I know this is a moot topic and is totally irrelevant to the election - but I thought I might distract all of us with an educational tale about my own health insurance crisis, and something that I might have in common with the Governor of Alaska (and it's not her tan). Please note: I couldn't give 2 hoots about her tanning bed. Please read the diary before commenting, or don't bother.
So Sarah gets a UVA fix without leaving home... how interesting. Tonight, Keith O. named Kevin Williamson of the National Review Online The Worst Person in the World - for Williamson's little blurb defending Palin's sun proclivity because there is the possibility that she might be warding off SAD.
While Williamson may very well be The Worst Person in the World, I have a personal reason to defend Palin's use of a tanning bed. Everyone is laughing about the depression angle and the SAD angle (I know very little about SAD). Hell - she may just want a tan... but knowing that Alaska does have sunlight issues, it is also possible that she may be looking out after her physical health instead.
Stay with me...
A little over two years ago, I found myself newly divorced, 25 pounds thinner and full of new-found self-esteem. I decided to have my skin rejuvenated by a series of laser treatments to remove the sun damage that had rendered age spots and discolorations on my hands and face. In about 6-8 weeks, I looked incredible. People actually noticed that I looked younger, my skin smoother, my demeanor happier. Woot.
Of course, as with all great things - there is a bit of sacrifice involved with this fabulous outcome (and I don't mean the cost - and it DID cost): I was advised to stay out of the sun, and to wear sunscreen every day - for the rest of my life. This made sense of course. I mean - don't we all get this message constantly?
DO NOT GO OUT IN THE SUN WITHOUT SUNSCREEN! YOU WILL GET MELANOMA!
I touted my new discovery that the sun was evil, and explained to anyone who asked that the reason I don't look a day over 35 (I'm 50), is that I no longer got ANY sun, and used SPF 35 sunscreen all over my body every day.
While I was in London over the following summer, I spent a big wad of cash on a cache (sorry - I couldn't resist) of Mexoryl SX and gave bottles to loved ones as meaningful birthday gifts.
It wasn't very long after that trip to London that, well - I think you all may very well see see where this is leading...
First, I started having anxiety problems and a malaise that was very unlike me. I was under a great deal of stress and I tend to be an over-worrier, so off to the doctor. After a trial of Klonopin the doctor decided to put me on Zoloft. It helped. But, then my body started hurting. Aching: elbows, hands - all of my joints - like I had the flu all the time. It was unbearable. I'm a photographer and a graphic designer, so I hoped it was just age, overwork, or bad ergonomics at the computer. Back to the doctor. More meds. This eventually led to a diagnosis of fibromyalgia. After 4 months of Lyrica didn't seem to help, my doctor also put me on SSRIs. Nothing seemed to help. In the end, I sold a successful business, and hunkered down at home, staying in bed most of the day and getting more depressed by the day. I was miserable.
Then my COBRA began to run out about a month ago. I decided that I needed to apply for some health insurance. You know where this is leading, too...
I was turned down by 4 different insurers because I now have a "history of fibromyalgia and arthropathy." Furious and freaked, I called my doctor for a referral to a rheumatologist. I was sick and tired (and now, very pissed off), and I had to know WTF was really wrong with me before I had no more health insurance to assist me.
After several exams and an exhaustive battery of x-rays, the rhumetologist decided that the diagnosis of fibromyalgia was probably correct. He recommended the typical crap: no more caffeine or cigarettes, more exercise and keep taking the Lyricia and SSRIs. As I got up to leave he asked me: Say, have you ever had a thyroid workup?
The end result is that I do not have fibromyalgia, or arthritis, or even a "bad" thyroid. I have a severe vitamin D deficiency. Because I didn't get any sun for 3 years (I don't eat fish, either), my lack of vitamin D (it's not really a vitamin, but that's another diary) did affect my thyroid, and I ended up with severe depression and a litany of real body pains and malfunctions.
The average human should get around 1,000 IUs of vitamin D a day. Most of us get D from a combination of dietary sources and sunlight, but direct UVA is the best source.
I now take a 50,000 IU capsule of prescription vitamin D each Monday morning. Yes, that's fifty-thousand units (or 50 times more than YOU should be taking) - and I will be on this regimen for 6 months. I get some sun now as well. Oh - and yes, I feel great - better and better every day, really, except for the 40 pounds I gained while I was depressed and lethargic and my thyroid was shut down.
"The UV energy above 42 degrees north latitude (a line approximately between the northern border of California and Boston) is insufficient for cutaneous vitamin D synthesis from November through February [6]; in far northern latitudes, this reduced intensity lasts for up to 6 months. Latitudes below 34 degrees north (a line between Los Angeles and Columbia, South Carolina) allow for cutaneous production of vitamin D throughout the year."- Office of Dietary Supplements, National Institutes of Health
So - I can't fault Sarah for her tanning bed. Heck - if I could afford one, I would do it too. The absence of sun in my life cost me more than I can say. The drugs, the doctors, the depression... all because of my vanity. Great skin was fabulous. The sun is more fabulous.
"It has been suggested, for example, that approximately 5-30 minutes of sun exposure between 10 AM and 3 PM at least twice a week to the face, arms, legs, or back without sunscreen usually lead to sufficient vitamin D synthesis and that the moderate use of commercial tanning beds that emit 2-6% UVB radiation is also effective." - Office of Dietary Supplements, National Institutes of Health
Now - about that health care? Stay tuned. I have a plan, and a lot more to say on that topic.