Best state to live in when you are sun sensitive??????????

Hi Melissa,

 

Welcome to the forum.  I'm so sorry your young child has been diagnosed with Lupus.  10 years old.  My goodness. How is she doing?  How are you all doing?  Please visit us and learn more about this disease. We have a wonderful bunch of members here, and we'd love for you and your daughter to join us.

 

As for your question.  I would recommend the Washington State, Oregon. They're quite cloudy most of the time.  I live in Calgary, Alberta, Canada which is very close to Washington.  We get the Seattle local news so we're in tip top shape when it comes to knowing  Seattle's weather forecast!  It's a beautiful region of your country, that's for sure!  And you have the ocean, which is something that is already so familiar for you.

 

You are amazing parents to think that intently about your daughter's well-being. To make a move like that is a big deal. She'll do so much better in a cloudier, cooler environment.  The heat itself is hard on people with Lupus too. We have to treat the sun like we are allergic to it. Those UV rays are very harmful.  So are fluorescent lights. They're like poison. If you have them in your home, switch them back to the old incandescents.  I'm stock piling my supply before we can't buy them anymore.

 

It will be interesting to see what the other members suggest!  Good luck. God bless,

 

Ginny

Hi-- I live in Georgia and I can't recommend it unless you live under a bunch of live oaks or in the woods. But having lived on the gulf and then here, the cold weather really does me in and I have relatives that have trouble with the sun, but also have reynauds or arthritis and the cold is horrible to them and they move back. So you may want to consider that. There are areas of Florida further from the coast where you can find very shady houses and yards under large oak trees. I like georgia because of the pines, but the tiny bit of cold we get here is all I can handle. I just stay indoors alot with wood blinds, put tint on the windows, car tint, which is really easy to put on, and that helps so you can open the blinds some. When I lived in my other house under the trees, it was very shady and I could go outside during the day alot as long as I didn't get out ofthe shade. I also screened in my pool, which helped me to swim.

I found certain meds were makin the sun sensitivity worse, Soma really made me much worse. I was able to change from that med to another and try to limit meds that make it worse, and had some significant improvement, though my skin still doesn't like the sun at all, I don't get the bad nausea headaches and aching.

The state of darkness? Oh, I guess that wasn't meant to be a trick question! Just playing.... I grew up in Florida and need the sunlight to maintain a decent state of mind...which I achieve in GA with large deep bay windows and appropriate window coverings to avoid direct sun. It's warm enough to keep me limber and seldom cold enough to be too much of a problem. My car windows are tinted, I wear a daily sunscreen on exposed skin, and seldom (if ever) spend much time in a large florescently lighted store or outside. I think with proper techniques almost anyplace can work out, once you are accustomed to practicing standard precautions. That said, I would suggest the furthest north from the equator as possible, but with the warmest winters you can get. I know some doctors would argue humid climates vs. dry climates, but I think that really depends on what kinds of symptoms your daughter develops. The disease presents very differently in each of us... I commend you in considering a move as "alternative treatment"... I'm sure the right path/solution will become clear to you in time. Cheers,

Hi Melissa, well, I can say from experience that South Florida isn't the best place to be with lupus. I was diagnosed shortly after moving there from NJ in 1994.  But, as long as I wore sunblock and limited my beach/pool time, I did fine until I had my son in 1998.  It wasn't the heat as much as the humidity. I lived there for 11 years and hated the summers- I was 7 months pregnant during the summer of 1998! But the cold weather doesn't make a difference in sensitivity to sun- it's how close you live to the equator- the further south, the stronger the sun is.

I went to Hong Kong last year during rainy season . . . I felt the best I felt in YEARS!! It was always cloudy because it was raining and the humidity was great for my skin issues . . . plus, the one day it was sunny, i could use an umbrella and not feel left out because that is what they do there! Many Chinese are in the pursuit of paler skin, so they go to whatever measure to keep themselves pale.

NOT that I recommend you move to Hong Kong! But I agree that Washington/Oregon might not be a bad alternative. Usually cloudy and both the winters and the summers are mild . . . along with enough humidity so that any skin issues would not be aggravated

lmuzic said...
Cleveland, OH gets an average of 66 sunny days per year.

Yes, but trust me when I say that you would much rather live on the upper west coast than in Cleveland. The weather is better.