Over the past few weeks, I have developed a sensitivity to electromagnetic radiation (EMR), a condition known as Electro-Magnetic Sensitivity (EMS). I have noted the development of minor symptoms before in the post "
Examples of self-awareness" but I want to discuss how further symptoms have developed, what I'm currently experiencing and what I'm doing or have done to manage the situation.
This situation is concerning, annoying and inconvenient on a personal level, but also confronting and empowering. My eldest boy is going to high school in 5 months time. The school, like all the other schools in the area, have ipads and wifi deployed and used for every child in every lesson. The level of electromagnetic microwave radiation that he will be exposed to massively exceeds anything that we've witnessed before. That I have become personally aware of how low level exposure to EMR can affect my physical state means that I'm now on a crusade to address this situation before we start.
Development of symptoms
As you know from other posts on this blog, I've developed severe osteoarthritis in both hips. I suffered from Legg-Perthes disease as an adolescent, so my hips have been a problem for all of my adult life. By and large I've been able to manage the pain, discomfort and minor limping.
March 2014 In March, all that changed as I suddenly found I was unable to walk, drive or get around after a mild session of physical therapy. X-rays and an MRI diagnosed that I had severe osteoarthritis in both hips.
May 2014 A visit to an osteopath surgeon in May confirmed that I would require two total hip replacements. I've been managing this situation since then.
Osteoarthritis (OA) is usually described as a degenerative disease, caused by wear and tear on the cartilage, however in early August, about one month ago, I found an article by Dr Berard Presser where he describes it differently - "OA is not simply a matter of wear and tear; it's also a failure of the cartilage to repair itself." This cast my situation in a completely different light - the current status of my condition was dependent on how well my body was repairing cartilage damage. If I can identify factors that are interrupting the natural cartilage repair process and reduce them while at the same time enhancing factors that support cartilage repair then perhaps I can reverse some of the degeneration. All of this is detailed in the post "
My Osteoarthritis Recovery Protocol".
August 2014 A key turning point was when I posted to the Jack Kruse forum. Dr Jack Kruse has some highly non-conventional opinions on the causes of modern diseases. While we can debate his scientific analysis and philosophy, nonetheless he is one of the only people that I have so far encountered that have any practical suggestions for supporting my recovery. As well as standard 'clean Paleo' dietary and lifestyle advice, the following specific recommendations were given:
- reduce EMF exposure and "ground" myself - EMF is dehydrating to the cartilage, bones and joints;
- drink plenty of non-fluoridated water - fluoride interrupts the structure of intracellular water, causing intracellular dehydration;
- eat plenty of DHA from fish, oysters and fish oil supplements;
- get plenty of sunlight.
The aspect of EMF avoidance and grounding was an area where I could make improvement. Since my diagnosis I have been avoiding carrying my phone in the front pocket of my jeans. I now have it on airplane mode most of the time. I improved my night-time 'grounding' by running a strip of metal tape directly on top of the sheets that is connected to a spike in the garden and sleeping with my skin touching it. I try to go the local park a couple of times a week and take a bare-foot walk on the grass. I made these changes about 3 or 4 weeks ago.
Sleeping grounded took a bit of persistence which I had not expected. I'd previously tried sleeping with a wrist anti-static strap connected to the earth wire in the house wiring but found my hand got unbearably numb and tingly midway through the night. I attributed that to cross-interference with the home power and stopped doing that. I have been sleeping with an earthed strip of metal tape under the sheet for a few months but not noticed much effect. But when I started sleeping with skin contact to the tape I found myself very tingly and numb by mid-way through the night. I had to disconnect the ground connection in order to get back to sleep. This continued for a few nights and then eased. I now sleep very peacefully on my ground strip. Another contributor on the Jack Kruse forum
has felt a similar effect. Let's call it 'electro detox'.
Late August 2014 So I started sleeping properly grounded, got over the initial 'electro detox' and started carrying my phone in airplane mode. Then the first symptoms of electro-magnetic sensitivity (EMS) emerged. I could 'feel' the wifi in my hands when I was using my iphone and noted that sensation on August 19.
Then around 23 August, I noticed that I could 'feel' the wifi through my hands when I tried typing on my laptop. The sensation was quite unpleasant and I turned the wifi off and plugged the laptop directly into a router.
At around that time, I noticed if I held my phone and turned it off airplane mode, I felt slight twitching in my hand and electric shocks in my arms.
On 27 August I flew up to Brisbane and back in one day. I flew both ways with my bare-skin foot touching the metal of the chair in front to ensure I was as 'earthed' as possible during the flight.
At the end of the return flight we turned off the runway and the announcement came through that we could turn our phones back on. Obviously I did not but I immediately felt headache pressure in my head. The effect was immediate and quite uncomfortable.
Early September 2014 Monday 1 September I decided to disable the wifi on the router in the study after feeling significant skin discomfort after sitting next to it for an hour or so. This makes the study much more comfortable.
During the week I popped round to a colleagues desk. His phone was on the desk. After a few minutes I started to feel 'off' - headache, bad stomach, muddled thoughts. It improved when I walked away.
I went to the supermarket. Near the tills I could feel pressure in my head which improved when I left the shop.
Over the past year or two, I've enjoyed listening to podcasts as I drive to and from work. I connect my phone to the car stereo via Bluetooth which is much less powerful than either cell phone or wifi, although it's in the same 2.4GHz range. I now notice skin discomfort when the phone connects via wifi, even if the cell and wifi is disabled. I now 'hard wire' the connection into the car. I no longer drive around with my phone switched on.
Last night (5 September) we drove to a friends' house. I carried my wife's bag on my knee. Her phone was in it. I developed a headache across the temples.
Managing the situation
Monitor symptoms and responses. The symptoms have gradually got worse, at first unnoticeable, then the odd thing here or there. Now that I'm confident that I'm experiencing real symptoms I can be more disciplined, however I've been noting my physical symptoms and now this post is a journal of the past few weeks. I'll try to be better disciplined from now on!
Sleep grounded. I think the symptoms are worse at the end of the day when I've been 'ungrounded'. I feel refreshed after sleeping on my earthing strip. I'll try to go for a bare-foot walk as often as I can or go for a lunchtime swim to discharge at work. I'll write a post showing how I've built my earthing system.
At work. I'm fortunate to work in a low density office and I'm at the edge of the office space. I have moved my PC further away from my seat. I do not sit near the wifi hotspot. I have my phone on airplane most of the time. I turn the cell phone on only once or twice a day for a few minutes (to check for voicemail and SMS) and make sure I walk away from it while it's enabled.
At home. Minimise wifi. I have hard-wired all the computers including this laptop, TVs etc. I sleep grounded.
There is still work to be done. We have 2 iPads. Our main phone is cordless although we do have a hard-wired phone. My wife needs her mobile phone to be switch on (she runs her own business and needs to be contactable). We have very poor mobile coverage. On the one hand, that means we're not highly exposed. On the other hand, any mobile phones in the house must transmit at very high power.
Keeping in touch. We got used to being contactable 24x7 by text or call. This is going to need some re-adjustment. We're trying to stop using iMessage, switching to Viber which has a desktop client. I check my mobile once or twice a day for SMS and voicemail (although I hate when I have to call up the voicemail service). This remains work-in-progress.
Major outstanding issues
Kids ipads. At home. You can't 'reverse tether' via bluetooth and no network-to-lightning connector exists. Wifi is the only option. This is a major problem.
At school next year this is a truly frightening prospect. I have not yet found a single school that doesn't have a 1:1 ipad to child program in year 7 next year. I am arranging a meeting with the deputy principal to discuss my concerns. This will be a crusade!
