Allergic to electromagnetism!

[St.Michael]

Does anyone here live in the Yorkshire Television region of the UK?
Did anyone see Calendar News tonight at 6pm?

They interviewed a guy in Yorkshire who claims he is allergic to electromagnetism.

He claims it started twenty years ago when he bought a microwave oven, which when he used gave him electric shocks up his arm. From then on he removed all the light bulbs from his house has no electrical appliances at all as they make him ill. He even made the camera crew stand in the garden while they interviewed him 30 feet away as when they were close, the camera gave him a headache!

He sought medical advice but they don’t take his claim seriously. Now a local company who make lycra suits interwoven with silver could help because the silver can deflect the radiation.

Personally I think his problem is psychosomatic brought about by the scare stories about microwaves when they first became available.

Did anyone else see this or has anyone ever heard of this kind of case before?

 

[Psiload]

Does anyone here live in the Yorkshire Television region of the UK?
Did anyone see Calendar News tonight at 6pm?

They interviewed a guy in Yorkshire who claims he is allergic to electromagnetism.

He claims it started twenty years ago when he bought a microwave oven, which when he used gave him electric shocks up his arm. From then on he removed all the light bulbs from his house has no electrical appliances at all as they make him ill. He even made the camera crew stand in the garden while they interviewed him 30 feet away as when they were close, the camera gave him a headache!

He sought medical advice but they don’t take his claim seriously. Now a local company who make lycra suits interwoven with silver could help because the silver can deflect the radiation.

Personally I think his problem is psychosomatic brought about by the scare stories about microwaves when they first became available.

Did anyone else see this or has anyone ever heard of this kind of case before?

Is he a millionaire? If not... why not?

 

[BillC]

I presume he claims he is only allergic to EM radiation of certain frequencies? Otherwise he might have difficult leading a normal life, forced to remain in complete darkness. Even then, his surroundings are going to give off black-body radiation.

I bet he can't even tell if there is electrical equipment in the vicinity.

 

[sophia8]

This is a case of "electrical sensitivity" - there are several threads on the forum about it, like this one.
Basically, it's a psychosomatic illness. As for the silver-lined suit - isn't silver an electrical conductor? Oh, wait a minute, it conducts electricity away from his body, right?
It would be very simple to construct a double-blind test for this alleged sensitivity, but I doubt if he'd take it.

 

[DangerousBeliefs]

Personally I think his problem is psychosomatic brought about by the scare stories about microwaves when they first became available.

Could be he had a leaky microwave too... then just used cause/effect fallacy to assume the worst.

Microwave causes issues therefore all electromagnetic devices cause issues.

Sounds like a nutter.

 

[mollyblack]

Wow. And I thought my sister was bad with her listening to the people telling her she can't eat white rice because it's a "trigger" food for her since it's BLEACHED (which it isn't - it's just de-hulled, basically). I sent her links to sites about rice and she wrote back a thing saying, "Hrm. I wonder why it's a trigger food for me then?"

... Because you're listening to a quack who's bringing on psychosomatic illness!

(But I won't say that because I don't need to go through another fight.)

 

[joesixpack]

That is just so crazy and delusional that it boggles the mind. He must be the most insufferable hypochondriac on earth. I truly feel for his family.

My Ex-wife was a total woo-swallowing hypochondriac and was allergic to any and everything imaginable. It was absolute torment living with that sort of crap, especially because she didn't want me eating all of the things she was "allergic" to.

With most people like that, I think it's a pathetic way of measuring others love, i.e., "if you love me and want to be near me, you can't have mustard on your tofu hot-dog, 'cause it'll make my epstien-barr flare up."

Do I sound bitter? I guess made-up allergies are a "trigger" for me. ;-)

 

[mollyblack]

That is just so crazy and delusional that it boggles the mind. He must be the most insufferable hypochondriac on earth. I truly feel for his family.

My Ex-wife was a total woo-swallowing hypochondriac and was allergic to any and everything imaginable. It was absolute torment living with that sort of crap, especially because she didn't want me eating all of the things she was "allergic" to.

With most people like that, I think it's a pathetic way of measuring others love, i.e., "if you love me and want to be near me, you can't have mustard on your tofu hot-dog, 'cause it'll make my epstien-barr flare up."

Do I sound bitter? I guess made-up allergies are a "trigger" for me. ;-)

No, not bitter. Just a little, ummm, trigger happy.

(Apologies for that bad joke. It was brought to you by my wish to post over 50 posts and get my darned icon and signature ... plus your edit reason is awesome.)

 

[Hamradioguy]

We had an older lady like that here in town a few years ago. She successfully sued her landlord where she previously lived because the 220V mains coming into her apartment "made her ill". At great expense her landlord had to change the mains over to 110V. Then she moved here.

Because she was "allergic" to things electrical she had a hands free telephone so she wouldn't have to put the receiver up to her head. When she wanted something copied she'd head to the Town Clerk's office. But since she was "allergic" to the electricity in copying machines she'd sit in her car and lean on the horn until someone came out to investigate. Then she'd hand them whatever it was she wanted copied. Naturally, no one asked her how she could operate a motor vehicle with over 10,000 volts running around those sparkplug wires.
The only person in town who didn't buy into this nonsense was our Fire Chief. One day when she was parked illegally right in front of the fire station he asked her to move. She waved a piece of paper in his face that she had written herself that said she was handicapped and could park anywhere she pleased. He simply pointed out a 30,000 volt high tension line that went right over the firehouse-and her car- and said when she died of the high voltage the firefighters would simply push her car off to the side! She took off fast enough to put a drag racer to shame.

I always felt sorry for all those folks (especially her landlords) who bought into this nonsense.

 

[TheGline]

Electrical sensitivity sounds like a variant of "environmental illness," which is a psychosomatic malady as well -- it's basically 21st-century hypochondria with some updated trappings. And, curiously enough, it gets markedly worse when validated by someone else.

Has anyone else here seen a movie called Safe (by Todd Haynes, director of Velvet Goldmine)? It's a treatment of this idea, and from what I've heard it ends with the suggestion that the woman in question has simply been making herself sick (shilling for driving herself mad).

 

[St.Michael]

I think it is a case of supposed electrical sensitivity but he's taken it to such extremes. He doesn't have any light bulbs but has put lots mirrors around his house to maximise 'natural' light.

 

[Alan Heap]

i've heard of this. they're usually either mentally ill or they have genuinely become ill with what they say the symptoms are, but just associated it with an environmental change when it's not, proving some placebo relief. in conclusion, it's placebo cure or placebo illness, you decide!

 

[Fnord]

My turn...

I moved into a house about 2 blocks from a woman who had failed in every attempt over the last few years to sue the city over a large antenna tower at the local 911 dispatch center.

Anyway, I erected a 40-foot amateur radio tower in strict conformance to all local municipal ordinances and regulations of the FAA and FCC. While I was waiting for my new beam antenna and rotator, the woman shows up and insists that I take down the antenna tower because my radio waves were giving her migraine headaches. I simply said "No" and shut the door.

A while later, I get a lawyer's letter threatening a lawsuit if I did not "Cease and Desist" my transmissions. My lawyer sent a "Show Cause" letter back to her lawyer, and things went back and forth like this for a while.

Eventually, I received a court summons. At the hearing, the woman failed to prove (1) I had been transmitting, (2) any transmissions that I could have made would have been the sole cause of her migraines.

However, my lawyer presented factual evidence that, (3) she had failed to mention the City-Owned 911 dispatch service center, AND (4) that she had already complained that the dispatch radios were the cause of her headaches!

(Thank you, City and Court Records Clerks!)

The judge dismissed the case. I recovered most of my legal costs. She moved out of the neighborhood. I moved about a year later, and erected another antenna tower. I've been operating ever since.

 

[JQH]

Wow. And I thought my sister was bad with her listening to the people telling her she can't eat white rice because it's a "trigger" food for her since it's BLEACHED (which it isn't - it's just de-hulled, basically). I sent her links to sites about rice and she wrote back a thing saying, "Hrm. I wonder why it's a trigger food for me then?"

... Because you're listening to a quack who's bringing on psychosomatic illness!

(But I won't say that because I don't need to go through another fight.)

Going a bit off-topic but this reminds me of a conversation I had with a work collegue years ago - she was very particular about her food and (apparantly) had all kinds of allergies. Conversation went something like this:

C: I've got a upset stomach.

Me: What caused it?

C: I think it's because I ate some polished rice.

Me: That won't give you an upset stomach, it's just starch.

C: Depends on what they polished it with.

Me: <Bangs head on table>

 

[Cuddles]

He claims it started twenty years ago when he bought a microwave oven, which when he used gave him electric shocks up his arm. From then on he removed all the light bulbs from his house has no electrical appliances at all as they make him ill.

So, hang on, he used to have lots of electric thingies that never caused him any problem. One day he bought a new one that apparently did. Therefore all the old ones must cause problems as well? He is, quite simply, a raving nutcase.

 

[Alan Heap]

the US army has taken away the microwave and are conducting further research on this amazing yet deadly device.

 

[Ove]

Sad sad story. I saw a programme on Danish TV about a guy claiming to suffer from that. What harmed me was that an Engineer had started a compagny to help peole like him. He put metal netting in all walls and ceiling and basically tried to convert the house to a Farraday cage. He charged a lot of money and the "sufferer" told how he had taken out an extra mortgage to pay for the "improvements".
I feel sad for the people suffering from this and espescially for their poor families (he was married with two kids) but i get really p*ssed at cynical people making money out of such cases.

 

[sophia8]

How do these "enviroment-sensitive" people actually live anyway? Unless they have a shack in the middle of hundreds of acres of wild woodland, where they can hunt their meat, grow their food, harvest wood for their fires, etc. they have to interact with the evil polluting outside world somehow.
For instance, how did that guy in Yorkshire communicate with people? How did he find out about this firm who are making him the special suit?
How does he cook? How does he heat and light his house?
How does he do his shopping? Where is his money coming from?
It sounds like somebody's enabling this poor bloke in his delusions - doing his shopping, posting his letters, getting in touch with suit-making firms and TV companies for him. If he was just left alone to try to cope with everything himself, he might just decide he's not all that sick after all.