CFL

The Compact Fluorescent Light (CFL) bulb is my enemy. The government wants all light bulbs to be more energy efficient and in doing so a lot of people are changing to CFLs. The incandescent bulbs will still available, but with the requirement that they be more energy efficient. My concern is that the light bulb manufactures won’t waste their time on old technology. They will move forward with the newer more efficient CFL and LED lights. The incandescent bulb could vanish like cassette tapes. This is a huge problem for me and many other people with lupus.

I bought a large amount of the incandescent bulbs. I’m hoarding them. What the government and most Americans don’t know is that CFL bulbs can make someone with lupus sick. I am one of those. Why would something as simple as a light bulb affect me? One of the side effects of having lupus can be sun sensitivity because the sun emits UV rays. The UV rays can bring on a flare (increased disease activity).

The CFL bulbs contain UV rays. These CFL bulbs save energy but make people sick and no one seems to care. There are other lighting options, but there haven’t been enough studies done to know if they also will be harmful to those sensitive to UV rays.

The Wiley Online Library, in the article “Fluorescent light photosensitivity in patients with systemic lupus Erythematosus” by Michael Rihner BS and Hugh Mcgrath Jr. MD details the test results when lupus patients with sun sensitivity are exposed to fluorescent lighting. The results showed that 13 out of 30 sun sensitive people with lupus had a flare. That’s more than 43%.

I don’t want to be exposed to the risk. Is anyone out there listening?

Mission Accomplished: Spreading Lupus and CFL Awareness