancers. TX is a poison to the body. It is not too late to educate yourself on the healing benefits of the Sun. When properly charged with electrons, your brain knows how to orginize and disiminate the photonic energy to the required ill areas of your body. E=MC^2 says that everything is energy. You perceive seperate colorful objects of matter because everything vibrates at different frequencies including you and all the molecules of your physical system. We're beings of light. Get used to it.    -Marjorie

[FlGuy]

Who is HRM?

And, energy is mass multiplied by the speed of light squared.

[Marcia2202]

In this thread sun exposure during treatment is being discussed. The medications render us photosensitive, meaning that one becomes hypersensitive to the sun, skin and eyes. To the degree that some can get sunburned within 5 minutes.

That is why it was mentioned that the sun can be our #1 enemy during treatment.

[nygirl7]

I have just stared directly into the Sun this morning for exactly 16 minutes and 20 seconds. "


OK I guess that proves that there are people in the world who are willing to do anything to prove themselves right.

I'd wager that you aren't very old because when you are older - you won't want to take a foolish chance on your eye site or anything else just to say nanaanana told you so.
-----
It is humans who lather their skin with lotions which cause cancers. TX is a poison to the body"

And oh boy just ask people who've had skin cancers or melanoma's if they think the sun is so friendly.  Ever meet somebody who is balding and has to have growths cut off of the top of their head all the time? I doubt they've lathering up with the Hawaiian Tropic before they go out to walk the dog.

Treatment is life saving medication - staring into or baking in the sun well I don't have to finish that sentence anyway.