Hi Matt,

Seems like we keep hearing these ideas all the time - first it was power lines then mobile phones… next, please.

On another matter, what has happened to the Lockergnome Linux Newsletter? Like you, I am an Ubuntu user and love getting the info I used to receive…

Keep up the good work!

Matt,
I find I’m sensitive to WiFi and also mobile phone radiation in that I get headaches and dizziness as well as unusual skin sensations. I think it might have something to do with the frequency these devices use which is usually 1-2Ghz, but possibly also the mode of transmission may play a role (ie. the type of signal, eg. analogue vs digital). It does seem that some people are more sensitive than others and perhaps most people don’t have a problem at all (the WHO estimates 3% of the world’s population as being electrosensitive, although the electrosensitivity phenomena extends beyond just microwave radiation exposure and has not yet been proven as far as I’m aware). It’s been known since the early days of radar that humans are sensitive to microwaves, even at levels below what is required for significant heating to result. The causal process is not properly understood. Sensitivity to microwaves was recognised by scientists in the former Soviet Union, but in the West research focussed on net thermal effects to exposed tissue and organs. Exposure standards for the plethora of electrical devices using microwaves that have been developed in the West have been determined primarily on ensuring net thermal effects are insignificant. I think we will get a much clearer idea of what is going on in the next few years, but it will be a very contentious issue because of the immense revenues of the wireless industry. It’s probably wise to minimise exposure or avoid it if possible.
-Jim

Like most people I thought “electrosensitivity” was just a myth. That was until I installed a Wi Fi connection to my PC and Laptop. When the Wi-Fi is on, I get a numbness in one side of my face, a strange tingling in my tongue and teeth, a slight headache, and some blurring of my vision in my right eye. I have also now become sensitive to my DECT phone! However. not to my mobile phone - but I don’t use it much anyway. The Wi-Fi box is downstairs - I am upstairs.

I never expected Wi-Fi to be a problem to me. Never even gave it a moment’s thought until I started to experience these odd symptoms. When the Wi-Fi is off these symptoms gradually subside.

I have now had to resort to using my old modem to connect to the internet - very annoying as I really need to use both laptop and PC at the same time - the reason I got the Wi-fi in the first place!

What is going on here? How can I propect myself from the Wi- Fi?

Cheers C Sharer

I also have problems with wifi. I cannot sleep, hear a constant ringing, and feel slight headaches. When weather is humid, it is worse. I have 5 to 6 wireless networks from all of my neighbors homes, It is a real phenomenon.

Matt,
Looking at the issue scientifically, why wouldn’t a body be sensitive to EMF? We are sensitive to sunlight which is only a visible form of radiation. Many processes are triggered when our skin or eyes are exposed to sunlight. Just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean it isn’t real. So what if it doesn’t happen to you or to me? Does that make it false? My step-dad stopped wearing watches because he had “a problem with static electricity” which would cause his watches to stop ticking. The fact that I have never caused a watch to stop ticking does not mean that it doesn’t happen. It is arrogant to say, “Only what I experience is real and legitimate.” Sounds very adolescent, ego-centric to me. You are scientifically-minded, which means you are open-minded to logical and methodical reasoning. You can acknowledge the effects of the unseen in this universe. Energy can take the form of matter (photons). I think we need to be aware of the EMF and other radiation around us whether they affect our body or not.

I didn’t use to think I was electrosensitive. But when I started college a wireless network was installed in my dorm with 2 huge 5GHz antennas on each floor. I got insomnia and headaches from using my computer. Eventually now, I can’t stand fluorescent lights without getting nauseous and headachy (and depressed). When the people in the next room in the dorm (whom I can hear all the time talking) use WiFi or cell phones, I feel even worse…now even when I use my laptop on battery with ethernet i get a slight headache; when i use it while it is charging, the headache is worse. One thing I found that works though–reduces the amount of sleep I need from 9 to 6 hours–is to wear a radiation-blocking veil during sleep. But man, electrosensitivity is so annoying!!!! Die WiFi!!!!!!!!!!

Since I installed a powerfull wi-fi 2.5 GH modem & a wireless router in my house my life turned to hell!! , I get headachs ,dizziness,lack of energy,weak muscles,memory problems ,pins in the head feeling ,my eyes seems to pup out and I am not the same person at all and I feel depressed. But when I go to my weekend house on the beach all syptoms are gone and I am back the same old me !!!!!

Nabil, I have had the same symptoms, and also combined with unexplained immune system issues such as hives/excsma and swollen lymph nodes. That pins int eh head feeling you describe is the worst, it is like a “rushing’ feeling in the brain.

Well, at least now I have removed wifi from my home and the symptoms are resolving themselves. The rushing feeling leaves immediately upon turning the wi fi off.

I hope that it didn’t do any permanent damage to my young children or myself. I wonder why we aren’t told about this before we all go and blindly sign up for wi fi internet.

It sucks that I now have a sensitivity that manifests itself everytime I drive past a phone tower (truly, I don’t even have to see it to know it is there, i can feel the rushing in my head).