Suzanne StewartStaff Writer
I
magine living your life without your television, com-puter, mp3 player, radio, video games, microwaveand vacuum cleaner. For Green Bank resident DianeSchou, avoiding these objects is a life long burden.Schou suffers from electromagnetic hypersensitivity, acondition in which sufferers experience medical symptomscaused by exposure to electromagnetic fields. The illness isnot recognized as a disease because the diagnosis reliesmainly on self-reported symptoms. There is no specific testthat can verify if someone is affected. Also, many of thesymptoms are directly related to other medically accepteddiagnoses.Schou first developed the sensitivity around seven yearsago on her farm in Iowa.“By our farm, they built a cell phone tower,” Schou re-called. “It took nine months before I became ill from it andI never suspected that it would be a problem.”The tower was a U.S. Cellular tower which, for a longtime, was the only type of cell phone tower that botheredSchou.“I didn’t have a problem with AT&T, Sprint, CellularOne or any of the other cell phone companies. It was onlyU.S. Cellular,” Schou explained.The frequencies of cell towers are so close, Schou wassurprised she could tell the difference in companies. Even-tually, as her illness progressed, she became sensitive to theother towers.To shield herself from the electromagnetic fields,Schou moved into an RV on her farm.“My husband got the idea of me parking the vehi-cle in a steel shed and so that’s where I lived for anumber of years, inside the steel machine shed inthe RV,” Schou said. “He did all the grocery shop-ping, cooked the food, washed the clothes andmade sure I had everything I needed.”Eventually, Schou left the farm and traveledMost times, though, there’s just no avoiding the lights.“I went to a food co-op meeting because that’s a way o
Allergic to Electricity in an Electronic Age
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The Pocahontas Times
February 12, 2009
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ellness
Diane Schou has a faraday cage in her house that she uses to shelter herself from electromagnetifields. A faraday cage is an enclosure made out of conducting material, or a mesh of such mate-rial. The cage blocks out external static electrical fields. It was named after Michael Faraday, aphysicist who built one in 1836.
, ,made sure I had everything I needed.”Eventually, Schou left the farm and traveledto safer areas in her RV.“I started living in national parks andstate parks. My husband would comeevery couple days to see me but of course, I couldn’t go to the storeby myself. It was tough,”Schou remembered.“Fortunately, I had abunch of books to readfrom the library so Ihad something to do.It’s tough living inthe remote area,”she continued.Schou’s no-madic quest forpeace had herleaving the RVbehind and moving to Europe. She spent time with peoplein Sweden who also suffered from electromagnetic hyper-sensitivity.Once Schou returned to the U.S. for good, after severalback and forth trips to Europe, she heard about Green Bank,when she was staying at a national park.“I was in a national park in South Carolina I think. Myson and I were trying to find a safe place,” Schou recalled.“When we found the park, I felt good, but we couldn’t stayovernight because they don’t allow that. I spoke to the parkranger and explained why I wanted to stay and he told beabout Green Bank being a quiet zone.”Because of the National Astronomy Radio Observatoryin Green Bank, the area is secure from the admittance of cell phone towers. The closest towers are in Marlinton andElkins.Although the observatory does save Schou from the celltowers, she still feelssomething comingfrom there.“When I driveby the observa-tory, ouch, ithurts. There’ssomething here and I wish I could find what it is to makeit a cleaner environment here,” Schou explained.Schou has approached the observatory and asked themwhat could be causing her reaction. She feels fine at certainlocations on the grounds, but something there still causesher pain. She just can’t determine what it is.“No, the observatory is not the safest, but why am I here?Because I believe it’s protecting me from cell towers andother things that could come in here,” Schou said.Another item that causes her to be anti-social is a com-mon item that most of us take for granted. Fluorescentlights.“The senior center has fluorescent lights, the communitycenter has fluorescent lights. It’s limiting what I can do,”Schou said, adding the library and her former church to thelist.“There was a music program at the community centerand I took some guests to seethem,” Schou remembered.“I had to leave and leave myguest to enjoy the musicwhile I went out to the car.“They wanted to go tobreakfast at the communitycenter and I had to sit out inthe car a long distanceaway,” she continued.Schou has learned how totime her visits to areas tok hrlf rMost times, though, there’s just no avoiding the lights.“I went to a food co-op meeting because that’s a way oordering gluten free food,” Schou shared. “Iwas in the back corner of the library and iwas getting toward the evening, so the lightwere on. I sat down and started gettingheadache, so I moved my chair away frothe light. That helped a little but, it wasn’good enough. I had to be away from it.“My head was hurting so much, I felt Iwalked like I was drunk,” she continued. “Iwish I had asked somebody to drive mhome because it hurt to think about drivingand hoping nothing would happen. I’d havto stop and think ‘now what do I do?’ That’sort of the reaction I get. It took two full days before I wastarting to actually think and do things. That was just frothe exposure to fluorescent lights.”Although her illness has severely altered her life, Schoudoesn’t wallow in self pity.“Someone commented, ‘why wasn’t I crying all the timand depressed.’ It’s because I know other people are livingin worse conditions,” Schou explained. “I was living at thatime, in the RV. Even though it was primitive, I had a mat-tress to sleep on.“Other people are sleeping under lean-tos or sleeping onwooden slats,” she continued. “Because of their chemicasensitivity, they can’t even use blankets, so they’re sleep-ing without blankets and it’s just really horrible.”Schou wants to use her expertise to spread knowledgon electromagnetic hypersensitivity. Although she has beensilenced before, Schou will continue her fight for aware-ness.“I’ve talked to scientists who were being hushed, theywere told not to do anymore research in this area or elsthey would shut the department down,” she said. “Theyknow that something needs to be found out, but if they con-tinue to work, they will lose their jobs.“What disturbs me, is that research is being done, in justhe setting where the data is easy to tweak, so therefore,there would be absolutely no effects,” she continued. “Theywould put people into a laboratory and expose them to fre-quencies and they wouldn’t react. Going to the laboratory,they could already be exposed and hurting, so they can‘tell the difference.”Schou does have a few suggestions for those who feethey may be suffering from electromagnetic hypersensitiv-ity.“A simple test is, move the clock radio away from th
.
No, the observatory isnot the safest, but why amI here? Because I believe itʼsprotecting me from cell towersand other things thatcould come in here.
“”
, .Schou has learned how totime her visits to areas tokeep herself protected.“The library has fluores-cent lights, but if I go duringthe day, usually the lights areoff,” she said. “If the librar-ian sees me coming, she willturn the lights off for me,which makes me teary eyedto think they do that.”ey may e suerng rom eecromagnec ypersensv-ity.“A simple test is, move the clock radio away from thbed to the other side of the room and see if you sleep bet-ter at night,” she recommended. “Another simple one ichange the lights from the CFL (compact fluorescent lamp)lights to the incandescent lights and see if you feel betteror stay away from fluorescent lights and see if you feel bet-ter.“Primarily, make notice where you feel better and wher
see Electricity pg 2B
Schou and her husband Bert recently attended a square dance at the Dunmore Com-munity Center where the couple took a spin on the dance floor. To make Schou morecomfortable, one attendee turned a set of lights off to give her a safe place to sit andsocialize with other members of the community.
S. Stewart photo
Suzanne StewartStaff Writer
I
f your day consists of sitting in frontof a computer for eight hours atwork, popping something in the mi-crowave for dinner and watching your fa-vorite shows on television, that migraineand fatigue you battle every night mightnot be caused by stress.You could be suffering from electro-magnetic hypersensitivity.EHS, also referred to as electro sensi-tivity or electrical sensitivity, is a condi-tion in which people experience medicalsymptoms that appear to be caused by ex-posure to electromagnetic fields.Although there are proven cases of af-fected people, EHS currently is not an ac-cepted diagnosis. Since there is nospecific test to determine if someone is af-fected, EHS is not considered a disease bythe medical community.It is believed the described symptomsare caused by more commonly knowndiseases, usually in the psychologicalfield.Symptoms that are linked to EHS in-clude mild to severe headaches, varyingdegrees of fatigue, irritation in one or botheyes, skin rashes, ringing in the ears, mildto severe dizziness, nausea with and with-out vomiting, swelling and itching in thefacial area, general weakness, pain that istypically in the muscles or joints, respira-tory problems, balance issues, emotionaldifficulties such as depression, concen-tration issues, problems with memory andproblems with sleep.The cause of the disorder –electro-magnetic fields –is found in many house-hold items and gadgets used in everydaylife.Electromagnetic fields are produced byelectrically charged objects. Sufferers canfeel the effects of these devices they usefrom miles away. Items like televisions,microwaves, vacuum cleaners and cellphones are some of the culprits that ap-pear to cause symptoms.The only cure for EHS is total avoid-ance of electromagnetic fields and objectsthat emit electromagnetic radiation. Suf-ferers remove from their homes all theitems that might cause them pain and tryto find an “electrically neutral” place tolive.
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