by anonymous
Coping with electrosensitivity (ES) is difficult, and there are a lot of dead ends. If you are ES, the good news is that it is possible to become less sensitive; I’ve done it, although I’m not “cured” by any stretch of the imagination. I’m a student who has struggled with electrosensitivity for several years now (my big issue is with wireless technologies), and I have found a few coping mechanisms that I’d like to share. ES still affects just about every aspect of my life, and I would be nowhere today without the support of my friends and family to help me cope, but at the moment I’m getting through school successfully and getting by in daily life.
Here are some things I have done that I believe have helped:
1. REDUCE EXPOSURES. This is achieved by:
A. Not using wireless technology; and, for more severely ES people,
B. Relocating to an area with lower levels of ambient radio frequency (RF). Although there are many RF exposure sources it doesn’t consider, antennasearch.com is a good resource for getting started identifying which neighborhoods in your community are likely to be lower RF. A low-cost RF meter will help you quickly narrow it down further. Make sure to use one capable of measuring up to at least 3 GHz (I use an Extech 480836), and keep in mind that some exposures—such as high-frequency WiMAX—will not be detectable by the meter. If you’re considering going to such lengths as this, you’re probably pretty electrosensitive; be sure to stay long enough in the different areas you consider to get a good feel for whether they’re going to be positive places for you to be. And, of course, remember that new antennas go up all the time; today’s safe-haven can easily become tomorrow’s hell. Low-density areas with single-family homes on large lots are generally a good bet; also, try to find a house made of concrete or brick, as these materials are generally most effective at blocking RF. Apartment complexes tend to have more RF exposure because of tenants’ Wi-Fi networks, so you should avoid them if you can.
If you live in an area with RF-emitting electrical meters (so-called “smart meters”), be aware of this variable as well. In some places, smart meters are now unavoidable and ES people have little recourse but to move to a different town or state. (In California, it is now possible to be placed on a “delay list” if you haven’t had the meter installed yet. See stopsmartmeters.org for info and inspiring activism on the issue.) In other places, smart meters can still be avoided as they have only been deployed in certain areas of town.
A secondary consideration when choosing a less electromagnetically polluted place to live is ambient AC magnetic field levels. These can vary considerably throughout different parts of a city, depending on how the power grid in those parts is designed and managed. A tri-field meter can help you assess AC magnetic field levels as you search for a place to live; below 2 mG is desirable.
Lastly, the presence of “dirty electricity” in the house should be considered. See Dirty Electricity and GS Units for more info.
C. RF shielding of your bed by creating a “cage” of conductive fabric around it. I haven’t personally done this, but other ES people have reported it to be helpful. For an explanation of how a Faraday cage works: Faraday cage. See Farady canopies at: Less EMF ~ Faraday Canopies. Be aware that for some severely electrically sensitive people, a Faraday Cage can actually act to increase symptoms.
D. RF shielding of your person using conductive clothing. This doesn’t necessarily work well; in my case and in the case of other ES people I’ve heard from, symptoms were actually exacerbated by wearing metallic “shielding” clothing that covered a large surface area of the body. Electrically grounding this conductive clothing may make it more effective, if you can manage it. One thing that I have found useful that I wear all the time is the shielded cap from Less EMF.
E. RF Shielding of your house using specialized paints, windows, and other materials. Difficult to do well and expensive; make sure to consult with someone competent. If you’re in a position to purchase new housing, the Living Sanctuary from ecoTECH, recently reported on here at Planet Thrive, looks promising. EMF consultant in Boulder, CO: radsafe.net.
2. GET GROUNDED. Devices for connecting your body to electrical ground are cheap, easy to use, and helpful at combating the effects of RF. See earthing.com for more info. I strongly recommend installing your own grounding rod (also available from this site) rather than using the wiring in your house; resistance and electrosmog on the building’s ground circuit can diminish the effectiveness of grounding for some people.
You should also be aware of ground current that results from electrical distribution systems; in areas with a significant voltage gradient (such as, for example, near substations, or in rural areas utilizing the earth as a return conductor), earthing may not be advisable. You can measure this voltage gradient using a simple voltmeter such as those available at Radio Shack (also fun to measure the drop in your body voltage that you get by being grounded) by placing the two leads in the ground a few feet from one another; ideally, the gradient will not be more than a few millivolts per meter of AC voltage. The key point about earthing is that when you do it you literally reconnect the earth; it’s basically just a surrogate for standing barefoot on the ground. Which, when you think about it, is what our species did for most of its history.
3. NEGATIVE ION THERAPY. I have found a medical device called the E-Power to be helpful; I use it every night while I sleep (laying its charged belt flat on your mattress under your sheet and turning it on while you sleep is a good way to get in a lot of time with it). It is, however, not cheap; for those on a tight budget, grounding is a better way to go. Also, don’t use it at the same time as you are grounding or you will get shocked.
4. DETOXIFICATION AND DIET MODIFICATION/SUPPLEMENTATION. This is best done in consultation with a naturopath. For me, it meant taking various vitamins, changing my diet, having my mercury fillings removed by an experienced mercury-free dentist, and doing heavy-metal detox using calcium-disodium EDTA (use IV or suppository form; avoid oral form). Testing can help determine if this last suggestion is relevant to you, but if you’re ES, chances are good that it is. Also, if you’re interested in chelation therapy and are unable to find or afford a doctor to supervise it, I suggest doing it soon; the FDA is going after companies that make EDTA suppositories, and such products may soon be a lot harder to get.
Do not underestimate how much metal removal can help! I view it as probably the most important thing I’ve done to treat this problem. Also, if you’re going to get your fillings replaced, try hard to find a dentist that specializes in mercury-free or “biological” dentistry; a poorly done removal can end up releasing a lot of mercury into your body.
If you’re in the Seattle area, the dentist I saw was Dr. Feasel.
A directory of mercury-safe dentists is available at dentalwellness4u.com.
EDTA in suppository form is a good way to do metal removal. A good brand is Kelatox. It’s available, for the moment, at:
drvitaminsolutions.com.
5. MEDITATION AND YOGA. Stress relieving practices can help calm your mind and make you more resilient when faced with RF exposure. The modalities I have found most helpful are transcendental meditation and bikram (or hot hatha) yoga. Hot yoga is one of the most powerful “de- smogging” practices I have found; I do it almost every day, and the practice helps keep me able to function relatively normally in wireless-saturated areas, provided I can stay at least a few feet away from the nearest wireless transmitter. The trick is to find a studio that isn’t right next to a cell tower or in an office park with tons of Wi-Fi networks (although if this isn’t possible, the practice may still prove a net positive; try it and see). See tm.org and bikramyoga.com/ for more info.
6. MAGNETS. Multi-polar magnets can help stabilize the body’s electrical field and are relatively inexpensive. I wear one in each front pocket of my pants, pretty much all the time. Call Seattle Natural Health and I bet they’d be happy to ship you a couple.
A final thought: Anyone reading this who is so seriously ES that they utterly despair of finding any place to be where they can feel healthy should check out the National Radio Quiet Zone, a large area in Appalachia where RF emissions are strictly controlled in order to allow a telescope that listens to natural RF from space to operate properly. The telescope is located in Green Bank, West Virginia, and the area has become a popular place for ES people to go and recover; some have even moved there. I plan to pay it a visit soon myself! For more info, see: The Quiet Zone and the National Radio Quiet Zone website.
Here’s a video about the area:
photo: © Konstantin Sutyagin | Dreamstime.com
posted in: Featured, THRIVE! JOURNAL | 6,421 views | tags: cell phones, EHS, electrical sensitivity, electromagnetic sensitivity, EMFs, ES, National Radio Quiet Zone, radio frequency (RF), recovery stories, restful sleep, wireless
earthwalker
August 25, 2011 at 9:47 am
What a great article Josh! Thank you for sharing such hard-earned wisdom. So glad to hear you have learned how to manage your electrosensitivity and are able to attend school and live a good life. You are an inspiration to many!
Martin Zucker
August 26, 2011 at 5:29 pm
Josh
In regard to Earthing and getting grounded, this is indeed a powerful strategy that can be helpful in multiple ways. I agree with your comment about favoring a ground rod over the electrical ground system of a house/office when using an Earthing product. That is our general preference anyway, and would certainly be so for folks with electro-sensitivity. Still, the vast majority of people plug into a properly grounded ground port (third hole) and have no problems. In some cases, they may not be able to use a ground rod. The important thing for electro-sensitive individuals who begin Earthing is to do so gradually. Start with maybe 10 or 15 minutes (outdoors barefoot or indoors via an Earthing system). Then increase exposure slowly. That way you give the body time to adjust to the energy of the Earth.
As far as so-called “ground currents” are concerned, I suggest you read an article on our website about Understanding Earthing (grounding) at
http://www.earthinginstitute.net/statements/understanding_earthing.pdf
We have never encountered any such problem that you describe. People ground themselves in rural and urban settings without any problem. Moreover, using the Earth as a return is not permitted by electrical code.
I recommend electro-sensitive individuals read our Earthing book and check out the information we have posted on our website.
Best wishes
Martin Zucker, co-author of the Earthing book
Ronda Dee
August 27, 2011 at 3:55 am
Hi Josh, What a wonderful group of valuable ideas for the electro-magnetic sensitives. For those of us with very limited finances we don’t have as many choices, however, the little we can do is better than nothing. I just ordered the KeLatexEDTA suppositories and have been advised to order suppositories from another co. from Germany. While I wait on them I’m going to try this first. I’ve been needing mercury and other metal detox for a very long time and I know this is one of my answers. Bless you for sharing all your good information. Velvetflow
Josh
August 28, 2011 at 12:52 am
Ronda—I’m glad this article was helpful and I hope you find chelation as useful as I did. Good luck!
And thanks for your comments, Martin. I love earthing and I think it can be a big help to people. That said, I mentioned the caution about ground current because I think it is an important issue to be aware of. Any time there is a difference in electrical potential between two points, current will follow the path of least resistance, and a person connected to a wire—even one that includes 1 MegaOhm resistor, as Earthing products do—may offer less resistance than the earth. In general, when “earthed,” you’re only intentionally connected to ground at one point (the grounding rod, via the wire and the mat or other conductive material), but you may nonetheless form a path for electrons to flow between two points on the earth’s surface that has less resistance than the earth. If someone were to earth near a substation, it seems very plausible to me that they could be shocked; indeed, this is something that utilities must be careful of, and they mostly look at the hazards of someone walking barefoot near the substation, where the two points in question are substantially closer together. At the very least, it seems that someone earthing near a substation would have a significant amount of AC current running through them, which might not be such a good thing. I’m not an expert in such things, but I have taken some college-level physics and thought this potential problem with earthing was at least worth mentioning.
Also, I know that for both my partner and me, grounding through the electrical outlet (which tested as properly grounded, of course) made things worse for us, whereas installing our own grounding rod proved very helpful.
Unfortunately, in this day and age even something as basic as connecting your body to electrical ground or going barefoot can carry risks!
For an explanation of some of the relevant phenomena, see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_(electricity)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stray_voltage#Neutral_return_currents_through_the_ground
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_potential_rise
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-wire_earth_return
Best,
Josh
Josh
August 28, 2011 at 12:55 am
Also, thanks for publishing this, Julie! The article looks great; I especially love the first graphic w/Uncle Sam. We blew it up and printed it out and put it in our window at home.
Lisa
September 7, 2011 at 11:29 am
I think most of his tips are good. I find it really interesting that he’s had it since he was a kid. I just don’t understand how he can go to school when schools are full of wireless stuff and most students are carrying wireless gadgets with them. Plus he’s an engineering student and the engineering dept. must have a lot of electrical stuff in classrooms and labs. Even with all the things that he does to ease his burden from this illness, I don’t know how he goes to school without it effecting him.
Josh
September 9, 2011 at 8:12 pm
“Even with all the things that he does to ease his burden from this illness, I don’t know how he goes to school without it effecting him.”
Hi Lisa. The short answer is that it does affect me, but I’ve made it work for me so far. Civil engineering is not as bad as, say, electrical engineering in terms of exposure from equipment. The main thing I get sick from is exposure to wireless technology, with wi-fi being easily the most toxic form of it for me. Engineering students can’t afford to screw around on their toys in class as much as some other students, although it still happens.
I keep about a 10-foot buffer between myself and the nearest wi-fi enabled laptop at school, even though it means moving in the middle of class sometimes. And I also typically ground my body during class, which helps keep me from feeling too terrible and keeps my mind functioning at an adequate level. Also, I have some sympathetic friends who sometimes help provide a bit of a buffer. And I’m lucky in that the civil engineering building isn’t right next to any of the on-campus cell towers.
But yeah, it’s no cakewalk. And I haven’t yet figured out how I’m going to make things work after graduation, when I’ll have less control over my immediate environment. I may yet have to switch careers and become some kind of country hermit, although it’s a bit tougher to make a living that way.
Graeme Chaston
October 18, 2011 at 7:33 pm
Thanks for the time and effort put into this article.
Your points on amalgum in your teeth have made us determined to have my wifes crowns, which do not have mercury in them, removed as they have been acting like an antenna making her so sensitive to any EMF’s that she cann’t live in our home in a lifestyle village due to the proximity of other homes and the TV’s therein.
We purchased a Faraday Cage Canopy from lessemf.com and it has been a life saver litterally.
Shelley Wright
November 8, 2012 at 2:41 am
Hi Josh!
We are very impressed with this website and the info you have provided! Wireless is like kryptonite! My daughter and her talented friends raised awareness about ES in our community. Here is their video:
http://www.barriecityhallflashmob.blogspot.ca
We would like to go national/international with a professional video with KIDS. We am concerned about my own children and would like a video featuring children to be distributed to politicians, WHO, and other health practitioners.
The video would allow students to share their symptoms, coping mechanisms (like the ones you brilliantly recommended), what accommodations they need (in public) and how politicians can support people suffering from ES, (ex. Amend Safety Code 6), etc.
COULD YOU PLEASE PASS OUR CONTACT INFORMATION TO ANY YOUNG PEOPLE YOU KNOW OF WHO HAVE ES, WHO MAY BE INTERESTED IN SHARING THEIR VOICE AND MAKING A POSITIVE DIFFERENCE! WE THINK YOUNG PEOPLE HAVE A POWERFUL VOICE!
wendyflashmob@gmail.com
Thank you kindly for your help.
You have done a wonderful job here and can’t imagine how you ever put something this insightful together with your incredible busy schedule!
Wendy, Megan & Shelley
earthwalker
November 8, 2012 at 11:15 am
Hi Shelley,
Thanks for your comment. Josh wrote this article but it’s not his website. I’m not sure if he is checking comments on this article, but hopefully he will read your comment. I love your idea about involving kids in the message to politicians and health practitioners. I hope by posting your info here it will connect you with other young people so you can join forces. Blessings to you and your efforts! Julie
Jacob
March 18, 2013 at 7:47 pm
Check out http://citizensforsafetechnology.org for much more valuable information.