Most people who are ill enough to be treated with the Marshall ProtocolA curative medical treatment for chronic inflammatory disease. Based on the Marshall Pathogenesis. (MP) become photosensitiveAbnormal sensitivity to sunlight and bright lights. Also referred to as "sun flare" or "light flare.". That photosensitivity, especially in the first months of the treatment, can cause an increase in symptoms if not controlled. If an MP patient's symptoms increase during or after exposure to outdoor light, that patient is considered photosensitive. PhotosensitivityAbnormal sensitivity to sunlight and bright lights. Also referred to as "sun flare" or "light flare." is highly variable between one patient and the next.
Symptoms of photosensitivity can occur as a result of light falling on the skin as well as in the eyes. MP patients must protect their skin and eyes from light while outdoors.
Some MP patients can get by with some outdoor light exposure without feeling too bad. Others cannot continue because they become too symptomatic. MP patients who are symptomatic should assess their light exposure frankly. They might want to diligently avoid all light by staying indoors in 30 lux lighting for a week or more to see if symptoms decrease. Natural light exposure will not stop bacterial killing in a patient on the MP, but progress may be slowed if either 25-DThe vitamin D metabolite widely (and erroneously) considered best indicator of vitamin D "deficiency." Inactivates the Vitamin D Nuclear Receptor. Produced by hydroxylation of vitamin D3 in the liver. or 1,25-DPrimary biologically active vitamin D hormone. Activates the vitamin D nuclear receptor. Produced by hydroxylation of 25-D. Also known as 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol, 1,25-hydroxyvitamin D and calcitirol. are elevated by light exposure enough to inhibit immune function.
As a patient progresses on the MP, photosensitivity will lessen and the patient will be able to resume normal light exposure levels.
Any discussion about outdoor light exposure refers to all daylight (not just sunlight) occurring between dawn and dusk. Even on a cloudy day, in the shade, or in a location know for its rainy days, a photosensitive MP patient can be exposed to too much radiation in just a few minutes of the skin being exposed. All wave lengths of natural light (infrared to ultraviolet) can provide enough solar electromagnetic energy to cause the creation of the secosteroidal hormone 1,25-D within the skin cells and light to be transmitted to the brain (amygdala) via the eyes. Ultraviolet and infrared rays are not completely blocked by sunscreen, clouds or tinted car windows, and they are reflected off many surfaces (snow, sand, concrete, etc.).
The length of time one is exposed to natural light needed to exacerbate Th1 symptoms will vary depending on the level of photosensitivity of the individual, but overcast skies should be regarded with the same caution as a cloudless day.
The effects of light exposure on MP patients do not vary with latitude. Light intensity, as it relates to production of 1,25-D, is the same in northern latitudes as it is at the equator.
I realized that sunlight was a key factor in 1986. At the time I was standing in the main square of old-city Stockholm, waiting for a walking-tour guide. All our other European capital-city walking tours had been at night, but Stockholm was during the day. I got very sick.
At that point I realized that the amount of sunshine in even the most northerly capital in the world (almost) was way too much for somebody with Th1 diseaseAny of the chronic inflammatory diseases caused by bacterial pathogens., I realized that the sensitivity went way beyond anything science had envisioned, and that latitude offered no protection whatsoever, because the degree of sensitivity was way greater than the amount of protection offered by latitude.
However, the corollary is probably true - that folks living on the equator cannot escape sunlight. I worked for a year in Papua, New Guinea (teaching at the PNG University of Technology, 1974) and I can tell you that the the sun there is fierce. But it is a mistake to assume that the sun elsewhere is less fierce to a degree that would alleviate Th1 illness.
There have been reports that 50% of folks in Papua, New Guinea are seropositive for Lyme1), and the CDC has tried hard to discredit the implications of this.
Trevor Marshall, PhD
Individuals with darker skin are no less susceptible to the effects of light on the skin than are individuals with lighter skin.
Any supposition that dark skin is somewhat protective when it comes to 1,25-D levels generated by sunlight relies on the (widely believed) assertion that 1,25-D can only be made by the body from 7-dehydro-cholesterol under the action of sunlight. That is not correct.
There are hundreds of folks on the MP who have been getting no UVB at all for a period of years. Yet, they are manufacturing more than enough 1,25-D to keep their innate immune systems ticking.
The concept that humans need sunlight falling on skin to produce 1,25-D, even though many nocturnal mammals do not, is, even by itself, ludicrous. Now that we understand the molecular genomics of the biochemical reactions it just makes the concept even more ludicrous.
There are social and societal differences between communities which do play into the pathogenesis of these Th1 diseasesThe chronic inflammatory diseases caused by bacterial pathogens.. Those are what need to be studied, not the color of the skin.
Trevor Marshall, PhD
Tinted window glass, including that in cars, provides MP patients with little protection from the effects of light.
Riding in a car, even with the best tinted windows, is an excellent way to get too much natural light.
My UV meter shows only one drop in SPF-equivalent levels inside and outside the car window when parked in the California sun. So if auto safety glass attenuates UV, it doesn't absorb very much. Of course, you don't need UV to make 1,25-D in the keratinocytes of the skin.
Direct sun (UV) light is the worst, although light reflected from the ground and buildings, is also intense enough to cause severe problems.
Window glass which blocks UV spectrum (car front windows typically absorb 95+% of UV light), can still make Th1 patients very sick from the light which comes through them (even if it has to reflect from a surface such as floors and walls).
Trevor Marshall, PhD
I got a new car over the weekend, and today I went to the tinting shop to tint the windows. Like everyone else in here, I just can't stand the sun. There is a new line of glass coatings from a company called Huper Optik. They had a box display with an IR light that shines on your hand in (it's hot), and then they slide the treated glass in, and the heat is almost completely blocked. Amazing.
It's made of some kind of ceramic, and blocks high amounts of infrared rays in a range of colors, including clear, which can be put on the windshield. I had already spent my allowance on the rest of the windows, but I'm going back after my next paycheck to do my windshield. The guy in the shop says he gets a high number of skin cancer patients and people with lupus etc. on referral because this film works so well and his customers are getting a lot of relief from the inescapable blast of sun while in the car.
Of course, this film can also be applied to house windows. Not sure if this is the right forum, and I know it sounds like a commercial, but I'm so impressed I had to share.
Santa Monica, MarshallProtocol.com