Tuesday 10 April 2012

Wireless Modem: Electromagnetic Sensitivity I


Our old broadband internet modem gave up the ghost four days ago. It had been “flickering” for a couple of weeks, sometimes working, sometimes not. I’d plugged and unplugged, jiggled wires, and done all of the things that a non-geek like me might do to fix it, but to no avail. It was the old kind that plugs into the computer with a wire. What a great excuse, I thought, to go to wireless. I could cart my laptop anywhere in the house and use it. Sweet!

So it was off to the local electronics store, and a couple of hours later I had a brand new wi fi modem/router up and running. But something wasn’t right, and it wasn’t the computer, and it wasn’t the modem, it was ME.  I felt like my whole body was buzzing. My head felt “stuffy” and “hurt”[i], my neck and throat felt sensitive, like the glands were playing up, my ears were buzzing, I felt “on edge”, and all I wanted to do was get as far away from the computer as I could. Which for me is pretty bizarre behaviour because I can easily spend hours at the computer and completely lose track of time. And even when it went into the next room, or two rooms away, I still felt “disturbed”.

I know I’m somewhat sensitive to electromagnetic radiation. When I was up at Victoria University a couple of years ago, there were two computer rooms (rooms full of computers for student use) that used to bother me, and I couldn’t tolerate more than an hour or two working there before I started getting a headache. Oddly, other computer rooms didn’t bother me very much, nor did my office. I figured it had something to do with the significant mass of electronics in one enclosed area and maybe something to do with signal direction and my personal positioning.

I also know I sleep better having banished the cordless phone, tv (traditionally left “on standby”), and glowing clock radio from my bedroom. Still, I had not anticipated such an acute and distressing reaction to the installation of a wireless modem in my home. I’ve visited and even stayed with friends who had wireless modems and have not experienced any noticeable discomfort. I tried unplugging the modem. After a few minutes, the acute discomfort subsided, although the buzzing in my ears continued. Plug it back in, and BAM—I’m back in the distress zone. Whoa! Bizarre.

I gritted my teeth and spent a few minutes googling for information about what I was experiencing, and discovered it’s called electromagnetic sensitivity, and that there isn’t much hard research about it. No one even knows how many people are afflicted, and those that don’t experience it are often sceptical of those who do (at least based on comments left on this Squidoo blog titled "Wifi Headache - Myth or Health Risk?"). I found a couple of useful sites, but couldn’t even manage to stay on line long enough to read them due to the extreme discomfort.

Two days later—the stores were closed on Easter Day—it was back to the electronics store to get a new wired modem. (Can’t be without my internet fix, can I?) Brought it home, plugged it in, and although it wasn’t nearly as bad as the wireless, it still bothered me. I tried moving the modem behind a metal filing cabinet. Nope. Did using the computer with the modem turned off bother me? Nope. I tried hooking it up with the old cable (a long blue one) and that was better, but I’m still feeling a little “tingly”.  I’m sort of wondering if a “blast” of electromagnetic energy from the wi-fi has now made me even more sensitive than I already was?

In the next post, I’ll share some information I’ve managed to glean from several sites on the internet. And if you’ve had any sort of experience with this phenomenon, I’d be interested in hearing about your experience.



[i] Not in the sense of stuffy sinuses, because I could still breath, and not hurt as in discernible pain from a source point, but an overall “fizzy” discomfort that was almost intolerable. 

10 comments:

  1. I had a client who worked machining transmission covers (for cars). The coolant in her machine had fusarium in it and as a result a chemical was used to increase the life of the coolant and combat the mold. The machine misted this chemical as she was machining and she became sensitized to it (rashes, head aches, nausea etc) by breathing it in.

    2 years later she returned to work and passed out to the smell of a marker used to mark numbers on finished transmission cases.

    Sensitization is real and get worse over time.

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  2. Thanks for your comment, Anonymous. Our bodies/brains are really quite amazing. Having been hurt or stressed by something at one point, they often remember the triggers (or something like it) and react to protect us before we can hurt ourselves again. Unfortunately, our "thinking" brain doesn't always appreciate the response.

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  3. Hi Susan,

    Some modems are Wi Fi and cable. My server replaced my moden and connected it to cable and I was the same as you. I found there was a very small switch on the modem that had to be turned OFF for the Wi Fi, I even went into the set up and disabled it completely. Wi Fi on my modem doesn't work anymore, and to make sure I had the wireless card removed from my notebook, because i found out that even thought I had disabled the wireless and turned it OFF on the side of the notebook the wireless card was still transmitting. I had it completely removed.

    All precautions. so if you are still having problems then make sure your wired/cable modem hasn't wireless as well and have it all disabled, including your computer if it has wireless facility.

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  4. Every one of these damnable frequency enabling devices, if unshielded or uninsulated or if not hard wired, is fully able to shred everyone's DNA, including all of those who don't feel an thing until it is too late. the good news is that there are supplements which repair DNA if used early enough. The sensitive ones simply feel the harm happening. Less lucky is that once one's neurology has been triggered one's entire life changes forever. There really is no going back to "before" once the chronic aspect of this neurological alteration to one's bio-electrical system has occurred. The up side is that for the "lucky" sensitives this early warning system means the outcome need not go on to take the form of essential tremor, palpitations, heart disease, MS, Parkinson's, cancer or countless other nerve & muscle related diseases, since almost all are the result of depolarization of the nerve switches in the body at strobe light speeds of billions of times per second, unavoidably leading to gradual bio-electrical failure - unless remedial action is immediately taken pre-emptively. The only real benefit of having this extensively documented microwave/RF sickness reaction is that such people then have the opportunity to learn how to practice self defence.
    ALL uninsulated wireless radiation, be it smart grid "smart" cell tower levels from grid routers, collector meters, & "smart" meters on billions of homes, or be it from trendy ubiquitous wifi, is not only illegal according to dozens of laws already on the books, but constitutes a case of corporate reckless endangerment.
    Sweden was one of the first countries to go wireless on an unimaginable scale. Now? It must support for the rest of their lives 250,000 acknowledged disabled wireless refugees who live on permanent medical disability as outcasts caused by the pervasive planet smothering radiation blanket known as "convenience". How convenient is it to sick & tired of being sick & tired, with no end in sight, while denied access to ordinary society, a reality about which Sweden is contemplating changing their laws? Most sensitives only find out that the crossroads point of no return has been crossed long after the initial process has been set in motion, & they do so by becoming aware only when their bioelectrical systems reach their own personal tipping point, at which juncture they become chronic sufferers who must face the absurdity of trying to practice "prudent avoidance" in a world in which corporations are hell bent on blanketing the entire ecosystem with frequencies able to dismantle & destroy all biology, albeit in slow motion. Why oh why do so many of those affected by microwaves identify it as an idiosyncratic trait of their own, a problem belonging to themselves & those of similar "sensitivities"? Instead would it not be better to get the word out there that this is the unavoidable outcome of allowing corporations to break law after law by rebranding as "smart" & by putting the small letter "i" in front of shiny objects to which human magpies gravitate once told they are "convenient" & "fun" & "indispensable" to "modernity".
    the harsh reality is hat these devices enable identical weaponized ultra low microwave frequencies to those designed by Barry Trower for the military for the express purpose of causing lethal harm. Just ask Barry. These days he seems to be seeking some kind of personal redemption to ameliorate his shock at finding out that these exact same frequencies have been unleashed on our own civilian population reframed as consumer toys & utility "modernization", especially but not only destructive for children. Trower has become the ultimate expert witness, spending his retirement years attesting in detail to the extreme danger of this consumerist lethality at every opportunity. Too little, too late.

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  5. Probably the best source of information on EHS (electro-hypersensitivity) is coming from Europe these days, since the wireless industry in North America has succeeded in shutting down all research here. Professor Olle Johansson of the Karolinska Institute has been releasing papers on EHS for some time now and in Sweden EHS is recognized as a disability or functional impairment.

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  6. Okay, those of you not yet converted, google Barry Trower, or BioInitiative Report, check out www.citizensforsafetechnology.org and follow the links. There's a world of independent research out there, but BC Hydro has a lot more (of our) money to fund their propaganda.

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  7. Hi Susan,

    All of this began back in the early 1980’s, when the electronic company (Motorola) decided to make money out of their electronic equipment that they designed for the Military. They knew the dangers then, but some how or another they browbeat the FDA into submission to produce a loophole in law to allow any form of general public wireless equipment produced by them would need not be tested, or held to any specific safety code.

    But, the FDA did put them into a position of some form of testing, and a very experienced and well-respected scientist, Dr. Carlo, was contracted by Motorola to test their equipment. As Dr. Carlo’s testing and researching got under way, he began to see some very abnormal results. Motorola then began to become agitated and requested that Dr. Carlo be sacked. I believe the chairman of the research team refused, and Motorola then closed down the research, and from then on all results were basically shredded and lost forever.

    The electro sensitivity syndrome (ESS) I believe is an end result from chemical sensitivity through agricultural chemicals and fumes that were being generated from plastics covers of electrical and electronic equipments, such as electrical appliances and computers. The central nervous system of human beings were already being destroyed as the sheaths of the nerve ends began to deteriorate from the inhaling, and absorbing environmental pollutants.

    As the electrical floodgates of gimmicks began to open, unusual syndromes began to appear, such as myalgic encephamyolitis (ME), chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), and one that not usually mentioned sick building syndrome (SBS). But, all of these syndromes were from the 1980’s, and were seen as a psychological disorder because of the vague, non-specific symptoms.

    Then around the 1990’ multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) appeared as a chronic medical condition that was characterised by similar symptoms of low-level chemical exposure, such as smoke, pesticides, plastics, synthetic fabrics, scented products, petroleum products, and paint fumes. The symptoms were vague and non-specific, such as nausea, fatigue, and headaches, but there were other symptoms that were also noted, such as: runny nose, itchy eyes, migraine-type headaches, scratchy/horsy throat, ear ache, scalp pain/tingling, mental confusion, sleepiness, heart palpitations, irritable bowel/ stomach, diarrhoea, abdominal cramping, aching joints, fatigue and weakness.

    All these symptoms of MCS were the same as CFS, ME, and SBS, which were actually noted in the 1970’s after the Vietnam War, and in the 1990’s it was referred to as the Gulf War Syndrome (GWS). I do believe that multiple sclerosis (MS) began soon after the Vietnam War caused by chemicals, drugs, and abnormal radiation of electronic equipment used to fight the war.

    Isn’t it amazing that all of this has in fact been around since 1970s as the Russians and the Americans were well aware of this and conducted much research in those days! Those same symptoms fitted into radiation sickness that the Russians produced upon the American Embassy staff in Moscow, and were discovered when testing microwave ovens. Microwave ovens were banned in Russia.

    What anonymous at 2:07 said about ES being a disability in Sweden is so true. For a country so small, every square inch of the country is radiated; they have at least four mobile phones to one person. And the Swedish government has recognised their failings, but the floodgates are opened and there is nothing can be done to close those gates.

    In my country they increased the safety regulations from 100 milli gauss to 1,000 milli gauss and our country will become the dumping ground of all dangerous electronic equipment, particularly these new SMART appliances from Europe and America. They are all killers, and are now the replacement for asbestos and passive cigarette smoking. If they can’t kill you by lung disorder they will now destroy the human electrical system by non-ionised radiation.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for your comments, George. You've obviously done more research on the history of ES than I have, and I appreciate you sharing your knowledge here. You mention in the last paragraph "in my country". What country are you in?

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