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Seizures along with usual EHS symptoms Canada
Contamination level: Severe illness! Forced to abandon a home.
Author: Amias Created: 30 Jun 2009 Updated: 11 Nov 2010 Viewed: 8755 time(s)
Left three homes due to illness suspected related to premises - only identified electrosensitivity once moved to fourth location, began improving, and determined only material difference between fourth location and three previous was much less exposure there to wireless transmitter masts. Main health complaint: mild seizures since childhood now significantly aggravated in proximity to mast locations; better when not in proximity.
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Update II Created: 11 Nov 2010
Nearly a year on and I've noticed a continued correlation between microwave exposure and seizures, and also, quite markedly, a seasonal variation in the ambient signal levels (and my symptoms) which seems consistently to have them elevated in the cold months and at their lowest in mid-summer. I wasn't sure about this at first but it's three cold seasons I've been paying attention now and there seems to be a clear pattern along those lines. Is it due to increased foliage absorbing or blocking microwave emissions in the summer months, increased reflection in the winter months off snow and ice, seasonal geomagnetic variations affecting signal propagation, or simply increased use of those frequencies in the winter? Considering the rumours I hear of trees being the scourge of radio engineers' propagation efforts, perhaps the first is the more likely, or the predominant, explanation.

In any event, I moved away from the city at the end of February this year and live in a farmhouse more than two kilometres from the nearest mast. My employer continues to permit me to work from home on a provisional basis, although I've now had two medical doctors assess me and recommend to them that I be allowed to work from home and am awaiting a decision from the employers on whether my work-at-home arrangement will be formalised. Neither of these doctors specifically admitted to me any acceptance of my claims of electrohypersensitivity nor any causal connection between microwaves and my seizures. One simply recommended that I be permitted to work from home because I apparently do better there, for whatever reason (explicitly stating in his letter that there was no scientific basis for a connection between seizures and microwaves). The other, having been hired by my employers to evaluate me, did not share his reasoning with me, but also recommended I be allowed to continue working from home.

At the property I try to restrict myself most of the time to areas where the ambient microwave signal level is one microwatt per square meter or lower, and I seldom leave the property. My tonic clonic seizures, so long as this is maintained, have been absent. Only on the few occasions when I'm careless and rack up some higher exposure do I seem to suffer the tonic clonic seizures (on average about one every four months over the last year or so, although decidedly not with an even distribution over the year).

The house I'm in is of wooden construction primarily, which doesn't seem to provide as good protection as stone or brick, and areas where I spend the most time (office and bed) are partially shielded against the direction of the nearest mast with stainless steel insect screen with spaces between the wire just slightly larger than a square millimeter each. The screen is significantly cheaper than most of the specialised fabrics I've found on the market and seems to do a pretty good job of blocking microwave transmissions if it's deployed carefully. It's just a bit stubborn to work with.

I've also applied Graham Stetzer filters to electrical outlets throughout the house to reduce 'harmonics' from 'dirty electricity' on the house's wiring, although I don't know if this has had any effect on my health. I am pretty sure, however, that two steps I've taken to reduce radiofrequency emissions in my work space have been particularly helpful at making me feel better. One is replacing my USB computer mouse with a PS/2 mouse. The latter (at least the one I have) has far lower RF and 50/60 Hz readings and doesn't give rise to the same EHS symptoms. The other is replacing my fluorescently lit computer monitor with an LED-lit monitor. Both have LCD screens, but the latter, like the PS/2 mouse, seems to have much weaker emissions. Although I don't think I've ever tried one, I'm guessing USB keyboards should also be avoided in favour of the ones with the traditional purple plug, whatever it's called.

Living as I do, isolated from mast signal (and obviously using no wireless internet, mobile phone, microwave oven or other microwave-emitting device that I'm aware of), I notice my other EHS symptoms also seem quite well controlled. Sleep, mood, nerves, digestion, all seem consistently in good form so long as I keep away from signal, although I find I need to do so fairly religiously and not let the discipline slip, or the problems start coming back. Memory may be the slowest to have shown good improvement, but it too seems now to have made some pleasing gains. This may also be attributable to my internal application of the herbal remedy uncaria rhynchophylla, at a concentrated daily dose of half a gram (derived from ten grams of fresh herb) for the last twenty or so months.

Now I have to worry about the expanding network of 'Smart Meters' and try to keep one off my property, as well as to stay vigilant against the possible erection of new towers in my area. I've cultivated contacts in municipal planning departments in my area in order to keep abreast of any applications for new mast erections, so that I can be aware in advance of the need to fight (or flee further into the bush). I'm hoping neither will be necessary.

Good health to all.
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Update Created: 20 Nov 2009
Several months on and feeling much better. I have avoided masts religiously and my improvement is marked. No generalised seizures, and even the throat spasms are reduced. I have very few symptoms to complain of, though I feel certain cognitive and motor faculties are not quite what they once were - memory is much improved but fatigue can bring back some of the barriers to recall. Also noticing more verbal slips - subtle things like minor word mispronunciation and letter reversal, which I normally catch immediately and correct. These occur in speech, typing and handwriting. But I don't wish to complain of these things too much - it is such a relief to be experiencing my overwhelming improvements generally and I'm grateful for them.

Last week I went out into the world of masts for the first time in several months and note here, in case it is of clinical interest to anyone, how the exposure seems to have affected me. When I went out I was doing well - feeling for the most part in better health than perhaps I had in years. We were going out to view a property for lease - away from masts - and had intended, my wife and I, to drive as quickly as safely possible through urban traffic to minimise my exposure to high-strength signal. We were caught, however, in an unexpected traffic queue from which we couldn't escape, where there had been a road accident and emergency crews were responding. This was at the foot of an extremely powerful mast - less than 50 m away - I had with me an 'Electrosmog Detector' and the audio report from it was deafening. There was little we could do there but wait, and I was under this heavy exposure for perhaps five minutes. Again, I had not been thus exposed for months.

At the time of exposure I felt mild prickling and heat in my arms. My head was wrapped in highly conductive copper-tin Zelt fabric - a safety precaution to reduce head exposure to mast signal considering my more serious neurological symptoms - and my detector reported very little signal inside the wrapping. Thus the brunt of the exposure was on the rest of my body, particularly my arms and torso, which were really bathed in the radiation.

My symptoms began mostly the next day. I felt very heavy-headed and drowsy, with occasional difficulty keeping awake - this lasted about three days, improving slightly each day. I had frequent muscle spasms in my arms and legs lasting five of six days - mainly my arms (note they were far more exposed than my legs, which had the benefit of being better shielded by the car body), also improving slightly each day. I had vertigo - faint-headedness upon standing, which felt like it was the result of low blood pressure - gradually improving over the course of the week; and I had digestive disturbance - muscles deep in my abdomen felt as though they were involuntarily clenched tight, and this resulted in pain, gas and a sick feeling, which also has taken about a week to resolve (my diet was unchanged). Not one of these symptoms was present in the weeks or even months before my recent exposure. My sleep, although mildly more disturbed after the exposure for about five days, was not really badly affected, and I wonder whether this had to do with the head protection I used.

Now, just over a week on, I'm feeling back on track. It seems even a five-minute dose of high-enough intensity signal is enough for me to feel somewhat battered for about a week.

One further note: I've noticed Canadian wintertime is having the effect of greatly increasing ambient signal in the city. I have taken signal readings fairly extensively and believe this change is due entirely to the reduction in leaf cover. Toronto is a very green city in summer and I realise now all those trees afford significant protection. With the leaves all fallen and some signal penetrating into the upper levels of the house (which it was not in the summer) I am now living in the basement and emerge only briefly for daily exercise, sunlight and food. But I'm feeling well!
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General history and comment Created: 3 Jul 2009
I am in my late twenties and since the age of seven have had localised seizures or spasms of the throat on account of an underlying nervous condition which I do not associate with microwave transmissions. This problem in itself did not in any of its instances or manifestations result in prolonged loss of consciousness, nor has it ever seemed to present a serious impediment to normal living.

A couple of years ago I had, for the first time, a single generalised tonic clonic seizure which did result in loss of consciousness and brief hospitalisation. From what I understand from the doctors and medical literature, it is unusual for this to occur for the first time in a person's late twenties absent some external factor like head injury or drug use. In my case neither was present. MRI, EEG, ECG and blood analyses by doctors ruled out any of the usual causes for a sudden and unexpected seizure.

Granting the fact, given my history of small, localised seizures or spasms, that I am probably predisposed to occasional excess or irregular neuronal activity, in retrospect I can nonetheless connect the first generalised seizure with a host of electrosensitivity symptoms which had been building up beforehand (mainly emotional and digestive problems, and limb numbness), as well as to the fact that a few hours before experiencing it I had been working within 100 m of a wireless transmission mast without interruption for about 15 hours (this was not my normal work location).

At the time of this first seizure I was not aware of the possibility of electrosensitivity and did not consider it as a possible reason for the seizure, although I had been living for a number of months in an area of very high wireless signal propagation, both from transmission masts and wireless internet networking, in the Toronto city centre. I speculate as to the mechanism by which the shift from the lesser to the more severe condition occurred - and here I lack the scientific knowledge to support the speculation and would welcome any input, corroborating or otherwise - that prolonged exposure to these transmissions weakened the blood-brain barrier enough in me, or excited my neuronal activity sufficiently (or that those two effects combined) for my mild nervous disorder to become a more serious neurological condition involving generalised seizures, loss of consciousness and energetic somnambulism resulting in injury to myself.

About six months later I had another generalised seizure, was again hospitalised and discharged with no cause determined, and still did not identify wireless transmissions as related. Shortly afterwards I moved from Toronto to Ottawa for work, where I lived in an apartment building with a couple of transmission masts on top. A few months into my stay there the sleep and emotional difficulties I had experienced at moderate levels for years began becoming worse, with hair loss, heart palpitations and unusual irritability thrown into the mix (I'm normally quite calm, even-tempered and diplomatic, and I really wasn't behaving completely like my usual self) despite regular exercise, a reasonably balanced diet and a job that does not involve an unusually high level of stress.

Then these generalised (night-time) seizures began happening with greater frequency and more injuries, to the point where doctors advised it was not safe for me to spend nights alone, which prompted my return to Toronto so I could sleep under the supervision of my family. Back in Toronto I moved into a suburban house where the large bedroom window was directly in the path of a mast mounted on an apartment building (you could see it from the window - it was less than 500 m away and the path of the signal to my bedroom was not interrupted by any physical barrier except air and the glass window). My sleep problems worsened drastically, and the seizures became even more frequent. Electrosensitivity problems I had been experiencing for years - notably limb numbness, memory and concentration difficulties, emotional complaints and muscle stiffness - also worsened.

Then on a visit to my parents for a week (during which time I was also not at work) I noticed that the symptoms - all of them - began improving, some rapidly, some gradually. I had visited my parents regularly in past years but not for a week, not overnight, and not at a time when I was away from work (my work locations in Ottawa and Toronto were also in proximity to cellphone masts and wireless internet networks). Greatly relieved at the respite from my ailments and with newfound hope I immediately set about to try and identify a materially distinguishing factor about my parents' house or my living habits there, and could not pin anything down as decisive.

The connection between mobile telephony and health problems had been mentioned to me previously, although I had never given the possibility sufficiently serious consideration before. I was keen to follow up every possible lead (I was even sending air samples to labs for analysis), and purchased a low-end microwave signal detector from a local mail-order vendor, made the rounds of former residences with it and compared the signal strength at each to that at my parents' home. All three residences, including the Ottawa location, had extremely high signal strength according to the detector, whereas my parents' location showed up virtually none.

My parents also live in Toronto, a large city permeated with wireless transmissions, but by fortunate circumstance their house is at roughly the farthest point possible from each of the five or six masts in their neighbourhood and is shielded by rows of houses and buildings in each direction. Their front garden is not shielded and is in direct line of sight of a mast approximately 800 metres away, but the house itself, and the back garden, is well blocked. Of course mobile phones still have good reception at my parents' house and so it is obviously well within the area of signal propagation (probably within several overlapping areas), but by the readings on the detector it is not in a location of overwhelming signal strength, as in the direct shadow of a mast, and being here seems to have alleviated most of my symptoms. I now believe, given my experience, that it is completely reasonable to link wireless transmissions to many of my health complaints, although I have not experimented sufficiently to determine what level of signal strength I can tolerate, if there is indeed a simple fixed threshold which is independent of other factors, and whether certain frequencies are worse for me.

To begin what modest experimentation I have done I moved to my parents' house - fortunately I have been able to work from home and have fairly mobile office equipment - and have now been here nearly three months with symptoms vastly reduced and no seizures (other than the older, milder type), with only one exception: near the start of my stay here I ventured out near a mast for a few hours, visiting friends, and had a seizure the next night. Since then I have not left the premises other than for walks and jogs in the neighbourhood (of course avoiding streets with high signal strength) and for one visit to the hospital for a test, and problems I've had for years have cleared up. Sleep and emotions are greatly improved, tingling and numbness in the limbs is now rare, hair loss has decreased and even my old neck stiffness is gone. I had always put that down to sitting in front of a computer all day, but now I think it had more to do with wireless transmissions.

I cannot say I feel fully recovered. I seem to need more sleep now than in the past in order to maintain wellbeing; my happiness and mental clarity, while very well improved (and continually improving), something for which I'm hugely thankful, still seem precarious. If I eat or sleep poorly or am exposed to too much stress old symptoms begin threatening, but having identified one of the primary causes, if not the primary cause, of my ailments I believe I am much better equipped to try and take measures to keep myself well.

Avoiding masts in a large city is challenging, and I have not yet found a safe way to venture about in the city (I do not know if there is one). I'm testing various conductive fabrics in the hope of putting together an outerwear garment which protects the body from radio transmissions, although I fear there may not be a fabric conductive enough to eliminate the signal penetration to the body around a mast. If anyone has had any success in this I would much like to hear about it. I have not been a cellphone user for years and now of course avoid cellphones religiously. My family do not use cellphones around me, there is no wireless computer network in my parents' home and we request of all visitors that they shut off their phones while here.

The one time I tried using a cellphone in recent months I felt tingling all over my head, and experienced an unfamiliar sense of excitement, nervousness and agitation all wrapped up together, which then became a feeling of having been lightly burned on the surface of my skin, which then faded away after a few hours. I understand there is research linking mobile phone usage to increased neuronal activity (particularly a dangerous thing for epileptics, I would think), and suspect this is at least part of what was going on when I tried the phone, although there are no doubt those who would suggest, insultingly, that I was imagining the sensations.

I don't have much hope of convincing my neurologist or anyone in the medical establishment anytime soon that my symptoms, including the generalised seizures I began experiencing, are attributable to microwave transmissions. There seems to be an entrenched culture of suspicion in the medical community here towards ideas which do not originate in the body of medical doctrine taught within the profession, and a tendency among practitioners not to take particularly seriously the hypotheses brought forward by patients themselves about their own conditions. The subjectivity of patient reports reduce their diagnostic value in the eyes of doctors to, some might say, an absurd degree (considering no one is better placed to observe patient symptoms over a long period of time, with acute attention to every detail, than patients themselves). There is also perhaps too much readiness among doctors here to attribute complaints of physical symptoms where mood and sleep disorders are also present to depression or anxiety and not to seek causality beyond that.

But every profession has its limitations, and the values and practices of the medical community are perhaps only a reflection of our own always-changing cultural attitudes. With sufficient social agitation, litigation, activism and, probably - unfortunately, pain and suffering among the general public from wireless transmissions our cultural climate may eventually come round to acceptance of the link between the transmissions and the suffering, and of the notion that the horrific trade-offs which attend our freedom to roam and speak, to communicate without the burden of wires, may sometimes (often) outweigh the benefits. Then the scientific findings supporting the existence of electrosensitivity and its potential for serious health effects may be permitted to inform the corpus of medical knowledge and practice generally accepted in the profession in North America.

For now I hope and pray that I am able to maintain and continue to improve my health, that I can find a suitable, affordable, longer-term, low-signal location to live in, that my employer continues to permit me to work from home without medical documentation explicitly linking my health complaints to wireless exposure (or that I can come by such documentation from a sympathetic doctor), that others with similar problems are as fortunate as I both in identifying wireless transmissions as a contributing factor and being able to avoid them, that protective government regulation on this comes soon, and that awareness of the problem continues to be spread by the concerned public until scientific, medical, legal and regulatory authorities cannot but act to address it.

I am interested in reading existing scientific research papers on the biological effects of wireless transmissions and welcome comments from anyone possessing same. I don't mind if they're old or in other languages. If you have one I would be happy to pay your reasonable copying and mailing costs for sending me a copy - subject to my prior agreement that the article is of interest to me. Please let me know if you do, or if you know where I can find one, by leaving a comment here. Any information of a sympathetic or open-minded doctor in Ontario willing to entertain the possibility of electrosensitivity would also be very welcome.
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