Tan To Fight Fibromyalgia
Date Published:
01/04/2010
Date Posted:
1/4/2010 11:56:00 PM
By:
Unknown Author
at
The Denver Channel
It impacts up to 6 million people in the U.S. -- mainly women -- who can't get
through the day without pain shooting through their bodies. There are very few
effective treatments for fibromyalgia, so one doctor decided to try a
controversial method to treat his patients. He said it works. Other
dermatologists said it's dangerous.
"All I could say to my doctors is, 'I feel like I've been hit by a
truck," Laura Hemrick said.
A constant, aching pain put Laura Hemrick's body and brain in slow
motion.
"I see people, and I think, 'I've known you all my life, but I don't
remember your name," Hemrick said.
After more than 15 tests and six months of doctors appointments, she
found out she had fibromyalgia -- a chronic condition that causes widespread
pain, fatigue and fogginess. Exercise provides some relief, but the drugs made
her sick.
"I would deal with the pain before I go back to those again," Hemrick
said.
Then, a dermatologist wrote a prescription that shocked her: spend time
tanning.
"If I were to give a lecture to my dermatology colleagues about this
almost certainly some would find some tomatoes to throw at me," said Dr. Steven
Feldman, a dermatologist at the Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in
North Carolina.
Feldman led a study that found fibromyalgia patients who were exposed to
UV rays in a tanning bed over six weeks felt a decrease in pain compared to
those who were in non UV beds. He says the UV rays cause the skin to release
endorphins -- feel-good molecules that ease pain and increase relaxation. Other
dermatologists say young people who use tanning beds have a 75-percent higher
risk for melanoma.
"Just once using the tanning bed will give you enough DNA damage to
increase your chance of skin cancer," said Dr. Shasa Hu, a dermatologist at the
University of Miami School of Medicine.
Hemrick said, so far, tanning is the only thing that provides relief.
"Nothing is completely free of any possible risk," she said.
She's taking the risk because she says the alternative is to live in
pain.
Hemrick spent 12 to 15 minutes three times a week in a tanning booth to
ease the pain. Feldman said UV tanning beds have also been helpful in easing
psoriasis. He would not recommend them for anyone who doesn't have these
conditions. The idea for this started during a tanning addiction study when
doctors realized patients were repeatedly going to tanning beds to ease aching
backs.
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