Tourettes, EHS and MCS

LeRoy Schools Looking Into Mysterious Student Health Concerns - WHAM 13

Six female students in the LeRoy Central School District have developed symptoms similar to Tourette's Syndrome.

"This is my eighth or ninth day straight ticking and it just doesn't stop," says a 17-year-old senior at the LeRoy High School who has come down the mysterious illness.

13WHAM chose not to reveal the girl's identity, but she says the Tourette-like symptoms started randomly a few weeks ago after she woke up from a nap. Things have gotten so bad for the 17-year-old that she can no longer go to school and has to be tutored after hours.

"It's just a lot of pressure on my neck and makes my back sore," the teenager says about the mysterious condition that causes her head and neck to shake uncontrollably.

More on chemicals - Toxic tics - FoodsMatter.com

While interacting with a state Tourette syndrome group in Orlando, we started brainstorming the fact that many in the audience said their tics worsen when in a vehicle. (Ed. Tourette syndrome is a neurological disorder characterised by recurring movements and sounds, called tics.)

‘It’s the bright sunlight,’ a man suggested. That idea met with many nods of approval, but we prodded further. One woman thought it was the motion of the car that most bothered her. We talked about other possibilities - an irritating texture of the upholstery, not wanting to travel to certain locations, exhaust fumes coming in, and so on. I urged them not to jump to quick conclusions, but to think all options through.


Electrical Sensitivity as an Emerging Illness - Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients

What is electrical sensitivity? Perhaps you are already familiar with multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) whereby the patient develops symptoms from exposure to ordinary levels of synthetic chemicals in common use such as perfumes, pesticides, and household cleaning products. Electrical sensitivity (ES), another environmentally triggered illness, produces symptoms in the patient exposed to common levels of electromagnetic fields (EMF) from electrical sources in the environment: power lines, motors, computers, etc. ES patients often are also MCS patients. Other at-risk groups for developing ES seem to be chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) patients and those experiencing mercury toxicity from dental amalgams. Because the nervous system is a primary site impacted by both chemicals and electromagnetic fields, those with nervous system damage from toxic exposures seem more susceptible to becoming ES too. Also, overexposure to EMF can singularly bring on ES, independent of other illness. Historically, ES was known as radiowave illness or microwave sickness.

A Medline computer search under electromagnetic fields and microwaves will locate several hundred references regarding health effects from these exposures. Electrical sensitivity, now also called electromagnetic hypersensitivity, are both listed on Medline as well.

In a recent ES survey, the five most common symptoms experienced when EMF exposed were skin itch/rash/flushing/burning and/or tingling, confusion/poor concentration and/or memory loss, fatigue/weakness, headache, and chest pain/heart problems. Skin problems and memory difficulties tied for first place among the overall symptoms. Less commonly reported symptoms included nausea, panic attacks, insomnia, seizures, ear pain/ringing in the ears, feeling a vibration, paralysis, and dizziness. Some ES patients experience only one symptom when EMF exposed, but often more than one symptom is apparent.