Does Sun Exposure Really Cause Melanoma?

re: Does Sun Exposure Really Cause Melanoma?

zack66 — Mon, 04 May 2009 13:46:55 GMT

To lillamb83:

Hello lillamb83 - you mentioned that you are a Stage 3 Melonma Survivor...

Firstly, my best wishes to you and many thanks for posting your story.

My partner has just been diagnosed with Stage 3 Melanoma. He has had 2 lymph nodes removed, which showed up positive for Melanoma after they were biopsyed. He is now on his way to the operating theatre again on the 19th May for Auxillary Lymph Node Dissection - all 20 lymph nodes to be removed and biopsyed and then we wait for the results. He has already been advised of the "interferon" trials, but has also been asked to take part in the Phase III clinical studies using Ipilimumab - Adjuvant immunotherapy.

My questions to you are: Did you have all of your lymph nodes removed? What was the outcome of that surgery??? I'm assuming the outcome wasn't good, and that is why you were offered "inteferon" treatment? Have you heard of "Ipilimumab"?

What is the holistic approach that you took up? I have now put my partner on a totally organic diet and adding daily to this new routine to try and build up his immune system and overall strength and health in preparation for his impending surgery.

Sorry for all the questions. We only found out the results of the first biopsy 3 days ago and are both still in shock.

If you can help us with answers to any of these questions we would really appreciate it.

re: Does Sun Exposure Really Cause Melanoma?

campeau.serge — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 23:52:52 GMT

I would add that erratic sun exposure may be also in cause.

Here in the north, we stay in house for about 7 months and suddenly, once the temperature rise, we get plenty of sun for hours in one shot. We are so white at this moment that without sunscreen we get a sunburn garante. Another common habit is to travel and spend a week in the south (Cuba, Mexico, etc.) right in the middle of the winter where the sun is very strong. Sometimes it's a contrast from -20°C to +30°C.

The other fact that I realise is that we use to put sunscreen in order to stay a long time under the sun. We think we are safe and stay in the sun for 4 to 5 hours. The sunscreen actually shuts down the production of vitamin D on almost all the body. If we forget a small zone (that happens very often), that spot will definitely burn for such a long exposure and the protective effect of vit D is not there because the exposed area is too small.

I think sun exposure is like exercise, we need to go gradually. If you try to run a marathon without any previous training, you will hurt you for sure.

Our ancestors were always outside, then their skin had plenty of time to adapt during spring.

The only thing I wonder is: On what data come the previous conclusion that sun exposure cause skin cancer?

It could not be a pure invention. Were was the flaw?

re: Does Sun Exposure Really Cause Melanoma?

webwitch6 — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 17:19:26 GMT

I have had skin cancer -had it when I was 18. I burned at the the Jersey shore 4 times too many and ended up with sun poisoning as they call it. Then the dreaded diagnosis came and my world got real interesting. I immediately started researching alternative healing, in the days before the internet! I spent days and weeks in libraries. I had one treatment by conventional means and years of alternative and nutritional therapy. Guess what? No recurrance (sp.?) for over 23 years. And I am out in the sun every summer for a few minutes a day, and whenever I can in the cold bleak Northeastern winters!

Sunshine is our friend. Being a fat head and staying in the strong sun for hours is not good. But with all things in life, moderation is always the key and humans can't seem to moderate themselves. The age old problem....

re: Does Sun Exposure Really Cause Melanoma?

david — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 11:37:46 GMT

we've lived with the sun since time began, but skin cancers are a relatively new problem....as is an unnatural diet, man-made, so called 'foods', EMF exposure, environmental chemicals....and of course, toxic sunscreen products.

Use some simple logic and a much more sensible conclusion is reached.

re: Does Sun Exposure Really Cause Melanoma?

curious7 — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 23:04:09 GMT

Add to over exposure to the sun, and this toxin, and that, and I suspect that one can aquire skin cancer from the sun. Oh yes let us not forget having a crappy diet. Research, research, research.

re: Does Sun Exposure Really Cause Melanoma?

gables44 — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 20:37:28 GMT

My father died within 12 months of melanoma diagnosis thirty years ago. He was a sun addict and had lived as a child in India & Soth Africa. The consultants at Royal Marsden cancer hospital in London were (then) sure of the link between prolonged sun exposure and his terminal cancer ( he was only just 59 years).Were they wrong - he died anyway.

re: Does Sun Exposure Really Cause Melanoma?

lillamb83 — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 15:25:15 GMT

I am a stage 3 Melanoma survivor and I know that the sun was not a factor! I also do not have genetic factors other than I do have numerous moles. What I did have was a weakened immune system. When I was diagnosed I was 20 weeks preganant with my 3rd child but, it wasn't until after I had him that my Melanoma became full blown. After much research I discovered that chlorine, or more likely its byproduct, has been shown to be a factor in studies done in Europe. My history is that I grew up in Oregon, never had a bad burn because I always wore my sunscreen and hats, was a competitive swimmer and lifegaurd, moved to Arizona in '91 and continued to be a faithful sunscreen user. At the time of my diagnosis I was working part time in an indoor pool supervising instructors and teaching lessons. Also, my melanoma is where the sun never shines, under my hair behind my right ear. I strongly believe that not only the lack of Vitamin D but the years of exposure to the chlorine byproducts, chemicals in the sunscreen as well as our environment and a weakened immune system due to 3 pregnancies in 4 years was the cause of my Melanoma. In fact I know of at least 10 other cases where women have been diagnosed with Melanoma after their 2nd or 3rd pregnancy. Hmmm, could it be a weakened immune response manifesting as melanoma? Or, maybe a hormonal factor? According to my 1st Oncologist, there is no link to any of the above and Melanoma and it is caused by the sun. Good thing I fired him after my 1st visit and did my research! He wanted me to do Interferon and or a study treatment. I chose to work with a more holistic approach and trust my own research and instincts. Thank God I did as I do not believe I would be here had I followed his protocol. Today my baby is 8 years old and I continue to do well and only wear sunscreens minimally that are chemical free. I also let all those I love know to get plenty of sunshine, avoid chemicals and eat as healthy as possible.

re: Does Sun Exposure Really Cause Melanoma?

vince_203 — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 14:18:01 GMT

An interesting study found that those on diuretics and forced to avoid sunlight had higher rates of melanoma and other skin cancers . It amazes me how this info is available and never used

re: Does Sun Exposure Really Cause Melanoma?

MPC — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 12:35:26 GMT

THE authority on vitamin D is John J. Cannell MD. Go to his home page about vitamin D at www.vitamindcouncil.org and then go to www.vitamindcouncil.org/vitaminDToxicity.shtml to read about vitamin D toxicity...or better yet....the lack thereof...

I take 10,000 IU's of vitamin D a day in two doses of 5,000 IU's each. I do not get respiratory infections, the flu, a cold, bacterial infections or viral infections.

My tested D level is just above 60 ng/ml so I'm working my way up the scale to around 80 ng/ml so that my body will begin to store vitamin D.

re: Does Sun Exposure Really Cause Melanoma?

Liz Smith — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 12:17:08 GMT

How responsible is sun screen use for the lack of Vit D in the body? I take Blue Green Algae and I do not burn like I used to before I took it. I do not need sun screen but I still dont sit out all day with my northern pale skin. During a stay in Tahiti I forgot to use sun screen and oddly did not end up like a lobster or blister and peel. It came to me then that I had not been getting my usual reaction to sun and hadnt for a while, the only connection was the Blue Green Algae. They say the ozone layer in Australia is closing as well. I am also lucky that I dont have any electricity pylons near where I live.

re: Does Sun Exposure Really Cause Melanoma?

Safe — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 09:07:37 GMT

I have had experience where a friend had a malignant melanoma.

There was a power line about 40m from his bedroom!

He recovered and has moved away.

Other sources of man made radiation include micro wave radiation emitted from cell phone towers, wireless routers for computers (WiFi), Wiii, digital cordless phones, low energy lightbulbs etc

The radiation levels are now so high it is hard to avoid exposure.

However the one thing people can do is ensure their own home is safe by going for cabled devices always

See www.mastsanity.org and other sites

re: Does Sun Exposure Really Cause Melanoma?

bagarino — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 09:00:25 GMT

Whilst there is no doubt in my mind that good levels of Vitamin D are linked (but are not necessarily the causative agent) to protection against melanoma, I would not 'throw the baby out with the bathwater' and discount sunshine as the major cause of melanomas. Studies of truckers in Australia showed the distribution of melanomas to be greater or the outer (right-hand) side of the body (Australians drive on the left in RHD cars).

In cloudy and dull Northern Ireland, where the disease is rampant (along with others linked to low Vitamin D levels such as CHD and multiple sclerosis) melanoma is called 'Secretary's Disease' because it seems to afflict principally young and middle-aged female patients who work in sedentary professions indoors and take a couple of 'tan or bust' foreign holidays a year, usually to the Red Sea, Canaries or Mediterranean. Arriving in Sharm-el-Sheik in March with their Vitamin D levels at rock-bottom they then set out to get a 'healthy tan', way beyond their genetic and pre-exposure optimum, burn like lobsters and then peel. Melanomas are far rarer in those that remain in Northern Ireland all year OR IN NORTHERN IRISH WHO SPEND THEIR WORKING LIVES OUTDOORS such as farmers, foresters and fishermen. The latter seem more prone to the less lethal Basal Cell Carcinoma as well as cataracts arising from chronic UV exposure in blue-eyed subjects.

re: Does Sun Exposure Really Cause Melanoma?

Safe — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 09:00:06 GMT

articles.mercola.com/.../Does-Sun-Exposure-Really-Cause-Melanoma.aspx

Med Sci Monit. 2004 Jul;10(7):CR336-40.

Malignant melanoma of the skin - not a sunshine story!

Hallberg O, Johansson O.

Experimental Dermatology Unit, Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden. oerjan.hallberg@swipnet.se

BACKGROUND: In an earlier study on malignant melanoma incidence in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and the USA, we found a strong association between the introduction of FM radio broadcasting at full-body resonant frequencies and increasing melanoma incidence. The purpose of the current study was to review mortality and incidence data for malignant melanoma of the skin in Sweden and its temporal relation to increased "sun-traveling", and to the introduction of FM and TV broadcasting net-works.

MATERIAL/METHODS: Official, published information was collected and displayed graphically. These data included incidence rates of malignant melanoma, death numbers, charter travel statistics, and data on the expansion of the FM broadcasting network in all counties of Sweden.

RESULTS: A good correlation in time was found for the rollout of FM/TV broadcasting networks while the increased amount of "sun travel" by air (charter) did not start until 7 years after the melanoma trend break in 1955. Counties that did not roll out their FM-broadcasting network until several years after 1955 continued to have a stable melanoma mortality during the intervening years.

CONCLUSIONS: The increased incidence and mortality of melanoma of skin cannot solely be explained by increased exposure to UV-radiation from the sun. We conclude that continuous disturbance of cell repair mechanisms by body-resonant electromagnetic fields seems to amplify the carcinogenic effects resulting from cell damage caused e.g. by UV-radiation.

re: Does Sun Exposure Really Cause Melanoma?

wabi sabi — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 06:48:17 GMT

I have not believed that the sun causes cancer for a long time. I stay out of the sun because it ages the skin. My Dad, who died at age 95 had a white than white anglo-saxon skin with numerous moles, he worked in the sun without shirt , protection etc.. (Never had cancer) On the other hand, several dear friends and aquaintances have now passed on after being diagnosed with Melanoma, they were young , 40'ish, the one thing that they persistently had in common is that they were builders, they say as apprentices they would have to work on a construction immediately after foundations were treated with pesticides for white-antst (termites). I wonder! Still wondering????

re: Does Sun Exposure Really Cause Melanoma?

Running_Stick — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 04:46:34 GMT

I ready an article earlier today on a mainstream (Yahoo) site. It stated that optimal levels of Vit D are in the 30-40 ng/ml range. Furthermore it specified that 1000-2000 I.U. is a more appropriate level of supplementation depending on weight and age. With an upper limit of 10,000 I.U. per day.

Maybe there is hope that the truth about Vit D can finaly reach the masses and mainstream doctors will take our requests to get our Vit D levels check as legitimate.