This is the third post I've done in the last week, about lowering bilirubin levels. You can see my other posts (with my mad search for the perfect blue lights to treat jaundice) via these links: (and if you have bilirubin issues, PLEASE check these other posts out, as I want you to see for yourself, the link between Furosemide and elevated bilirubin, via a video I posted on this page, below).
http://healing-liver-cirrhosis.blogspot.com/2018/04/lowering-bilirubin-levels-what-can-you.html
This post is more about all the different types of blue lights I looked up:
http://healing-liver-cirrhosis.blogspot.com/2018/04/helping-friend-with-sky-high-bilirubin.html
I had ASSUMED that, because blue lights are used for babies, then surely this must be the best way to treat jaundice in an adults... right?
Well, now I'm starting to think... the only reason they used BLUE lights on babies (vs. natural sunlight), is that there is a risk of a baby's body overheating, if you stick them into an incubator with natural sunlight. Or if you just go and stick them into the sun. So, it seems that someone came up with this BLUE LIGHT idea, as a way for the babies to get some of what mother nature intended, when in a hospital setting. But I would think it's FINE for ADULTS to get much more light exposure!
What kills me is, the reason I've been doing all this research is, I have been trying to help the son of a woman I've been talking to for weeks. He spent several weeks in the hospital, with a very high bilirubin level. Above 40. This is dangerously high, and it can cause brain damage.
What FLOORS me is, when I went to go and visit him in the hospital the other evening (story about that, HERE), I noticed that his Mom (who'm I'll call Lisa) had been sleeping on a cot that was by the window... and her son (whom I'll call Bruce) was close to the hospital door - nowhere near the window! Why didn't the doctors or nurses ever suggest that Bruce should be by the window, and his Mom should be closer to the door?? It's been sooo sunny and beautiful lately, I am SURE he would have gotten lots of sunlight if they could have just put him by the window! This makes me so mad, I actually have tears in my eyes right now, writing about this. I am sad to report, this man died yesterday. He was on pain medications (due to a back injury) that are given to people in hospice, and those types of pain meds are known to cause organ failure. Albeit peaceful organ failure. I will always wonder what the outcome could have been, if the doctors had just put him by the window, but it seems like they have a tendency to keep us in the dark when it comes to this stuff.
He was very bloated, so the doctors were giving him furosemide, but not draining him because I guess his INR was too high and they were worried he could bleed to death. Well, as I learned the other day from a video which you can see in THIS POST, FUROSEMIDE CAUSES ELEVATED BILIRUBIN LEVELS!!! No joke. So, you'd think that the doctors would be doing everything they could possibly think of, to help this poor man get that bilirubin down, but...no.
I swear, sometimes I really do think these hospitals "overlook" little things like this, on purpose, as a way to ensure the patient will stay in the hospital for as long as possible. I mean, look at the food the doctors give patients with cirrhosis. It's horrible. Batter fried meat, CANNED fruit, jell-o, and veggies that are boiled to death.
So, if it was my loved one in the hospital, this is what I'd do NOW: Forget the blue lights. Either use sunlight, or get one of these therapy lamps (if it's an adult, not a newborn, of course). True, maybe i haven't done enough research on this, so I encourage you to do your own, as well.
Because I've learned, from experience, that medical grade stuff really DOES tend to have better quality and give you better results than stuff that is not medical grade, I'm listing this lamp first (it also appears to have a 90 day, no hassle, money back guarantee).
Price now: $169.95
Philips Energy Light Therapy Lamp, Medical Grade Natural White Light, (HF3418/60)
Price now: $59.95
Circadian Optics Lumos 2.0 Light Therapy Lamp | Ultra Bright 10,000 Lux Full Spectrum LED Light (White)
Price now: $98.99
Aura® Day Light Therapy Lamp, 10,000 Lux of Bright Light White with Adjustable Lux Dial And Timer- 100% UV Free{2 Year Warranty Includes Bulb and Lamp}
They also sell one that is adjustable, so you can use either a blue light (maybe not as blue as the blue lights I'd been researching) or a white light.
Price now: $69.57
PureGuardian 10,000 LUX Full Spectrum Energy Light with Customizable Blue or White Light Therapy Intensity, Timer, Pure Guardian SPA50CA Energy Lamp
This one is about as cheap as these types of lamps get. Right now, you can buy this one for just $29.95, and it has really good reviews. Personally, I'd want the 10,000 one, but I get Seasonal Affective disorder pretty bad, so I'm one of those people who'd want as much light as possible.
Price now: $29.95
Verilux HappyLight Liberty Personal, Portable Light Therapy Energy Lamp
Price now: $49.95
This is the version with twice as much light as the one above, and it's just about $20 more.
Verilux HappyLight Lucent 10,000 Lux LED Bright White Light Therapy Lamp
Price now: $39.99
Charmax SLT002 10,000 LUX Light Therapy Lamp, Bright White Full Spectrum LED Light Box, Slim Energy Light Lamp,10.3 x 7.8 inch, White
Circadian Optics Lumine Light Therapy Lamp | Ultra Bright 10,000 Lux Full Spectrum LED Light
I also HIGHLY RECOMMEND you make sure you're getting enough D3 (the "sunshine vitamin"), as it's on my list of supplements known to reduce fibrosis.
Look at the reviews for this Vitamin D!
NatureWise Vitamin D3 5,000 IU for Healthy Muscle Function, Bone Health and Immune Support, Non-GMO in Cold-Pressed Organic Olive Oil,Gluten-Free, 1-year supply, 360 count
This brand of D3 also has vitamin K2 in it, which can apparently help with clotting factors. You can read about that HERE and HERE.
PuraTHRIVE Liquid Vitamin D3 with K2. Best Absorption with Liposomal Delivery. 2oz. (60ml). GMO Free, Gluten Free, Made in USA. D3 . Provides D3 2500iu with K2 100 mcg MK-7.
Filtered sunlight a safe, low-tech treatment for newborn jaundice
Safe sunlight exposure under canopies that remove harmful rays is a low-cost, effective way to give phototherapy to jaundiced infants in impoverished settings, according to a new study.
SEP 162015
Newborn jaundice can be treated with filtered sunlight, providing a safe, inexpensive, low-tech solution to a health problem that now causes permanent brain damage or death in more than 150,000 babies in developing countries each year.
That’s the finding of a new study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and their colleagues that will be published Sept.17 in The New England Journal of Medicine. In the study, conducted in Nigeria, some mothers and babies sat under outdoor canopies that filtered out harmful wavelengths from sunlight, but still allowed jaundice-treating blue wavelengths to reach the babies’ skin. The filtered-sunlight treatment was as safe and effective as the blue-light lamps traditionally used to treat infant jaundice, the study found.
“This research has the potential for global impact,” said the study’s senior author, David Stevenson, MD, the Harold K. Faber Professor in Pediatrics and senior associate dean for maternal and child health at Stanford. “All babies can get jaundice. In settings with no access to modern devices, we’ve shown we can use something that’s available all around the planet — sunlight — to treat this dangerous condition.” Stevenson also directs the Johnson Center for Pregnancy and Newborn Services at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford.
Jaundice is extremely common in newborns, whose bodies need a few days after birth to develop the enzymes that enable excretion of bilirubin, a compound released during the normal breakdown of red blood cells. If too much bilirubin builds up in the blood, the skin and eyes acquire the hallmark yellow tinge of jaundice. Worse, high bilirubin levels can cause lasting brain damage or infant death.
Filtering out ultraviolet, infrared rays
Phototherapy with lamps that emit blue wavelengths has been the most prevalent newborn jaundice treatment since the 1960s. But hospitals and health clinics in developing countries often lack the funds, expertise and reliable electricity needed to use the equipment.
The research team built and tested outdoor canopies that used commercially available plastic films to filter out sunburn-causing ultraviolet rays and infrared rays that could make infants overheat. Jaundice-treating blue wavelengths could pass through the filters. The team used different canopies for sunny and overcast days.
“Even with an overcast sky, we still get good light transmission and phototherapy,” said study author Hendrik Vreman, PhD, a senior research scientist in pediatrics at Stanford, who developed, built and tested the canopies.
For a clinical trial, the scientists enrolled 447 infants with jaundice at a large, inner-city hospital in Lagos, Nigeria, of whom 224 were randomly assigned to treatment with filtered sunlight and 223 to conventional phototherapy. Infants received at least five hours per day of their assigned treatment, and were evaluated hourly during treatment for signs of hypothermia, overheating, dehydration and sunburn. Infants treated with filtered sunlight were held in their mothers’ laps under the canopies and could breastfeed while receiving treatment.
New, conventional methods similarly effective
The two therapies worked similarly well: Filtered sunlight was effective on 93 percent of treatment days, and conventional phototherapy on 90 percent of treatment days. The treatments were also similarly safe.
The team is now studying greenhouse-like structures that incorporate the filters. Such structures will allow for filtered-sunlight therapy in locations that are windy, rainy or have colder climates than Nigeria’s.
“We’re excited that we can use our understanding of the biology of jaundice and adapt treatment to the local context of a developing country, and the resources that exist there,” said Stevenson, who is a member of the Stanford Child Health Research Institute.
The study’s lead author is Tina Slusher, MD, associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Minnesota. Another Stanford-affiliated author of the study is Ronald Wong, senior research scientist in pediatrics.
Researchers at the University of Minnesota, Massey Street Children’s Hospital in Lagos and the University of California-San Diego also contributed to the study.
The study was funded by the Thrasher Research Fund and by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health (grant UL1TR000114.)
Stanford’s Department of Pediatrics also supported the work.
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