Low Energy Bulbs and Migraines

Nancy Harris Bonk Living With It Community Manager My first real experience with chronic head pain... Send Message Subscribe: Nancy Harris Bonk

Thursday, January 03, 2008
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Low energy light bulbs (Compact Fluorescent Bulbs - CFLs) have come under scrutiny recently. These bulbs are good for the environment and are more efficient and less expensive to use than the older incandescent light bulbs. The incandescent bulbs are scheduled for voluntary removal from store she...

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Product Approval Process
cking
Wednesday, January 09, 2008 at 05:16 PM
This makes me wonder why the CFLS got approved in the first place if they contain mercury and cannot easily be recycled or disposed of. Please keep us posted, and I think I'll run my own personal experiment to determine whether the CFL worsens my migraines or increases frequency versus the incandescent. I tend to use indirect lighting these days. I hope the halogen bulgs don't have the same issues as the CFLs. Thanks, Nancy.

re: Product Approval Process
Nancy Harris Bonk
Thursday, January 10, 2008 at 06:27 PM

I'll keep you posted.

re: re: Product Approval Process
chuck
Saturday, January 12, 2008 at 03:17 AM

Several years ago I began to be concerned about the mercury in these new CFL's. These are very dangerous to just about everything. Talk about a plume of mercury from land fills and you see where this can end up. And I mean IN YOU. However, I am now starting to hear that there are new types of lamps that use light emitting diodes. They are similar to what the "new" flash lights have in them. I've not seen any on store shelves, but are supposed to be very long lasting, very bright, can come in colors and have no mercury. Where can I get these new light bulbs?
Regards, Chuck

re: re: re: Product Approval Process
MaxJerz
Saturday, January 12, 2008 at 07:58 PM

Chuck, you are correct that LED light bulbs that fit normal household fixtures are now available. I'm not sure of any stores that sell them, but if you search for "LED light bulbs" on Google or another search engine, a lot of different websites come up.

Hope this helps!
-MJ

re: re: re: re: Product Approval Process
chuck
Saturday, January 12, 2008 at 11:36 PM

Thanks very much for the info. I'm sure that this will be a hot topic for "green people" as well as for our needs and concerns.
Chuck

Great Head Up
justgrateful
Thursday, January 10, 2008 at 02:24 PM

Thanks Nancy,
This is a great heads up to fluorescent bulbs, which are a big trigger for me and others. Just to add, I know in California, that when building of new houses that it is required by building code to put a certain amount of fluorescent lights (depending on square footage) in bathrooms and kitchen for energy effeciency (we own a construction company). It will be interesting to see if they can come up with an environmently friendly yet more efficient light bulb that does not contain Mercury. Thanks again
Dar

re: Great Head Up
Nancy Harris Bonk
Thursday, January 10, 2008 at 06:28 PM

It really is amazing to me that these bulbs are becoming mandatory. With the new health concerns in addition to the mercury, I don't think these are a good thing. They must be able to improve on this.

I am green enough....
Kelly
Friday, January 11, 2008 at 09:24 AM
I was thinking about getting CFLs. I try to be eco-friendly, but I have been holding off b/c I can't find a 40 watt equivalent. (I don't like 60 and 100 is just out o the question. Bright light is a big trigger for me). Now I have another reason. I get enough migs as it is and I am barely exposed to florescents.

They do trigger me
Megan Oltman
Friday, January 11, 2008 at 12:11 PM
My husband just replaced the two flood lights over my desk with cfls - and they were okay until I started getting a migraine, then they became intolerable. I certainly hope they come up with lower environmental impact in the incandescent bulbs, because I don't think I'll be able to live with only cfls. Thanks for the news update!

An alternative to CFLs
MaxJerz
Friday, January 11, 2008 at 06:06 PM
Nancy, a good alternative to using CFLs is using dimmer switches on regular incandescent lamps. Using dimmers has been shown to be as energy-saving as using CFLs. There is more upfront cost, but this is a reasonable alternative to those of us (like myself) who can't tolerate CFLs.

flourecent lights
hot needle
Friday, January 11, 2008 at 09:54 PM

I never thought too much about lights until we bought our last house. There were three flourscent lights in the kitchen. One was above the sink where I always did dishes, one above the taqble, and one to light up what the other two didn't! I kept getting headaches in the kitchen! When I turned off the lights one by one it was better. However it took a year to discover that the culpret was the lights!
My husbands friend told us about these lights! He changed two of the three to regular lights-no more headaches! Thank God!

mercury in bulbs
DebMomm
Saturday, January 12, 2008 at 08:10 PM
They are not only a worry when the burn out, but a recent Consumer Reports listed the proper disposal of these bulbs when they break and it consists of gloves and double bagging the broken pieces and double bagging the gloves, etc.