NB UVB - side effects

Posted Mon 3 May 2021 13.22 by mt382

Hi all, I’m a long time user of a home NB UVB unit. I’ve got the treatment duration etc down and use it yearly to kick back the flare on a rolling basis. As a biologist, I have done plenty of reading into the research. I know that long term dangers are extremely unclear, and maximum dosages are based on best guesses - erring on the side of caution, that lots of systemic biomarkers are improved with phototherapy, and that even arthritis and nail psoriasis have a positive benefit with NB UVB despite both being untouched by the actual radiation. That being said - research is still in its infancy. I have side effects every year, and these side effects are of the mood. I’m ten years in now, although the last two years I’ve had a break. The progress of my treatment is well understood and I can gauge my response etc. I however ALWAYS seem to gradually become massively tired and depressed as treatment progresses. So much so that years when I’ve done hardcore dosages and longer durations I’ve had full breakdowns. For a long time I felt it was coincidence, but the missed treatments in the last two years have seen a sustained mental clarity, and now that I’ve started again (three weeks in) I feel exhaustion, irritability, and anhedonia creeping in. The research is fairly shallow into side effects, and mood side effects can be easily missed. Has anyone else who is better acquainted with NB UVB ever noticed this before?

Posted Mon 3 May 2021 21.48 by geoffrey

i have been informed by nhs that my condition does not warrant light treatment because it is not severe enough. my shin skin is so thin that hard rubbing causes bleeding. just when is light therapy acceptable?

Posted Tue 4 May 2021 01.26 by Yacht

UVB-NB should make a person's mood (and energy) better, not worse. Does a UVB session make you sweat, red or hot?

Posted Tue 4 May 2021 17.48 by mt382

Hi all, No worries then! Just wondering. I get pink and hot, tired (general malaise that come with a light and temporary release of inflammatory chemicals by the dying immune cells). That response is generally gone the next day but I can be flattened - usually because if I’m ‘sun kissed’ I struggle to then sleep that night. It happened when I was receiving it in hospital too before I invested in my home unit. I hypothesised that it’s just the regular inflammation from each day of treatment - inflammation being linked causative to depression - or the fact that UV light is addictive. Perhaps I’m just sensitive to one of the chemical changes it brings about. Still would be interested to hear if anyone else goes through this. I can’t control my skin with topicals and I never let it get bad enough for systemic agents to be considered. Thanks for your help so far gang.

Posted Tue 4 May 2021 19.49 by geoffrey

i asked what i thought was a reasonable question , only to receive an anonymous thumbs down . i don't get it,

Posted Wed 5 May 2021 03.56 by geoffrey

thanks Rick for your response. i just expected an adult response to my question. whenever i go to the Philippines for a holiday my psoriasis clears up ,lasts about six months before coming back. not being a medical person, but able to read, i do believe the regression was /is due to exposure to the sun. which in turn elevates my natural levels of vitamin d ? giving this information during trips to the NHS , i still do not get an answer as to why light treatment is considered as not required. i have tried dosing up on 10000 i.u tablets , taking one a day with food it seems to have stabilized the flare ups . i ignored the side effects not knowing what they came from and have since given the vitamin d a rest. when i start taking them again i will take more notice of the side effects rather than ignore them.

Posted Thu 6 May 2021 18.39 by mt382

Thanks for your contributions guys. Maybe someone else who has a home unit might suddenly realise they have something similar going on. (Until I took a few years off, I almost assumed I had reverse-SAD) until the link to my yearly blast became apparent. Vit D doesn’t work for me. I took 30000ius DAILY for about 10 months in 2016. My skin followed its usual pattern of gradually worsening until the NB UVB in that time. There is a small study that showed some benefit of Vit D, but it was a very small study that didn’t control any other variables including treatment. Everyone’s biochemistry is different though, so I’m glad to hear it works for some.

Posted Thu 6 May 2021 18.43 by mt382

Oh - Re the Q about vitamin D side effects, the answer is a big old shrug. Too little research has been done. Hypercalcaemia is the most serious, acute side effect of overdoing it, and vitamin D interacts with loads of body systems so the potential to throw something important off-whack over time is there. Best case - your body makes less of something else to counter it and nothing happens, worst case it does something unknown like speed up arterial plaque formation or calcium deposit in the kidneys etc. Increasing blood calcium over a long term even if it doesn’t rise above the boundary for normal isn’t necessarily good good. Having said that, people’s dosage tolerance for vitamin D seems to vary MASSIVELY. It’s really weird - some end up hospitalised on 10000 a day for a year, others can do 40000 a day and be fine. :)

1 Posted Sun 9 May 2021 23.51 by Yacht

Have you done blood tests for levels of things that may affect energy or mood, like low (or high) potassium, vit B12, B9, vit D, vit A, etc.? UVB gets hot, a person sweats, which can strip potassium from the body. Some studies suggest UVB can strip folate (B9) and cobalamin (B12) from the blood. A £50-200 finger-prick blood test from the NHS could shed light on it. How about blood pressure and heartrate? Up, steady, or down, during or after UVB?

Posted Wed 12 May 2021 07.03 by mt382

Haven’t done tests, though I can access my medical history through the app and can find a few examples of blood tests during a treatment period and they’ve always been normal. I am taking b12 and folate this time, only because I’ve reduced my meat consumption and the combination seems a recipe for disaster! I shall investigate these tests. Thanks

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