I'm in the process of changing lighting again. Done it once as was old LED soft was better than florescent. But a waste of money as seems brighter!
Getting uplighters and have been trying to get really low wattage bulbs. Also paper enclosed shades.
Food shopping still very difficult even with dark glasses in a a thick wool felt deeply brimmed hat. Awaiting prescription tinted glasses from a behaviour Optometrist. Hoping they will help in the house.
So if any fellow sufferers have any more tips would be gratefully recieved. Bed time around 7pm at present and getting earlier. Sometimes this fine as so fatigued but would like to choose!!
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Nackapan
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I use Phillips Hue bulbs in my bedroom, controlled by a motion sensor, phone, tablet, switches, my watch or Alexa.
I can set the lights to be the brightness I need for various situations. During the day the motion detector switches the lights on in 'relax' mode (dim, reddish light) and switches then off after 5 minutes of no motion. At night they switch to 'goodnight' mode (just two lights, very dim red - just enough to find my way to the loo) when they detect motion and switch off after one minute of no motion.
I can also use voice control to switch them to 'relax', 'goodnight', 'off', 'bright' (everything on full brightness) and 'reading' (a strip of LEDs on the headboard of the bed switch on to white).
It's also set up so that one light goes pale blue when the Ring doorbell detects somebody approaching the front door, green when they're at the back door, and flashes when the doorbell is rung.
In the rest of the house (shared by others) we have normal, dummable, uplighters. I'm the only one keen on the automation. But some homes are fully automated. But that's very expensive.
I did it all myself. The Philips bulbs just plug into normal sockets. They talk to a hub connected to the Internet router and the hub connects via WiFi to everything else.
If it does sound tempting wait for Amazon's Black Friday deals. You should be able to pick up a Hue White and Colour Ambience kit that has three bulbs plus an Echo Dot for just over £100.
Thank you. I don't live alone either so has to have brighter options in places. I've got a dimmer switch in one room but for some reason flickers more. So will try another bulb.
Those Philip hue bulbs I'd not heard of. I looked online last night .As plug in definitely worth a try.
Seconded re Philips Hue lights, though we are not as advanced as you, fbirder ; just four lights in the lounge and one in the kitchen, controlled by Alexa, Google Home and iPad, and no motion sensors or IFTTT (yet?)
No medical reasons; we just wanted a new standard lamp, saw the Signe on the John Lewis website, went from there. In the end, that was the last Hue item we bought though, after we had given up on JL ever actually having it in stock, and imported it from Germany. Just like....
JL finally have it now though, or they did.
And we’ve just set up a Ring DoorCam that we are getting to grips with; I like your idea of flashing the Hue lights when it rings. We got that because I can’t hear the regular doorbell when I am in the garden room; the video will come in handy though, we are sure.
Nackapan , the bulbs that flicker when you dim them are doing that because they aren’t dimmable bulbs; you can get away with dimming them a bit, but usually not enough, and you need to buy the dimmable type. Or use Hue, as above; they are infinitely dimmable, though, curiously perhaps, not via a dimmer switch. But with Hue, you just leave the light switched on, and any existing dimmer set to full on, and work them via the Hue interface - “OK Google, lounge off”, darkness, and so to bed.
Okay Thanks. I do use dimable bulbs with the dimmer switch. I'm not able to tolerate the dimmer overhead light at present. It flickers whethet visible
or not my head tells me. I think will get rid of the dimmer switch .
Thanks for seconding Philip hue bulbs. Am getting some to try. Also low wattage halogen. Trying to source tungsten bulbs.
As EllieMayNot describes it can seem quite dim to others and flicker not even the visible but with light sensitivityyour body reacts sometimes before you know what's going on. Then the headache.
So trying to go room to room so don't have to sit on the bed in semi dark every night front 1830-1900. Flashing lights are a no no . I'm also trying to get tungston bulbs. And coloured ones deniseinmilden suggested. My house isn't high tech at all. I'm even thinking the waves from landline telephones connecting to each other via hub is affecting me as certainly cantt use them. So have one only now. So will start with change of bulbs again and lamps around the place also suggrsted. Hey ho. What you used to take for granted.
Hope you have fun working it all out for your needs. Very clever techy stuff.
Tell you a story about subliminal flickering. Girl at work, used to end the day tired and often with a headache, thought it was the fluorescent lights.
I looked at her computer monitor, set to 50Hz, same as the mains, and so same as the fluorescents. Set it to 60Hz instead, so it didn’t sync with them.
Transformation! She didn’t know how, didn’t know what, but it was ‘better’. Not just at the end of the day, but all through.
So trust your subconscious. Things you consciously perceive only dimly, or not at all, may manifest only as a sense of unease, but your brain, deep down, knows it’s being made uncomfortable.
I have to use low watt warm colored halogen bulbs (I'm in the US). Fluorescents and LEDs give me an immediate headache. Stores are tough, I sometimes have seizures but much less often now that I am regularly injecting B12. I wear blue blocker glasses when looking at a screen and have my screens set for night mode all the time which reduces brightness and blue levels. Rhythmic noise is terrible as I feel it in my head and feel like I am going crazy. I am not as bad as you, Nackapan, but I do have to avoid and/or limit my time in many places.
Yes I'm finding it difficult to source the right sort of bulbs. I've at present got the lowest wattage I can find 40-50w. The upper light shades help as do fully enclosed shades. I've even tried pegging t towels round the bottom of a free standing lamp. Like you say the halogen or tungsten bulbs very hard to find. I'm in the UK. It's definitely florescent lights which I've had removed from the house. Im sorry to hesr about your seizures. Glad they are less often and hopefilly will go.
Some warm LED replacements no better.
I have a blue blocker on this small mobile screen. Cant use anything bigger. I react with pain at the back of my head. It sizzles and shooting pains up the back. I then feel really irritable and shaky. And then headaches of all variety and nausea.
When I have to go in a shop/bank despite a hat and dark glasses I have a physical reaction. Last time I left a building society my legs went like jelly and on leaving lost balance staggered and bumped straight into someone as though I was drunk. Once adjusted to daylight recovered. They took it well. Some wouldn't.
Hospital envireoment a nightmare. I had my worst ever migrain after seeing a neurologist .
It's interesting what you say about rhythmic noises. I had a very very old heating system and part of my worst days was the noise of the pump. Was in my head even when not noisy. Have got rid of all that too!! The other one was a fan in the hot weather. I still hear it now and like you say drives you up the wall. I have to really concentrate on getting the noise out of my head. Not something I mention to the doctor lol. I would if ENT but my Gp wouldn't get it like alot of my other symptoms.
I get my 'special' tinted glasses soon so fingers crossed if they help I will spread the word.
Thank you for reply. I will take all ideas in and try phase 2or 3 of sorting the house.
As a cheaper, quick fix solution could you change your bulbs to red ones or put red tissue paper or coloured plastic over them or use a red or brown Sharpie pen to colour the LED bulbs - so long as they never get hot!
You can get red tinted sun screen peaks (like a hat without the top bit) and I wonder if they might help.
It suggests it's something to do with the colour spectrum if red is OK and blue is bad and that it might be to do with the ultraviolet light at the blue end of the spectrum. You can get ultraviolet light filters for certain applications so it might be worth investigating these?
Thank you. Yes I've now been tested and awaiting my new tinted glasses as need a prescription in them.
I tried clip ons over the top anti blue but too msny layers ti look through.
The anti blue strip on this phone good and cheap.
The visa idea is good idea even to perhaps get around the house in and could wear my ordinary gkasses thanks. I walked out side last night and an outside light hit me. That hurt and then a rotten night.
Like you say it's working out the colours for different things before I start spending. Good job not had a holiday in years lol.
I tried orange overlays as more comfortable in opticians to test out before the huge expense of more glasses. (Used for dyslexia and other problems including migrain
Thank goodness I did that, as so disappointed on trying to use it to read a bank statement had the reaction I explained on other reply. I must get those to a school where they can be used rather than sitting in a drawer.
I have thought about the all enclosed glasses t
hanks. Again have to work out what colour for outside . I can get those with my prescription in then.
Hope fully by the time I have managed to work it all out I wont need them. Hope so.
The clip on ones I mentioned for anti blue light might work for others. They were from thermachec online. They refunded the money when didn't work for me.
I have a ‘globe shaped’ table lamp from B&Q that has loads of different colours and brightness levels, all controlled by remote control. It can be fixed on one colour and brightness too. Wasn’t expensive!
I also have a globe light in the bedroom its only a white light but has 3 different brightness settings and is touch sensitive on and off, can"t remember where I got it from but I did get it online and it wasn"t expensive
If theirs others that have PA or B12d and suffer the same maybe it is all interlinked, we do obviously suffer from neurological issues when low and our nervous system can be damaged. How many shots have you had glad you've seen some improvement that to me on it's own seems promising x
I've been having b12 injections for a year. Presently 2 weekly. Yes nervous system does get affected/damaged to different degrees and in different ways person to person.
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B12 , any links to paraprotein and light chains
Who has noise sensitivity, and what IS it?
B12d and alcohol and the pill
