Health

Health: Environmentally Friendly Headache

PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ― In health, Medical Reporter Stephanie Stahl has details on a new form of headache agony that might be related to being environmentally friendly.

We depend on lighting, it's everywhere. Now new age, energy efficient light is all the rage.

It helps the environment and can save you money. Being green is in.

Bernadette Maskery tried using the new energy friendly so called green light bulbs but got a rude awakening.

"Something in my brain reacts to it and it picks up on it and it triggers headaches. It's like someone has taken an ice pick and jabbed in right here" said Bernadette.

Light is a known migraine trigger, and the new energy efficient light bulbs emit a different kind of light.

"I'm beginning to hear more people complain. Everybody has a different sensitivity," said Dr. Stephen Silberstein, a headache specialist at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.

He said the new lights appear to set off migraines in some people. Doctors suspect it triggers migraines because the light is a different color or some people see them flickering.

"It can hyperexcite the brain and bring on a migraine," said Dr. Silberstein.

Energy efficient lights use less electricity and last longer. They work with a gas to produce ultraviolet light that's reflected off the white coating inside the bulb. So the quality of the light is different from traditional incandescent bulbs.

"They're so bright they actually hurt my eyes," said Bernadette.

For Bernadette, drugs didn't work to stop the headaches, only sometimes ease the pain. Her only salvation was to remove the new lights and try to stay out of buildings that use them.

"I'm all for anything that helps save the environment, but my health is also very important," said Bernadette.

There are no large scale scientific studies on migraines and the new light bulbs.

The American Lighting Association said it can't comment on medical issues, but adds the bulbs are safe and their testing shows they're not as bright as traditional light, so there's less glare.


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