Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Caused by EMF?
Doctors in Japan may be reluctant to diagnose
By Pat Ormsby – 27 December 2004
In an Omega newsletter last July or August, I read an article about brain diseases in connection with chemical pollution. The article stated that the Japanese were not experiencing the increase in Alzheimer's Disease that the rest of the world is now subjected to, and noted that when they leave Japan, they begin to be affected. I suspect that what is actually happening is that doctors may be reluctant to diagnose Alzheimer's.
There appears to be a significant stigma attached to the condition. I stumbled into this accidentally when analyzing the behavior of a trouble-making older man in our community. When I mentioned that it fit the pattern of Alzheimer's, I was trying to show him some compassion, but my remark was perceived as a shocking insult even by the people he had hurt.
Recently on TV we see many health-topic programs focusing on brain aging, where it has been noted that younger people are often showing deterioration of mental faculties similar to that of the elderly. Chronic fatigue syndrome and depression are rampant, and most of the time it is ascribed to purely psychological factors. The popular TV shows may point out missing nutrients or present mental exercises to keep ones thinking young. It is such a hot topic that if I get busy and forget I've left something on the stove, my husband gets worried that I am "getting old before my time". I have few statistics available, but it appears to me that the Japanese are showing an increase in brain deterioration just like everyone else.
In the past, I mentioned in your forum a condition occurring among the Japanese at a rate of 1-2% of the population throughout Japan, affecting all ages, but noted among the young, in which they withdraw from society, shutting themselves off in their rooms. At first the press was calling the condition "jiheisho" meaning autism, but later they switched to calling it "hikikomori" or withdrawing and hiding. What was curious was that it appeared to have a sudden onset coinciding temporally with a major expansion of cell phone service nationwide. The press was mum on this point, and I thought I was one of a very few who had noticed a connection, and I could not get corroborating evidence. It looks to me now that someone else has noticed and done some research into it, as the following article translated from Gauss Network's newsletter shows. (Emphasis added)
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Caused by EMF?
From Gauss Tsushin (the newsletter of Japan's Gauss Network), No. 68 August 15, 2004
"About 70% of withdrawn children have chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) with reduced blood flow to the brain," says Kumamoto University Medical School Professor Teruhisa Miike regarding his investigation of cerebral blood flow among children failing to attend school, which showed reduced blood flow in 75% of the cases. He says that their failure to attend school is not a "psychological problem," but a serious illness accompanied by disorders in central nervous system function and immune function. "If you force them to go to school, they risk having real psychological problems as a result," he says.
This chronic fatigue syndrome may be caused by electromagnetic waves according to a study by Ryoichi Ogawa, a physician in Kobe, whose view that "Reduced cerebral blood flow may possibly result from the influence of electromagnetic waves from IT equipment" was introduced in the Sunday Mainichi weekly of May 4-11, 2004. An excerpt from this article is given below.
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Dr. Ogawa noted that about 80% of his CFS patients were frequent users on a daily basis of cellular phones, personal computers, TV games and other IT devices, and decided to conduct a clinical investigation into a possible cause-effect relationship of cellular phones and desktop-style personal computers to CFS, a "poorly understood condition" in which general clinical tests show no abnormalities.
The subjects were 40 young people, 20 male and 20 female, ranging in age from 12 to 32, who had received treatment for CFS, and an additional 25 male and 25 female healthy family members of the patients, ranging in age from 15 to 35, for a total of 90 people. The investigation was performed using the "Super Doppler Method" to measure the speed of blood flowing during a period of one second in the ophthalmic artery located in the upper part of the eyelid. This artery branches off from the internal carotid artery, which carries blood from the heart to the brain, and this method of testing was established for clinical investigation of blockage of cerebral blood vessels.
The subjects were asked to use a cellular phone, holding it to their left ear for 30 seconds. Prior to use, all of the subjects showed normal blood flow of 10 cm/sec. in the ophthalmic artery of both left and right eye, but after using the cellular phone, this dropped to less than 5 cm/sec. in all of the subjects. When blood flow in this artery is less than 5 cm/sec, it is considered a sign of reduced cerebral blood flow. (Emphasis added)
The subjects were also asked to use a personal computer, sitting within one meter of the screen for 15 minutes of normal use. When measurements were made directly afterward, it turned out that the blood flow was reduced to less than 5 cm/sec in both eyes among all of the patients who had been treated for CFS. Even among the healthy group, about 78% showed a reduction to less than 5 cm/sec in both eyes.
In addition, the subjects were tested again for speed of blood flow in the ophthalmic artery 30 minutes after finishing their use of these devices. The results showed all of the healthy subjects to have recovered normally to 10 cm/sec, so in their case it was learned that the reduction in cerebral blood flow was temporary. Among the subjects who had received treatment for CFS, however, only 60% had recovered normally. This demonstrates a possibility of some kind of effect on cerebral blood flow by IT equipment, and that these patients will need to take care regarding electromagnetic fields in their daily lives after treatment.
EMR and the connection to CFS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome)
[An open letter to movie producer Michael Moore]
Hello,
My name is Paul Raymond Doyon. I am 45 years old. I have been married for 14 years and have a six-year-old son. I have a BA in Psychology, an MA in Teaching, and an MA in Advanced Japanese Studies. I taught EFL in Japan for over 18 years and now live in Yunnan Province, China where I teach both EFL and Japanese at Yunnan Normal University.
In November of 2004 I started working at Kyushu University in the city of Fukuoka, Japan as an Associate Professor teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL). Within six months of moving into a new apartment and starting my new job I started to become ill. I gradually developed more and
more adverse symptoms. First, I found myself suddenly waking up earlier and earlier until I got to the point where I could barely sleep anymore. I progressively developed the following symptoms: (1) excessive thirst, (2) night sweats, (3) brain fog, (4) swollen lymph glands, (5) fatigue (6) insomnia, (7) a weakened immune system, (8) nausea, (9) heart pain, (10) back pain, (11) unexplained anxiety, (12) neurological symptoms, (13) vision problems (14) testicular pain, (15) loss of appetite, (16) rapid weight loss, (17) frequent urination, (18) dry eyes and mouth, (19) impaired memory, (20) inability to concentrate, (21) body temperature regulation problems ( i.e. chills), (22) bone pain, and so on.
After searching on the Internet, I determined that I had the symptoms of what was most likely prematurely and misleadingly dubbed Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) by the Center of Disease Control (CDC) in 1988, four years after droves of people in the USA started complaining of the same symptoms in 1984. 1984 is ominously also the same year that a commercial 1st generation (1G) cell phone system spread across the United States.
I went to see several specialist doctors in Japan who confirmed my suspicions and also gave me the common diagnosis in Japan of Autonomic Nervous System Disorder. Blood and other tests revealed high titers of Epstein Barr Virus, Cytomegalo Virus, Coxsackie Virus, Mycoplasma, Toxoplasma, Candida and so on.
As I progressively became sicker and sicker, I was no longer able to work. After searching on the Internet, I read one horror story after another of people who had contracted this strange syndrome and who had never recovered. Even the CDC states on their Website that it is an incurable disease. And even after over two decades they still say they do not know what causes this condition.
There have been a number of theories put forth as to what causes CFS stemming from viruses, mycoplasma, mercury toxicity, candida, mold, chemical toxicity, free radicals, depletion of the body's store of antioxidants, allergic reactions to genetics. Certainly, many of these are secondary factors contributing to the symptomology of this disease, which I firmly believe hence stem originally from a massive increase in ambient EMR (especially microwave) permeating our environment.
After being ill for about six months and searching for answers about what causes this condition, I started to suspect electromagnetic radiation (EMR) especially microwave radiation emitted by cell phones and cell phone towers as being the culprit. I had read of one person who had been ill for years with CFS and Crohn's Disease who claimed all his symptoms disappeared when he moved out from an apartment in a big city and into his parent's home out in the French countryside. I also noticed that I always felt better at night (as most people with CFS do) when most people are not using their cell phones – in spite of the fact that I was suffering from insomnia. Moreover, I would get anxiety attacks at specific times of the day, which I later correlated with peak cell phone usage times in Japan where I was living at the time. Furthermore, I noticed that I would feel much better if I went to certain places, which I was later able to ascertain had less of this electrosmog permeating the
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planet. Finally, I went to see an alternative doctor in Japan who stated very clearly in his brochure that disease is caused by a combination of factors: genetics, pathogens, chemical toxicity, metal toxicity, and – YES – exposure to Electromagnetic Radiation (EMR).
A little more research on the Internet revealed that the symptoms found in CFS are practically identical to what the Russians termed Microwave Sickness in the early seventies:
"In 1971, Zinaida V. Gordan and Maria N. Sadchikova of the USSR Institute of Labor Hygiene and Occupational Diseases described a comprehensive succession of symptoms, which they identified as Microwave Sickness. The initial symptoms are low blood pressure and slow pulse. The second stage includes headaches, dizziness, eye pain, sleeplessness, irritability, anxiety, stomach pain,
nervous tension, inability to concentrate, hair loss, which are eventually followed by adrenal exhaustion and ischemic heart disease." (Becker, 1985, pp. 314-315)
Dr. Henry Lai, of the University of Washington, has postulated that the effects of exposure to long-term non-ionizing radiation could very well be similar to the effects of short-term exposure to ionizing radiation. In fact, this seems to be exactly what we are seeing in the symptoms in a number of disease states, which appeared or vastly increased in number with the advent of the mobile phone and Wi-Fi and a drastic increase in ambient EMR in our environment. For example, the following symptoms are found in Radiation Sickness, CFS, and what is known as Microwave Sickness:
Fatigue Swollen Lymph Nodes Nausea Weakness Intestinal Problems Impaired Memory
Impaired Concentration Insomnia Loss of Appetite Weight Loss Skin Rash Weakened Immunity Night sweats Heart Problems Visual Disturbances Chills Headaches Flu-like Symptoms
Dr. Robert O. Becker wrote 21 years ago in his book The Body Electric the following regarding dangers EMR are posing:
"The dangers of electropollution are real and well documented. It changes, often pathologically, every biological system. What we don’t know is exactly how serious these changes are, for how many people. The longer we as a society, put off a search for that knowledge, the greater the damage is likely to be and the harder it will be to correct." p. 304
After looking around in my immediate environment, I was able to ascertain that there were four 3rd generation (3G) cell phone towers within a kilometer of my apartment, two of which were within 300 meters.
I finally found and decided to rent a log house up in the mountains of Saga Prefecture, Japan – out of cell phone range (one of the very few places) – and immediately started to feel better with the immediate (within 24 hours) disappearance of many symptoms and with most of the rest of these symptoms gradually disappearing over a two month period. I stayed in this log house for a total of four months.
As my body started to heal, I started to become extremely sensitive to the EMR emitted by cell phone towers and cell phones. Whenever I got into range of a cell phone tower or people with cell phones, I would start to feel sick with nausea, pressure in my skull, and pain in the lymph nodes. If someone were to make a cell phone call near me, these symptoms would become extremely intensified.
Fortunately, a number of treatment modalities have alleviated and helped me to cope with this electrosensitivity more effectively. One has been heavy-metal chelation therapy where the use of a number of sulfur compounds are able to bind with and draw the metals out of the body. Another has
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been the removal of all metal fillings from the mouth. And finally the daily use of a large variety of antioxidants has helped tremendously.
I decided to leave Japan – one of the most electropolluted countries in the world – to look for a new place to live. After traveling through Thailand, India, Myanmar, and Laos, I finally decided to make Yunnan Province in China my new home. I decided against going to any advanced Western countries, since these also seem to have the most advanced microwave communication systems (3G and WiMax) and I seem to fare better with the 2nd generation systems now still prevalent in most developing countries. Also, I have – I believe due to microwave exposure – developed a number of sensitivities. One of these is to mold so I seem to also fare better in a dry climate which the area of
Yunnan that I live provides. However, I believe this is only a temporary solution for me at this time and I (and many like myself) urgently seek a place – a refuge – in this world where there is no or little EMR emitted by cell phone towers.
With the advent of cellular phone microwave technology and Wi-Fi and the drastic increase in the ambient electromagnetic radiation it has produced, the world has seen a major increase in disease states like Autism, ADHD, Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome (CFIDS) (AKA as ME (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis) in the UK), Insomnia, Behavior Disorders, Allergies, Asthma, Alzheimer's, Multiple Sclerosis (MS), all forms of cancer (e.g. Brain Tumors, Breast Cancer, Leukemia, etc.), and so on.
At present, brain tumors are the leading cause of death in children in the USA surpassing leukemia in 2002. A recent British newspaper put the present rate of Autism at one in forty (while more conservative estimates in the USA are putting it at one in one hundred). Forty million Americans now take sleep medication for insomnia (up 60% since 2000) while 60% suffer from sleep disturbances. A recent survey by the CDC also put the number of people with CFS (PWC) at one in forty.
In 2002, a number of German doctors – belonging to the Interdisciplinary Society of Environmental Medicine – issued the Freiburger Appeal (now with close to 40,000 signatories) after noting a cause and affect relationship between the increase in wireless technology (cell phones, Wi-Fi, DECT, etc.) and "a dramatic rise in severe and chronic diseases" like behavioral disorders, ADD, blood pressure disorders, heart attacks and strokes, brain-degenerative diseases, and cancers like leukemia and brain tumors.
In 2005, the World Health Organization (WHO) finally and officially recognized electro-sensitivity as a bona-fide disorder – in spite of the fact that collusion with the cell phone industry is highly likely.
Also in 2005, the Vienna Doctors' Chamber (Wiener Arztekammer) – after the REFLEX Study clearly showed genetic damage – created posters (posted in hospital waiting rooms) warning of dangers and listing rules for use.
In Aug. 2007, a report – issued by an international group of renowned scientists, researchers, doctors, and public health experts – entitled the BioInitiative ( ) warns:
"Wireless technologies that rely on microwave radiation to send emails and voice communication are thousands of times stronger than levels reported to cause some health impacts. Prolonged exposure to radiofrequency and microwave radiation from cell phones, cordless phones, cell towers, Wi-Fi and other wireless technologies have been linked to physical symptoms including headache, fatigue, sleeplessness, dizziness, changes in brainwave activity, and impairment of concentration and memory."