Minute electrical currents can be measured from every cell in the body and individual organs, such as the heart and brain, are routinely monitored to assess disease.
Electrical activity is absolutely fundamental to life. However, the phenomenon of electrical sensitivity is being increasingly observed and documented as we are exposed to more sources of electromagnetism, in the form of electrical and electronic equipment in our working and home environments.
Symptoms of electrical sensitivity
Electrical sensitivity affects at least 1 in 1,000 of the population. Almost all electrically sensitive people are also sufferers from food and/or chemical allergies/sensitivities. When people have acquired a high degree of sensitivity to many things, they are very likely to have an abnormal sensitivity to electrical stimuli.
The symptoms and clinical observations of electrical sensitivity include the following:
- drowsiness
- malaise and headache
- mood swings
- depression
- tearfulness and eye pain
- poor concentration
- vertigo and tinnitus
- numbness and tingling
- nausea, flatulence
- convulsions
- lack of coordination
- noise sensitivity
- alteration in appetite
- visual disturbance
- restlessness
- changes in respiration
- heart rate changes
- pupil dilatation
- perspiration
- muscular weakness
- loss of visual acuity (sharpness of vision)
- speech difficulties
- loss of consciousness, blackouts
- convulsions
Highly sensitised people may find weather changes and impending thunderstorms troublesome. Fluorescent lighting may make shopping difficult, particularly if inhalants, such as preservatives on fabrics, provide the initial trigger. There may be a variety of problems which arise when the near electrical equipment, power lines, televisions, computers, remote controls, audio and video recorders, telephones, car electronics, pagers, airports, aircraft, marine radar and radio transmitters, refrigerators, irons, washing machines, electric watches, clocks, VDUs or other electronics. Electric fields of the order of millivolts per metre can cause reactions. This degree of exposure is typical of the electric field that occurs 1 metre away from a television.
An electrically sensitive patient stopped me in the corridor and asked me to turn off my mobile phone because it was causing her discomfort. I thought that it was turned off and pulled it out of my pocket to discover that it was turned on, with the volume turned off.”
~ Visiting physician
Treatment of electrical sensitivity
In many cases of electrical sensitivity, sufferers may be incompatible with the contemporary environment until restored to health. Trials have shown that repeated exposure to a given frequency, while someone is reacting severely to a different allergic trigger, can sensitise people so that their specific sensitivity pattern of response can be triggered on encountering that frequency later.
Exposure to pesticides or herbicides seems to enhance electrical sensitivities, and ionising radiation exposure appears to have an additional effect. It is possible to treat electrical sensitivity by treating the food and chemical allergy/sensitivity, minimising electromagnetic exposures and overexposure to noxious chemicals and restoring nutritional status, especially of cell membranes. As the food and chemical sensitivities come under control and the body detoxifies itself, the electrical sensitivities usually go as well.
Find out more
Learn more about allergy and environmental illness by understanding the Load Phenomenon.
Costs
Breakspear Medical treats each patient individually, which means that there is no standard treatment programme for electrical sensitivity at a set price. After your first appointment, you will be given a detailed estimate, with your recommended treatment programme in detail with all the costs, which will be explained to you by your Patient Liaison Officer.
All our consultation prices are in one place: consultation fees
I am electrically sensitive and worry about exposure. Is your clinic screened?
As well as providing a scent-free environment for our patients, we also insist that mobile phones and other electrical devices are not turned on in the Testing Wards. As patients are sensitive to different things, please let us know us in advance of your visit of your concerns, we will do our best to accommodate your needs.