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Electrohypersensitivity Diagnosis and Treatment; by Jule Klotter
In March 2020, Dominique Belpomme and Philippe Irigaray, who are affiliated with the European Cancer and Environment Research Institute, published a review article about electrohypersensitivity. The article is based on a registered database that they have maintained since 2009, which contains clinical information on over 2000 patients with electrohypersensitivity (EHS) and multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS). The World Health Organization’s 2005 fact sheet 296, “Electromagnetic fields and public health,” says that “EHS is characterized by a variety of non-specific symptoms….[and] resembles MCS, another disorder associated with low-level environmental exposure to chemicals….” WHO does not recognize EHS as an illness that can be diagnosed and treated medically. Belpomme and Irigaray want WHO to add EHS to the international classification of diseases (ICD).
The review authors conducted a prospective study, using questionnaire-based interviews and clinical physical examinations of the first 727 consecutive cases included in the database: 521 (71.7%) self-reported EHS only; 52 (7.1%) reported MCS only; and 154 (21.2%) reported EHS and MCS. Two-thirds of the EHS-only and MCS-only groups were women, and women accounted for three-fourths of the combine EHS/MCS group.
Like MCS, those with EHS report diverse symptoms—many of which are neurological—including the following: headache (88%), dysesthesia (pain, itchy, or burning sensations; 82%), ear heat/otalgia (70%), dizziness (70%), tinnitus (60%), concentration/attention deficiency (76%), immediate memory loss (70%), fatigue (88%), insomnia (74%), and tendency for depression (60%). The EHS patients report that the symptoms arise or increase with exposure to electromagnetic field sources. While the incidence of some clinical symptoms (eg, headache, balance disorder, concentration/attention deficiency) was statistically similar in those with EHS only and MCS only, other symptoms appeared more often in those with EHS, including dysesthesia, ear heat/otalgia, tinnitus, hyperacusis (sound sensitivity), dizziness, immediate memory loss, insomnia, and fatigue. Patients with both EHS and MCS tended to be more ill. The EHS/MCS group also was more likely to be inflicted with skin lesions (45%), found mostly on the hands—“particularly on the hand which held the mobile phone.”
Belpomme and Irigaray sought biomarkers that characterize EHS and/or MCS. They found increased histamine in both EHS and MCS patients (30-40%), “suggesting a low-grade inflammatory process is involved….” Also, about twenty percent of the 727 patients had autoantibodies against O-myelin. About 80% of EHS patients had increased levels of one or more of the measured oxidative/nitrosative stress-related biomarkers: thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), oxidized glutathione, and nitrotyrosine. Patients with EHS also had abnormal neurotransmitter profiles.
In addition to blood and urine biomarkers, the doctors used radiological tests to find clues about these conditions. They report that brain imagery, including CT scans, MRIs, and angioscans, “are usually normal” in both EHS and MCS patients. Transcranial Doppler ultrasound, however, shows decreases in mean pulsatility index in cerebral arteries, particularly in those with both EHS and MCS, resulting in decreased blood flow velocity. Ultrasonic cerebral tomosphygmography (UCTS) shows that people with EHS and/or MCS tend to have decreased capillary blood flow to the limbic system and the thalamus in the brain: “Although these abnormalities are not specific, since they may be similar to those found in Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders, we recently confirmed that UCTS could presently be one of the most accurate imaging techniques to be used to diagnose EHS and/or MCS and to follow objectively treated patients.”
Because EHS and MCS symptoms are diverse and non-specific, Belpomme and Irigaray suggest ruling out known pathologies that could account for the symptoms first. A repeatable association between EMF exposure and changes in clinical symptoms, as well as the presence of chemical sensitivities (which is associated with EMF), indicate the possibility of electrohypersensitivity. Increased histamine (in absence of allergy) and/or increased oxidative/nitrosative stress-related biomarkers are found in about 70% of patients with EHS. By adding ultrasonic imaging, Belpomme and Irigaray were reportedly able “to objectively diagnose EHS in about 90% of EHS self-reported patients.”
The authors report that many EHS patients have “a profound deficit in vitamins and trace minerals, especially in vitamin D and zinc, which should be corrected.” They have also used fermented papaya preparation and Ginkgo biloba to restore brain pulsatility. Treatment also includes glutathione, antioxidants, anti-histaminics (if histamine levels are high), and anti-nitrosative medications. Avoidance of electromagnetic radiation and chemical stressors and use of protective measures are also important. In the authors’ experience, symptoms may decrease and even disappear with treatment and protection, but “hypersensitivity to EMF and/or MCS-related chemical sensitivity never disappears…EHS and MCS appear to be associated with some irreversible neurological pathological state, requiring strong and persistent prevention.”
Electrohypersensitivity affects 3% to 5% of the population in many countries, according to current estimates. As environmental exposure to man-made electromagnetic radiation continues to increase, the incidence is likely to grow. Belpomme and Irigaray organized an international scientific consensus meeting on EHS and MCS in 2015 (Brussels) during which “scientists unanimously asked WHO to urgently assume its responsibilities, by classifying EHS and MCS as separate codes in the ICD, so as to increase scientific awareness of these two pathological entities in the medical community and the general public, and to foster research….” WHO has not yet responded.
Belpomme D, Irigaray P. Electrohypersensitivity as a Newly Identified and Characterized Neurologic Pathological Disorder How to Diagnose, Treat, and Prevent It. Int J Mol Sci. 2020;21:1915.
Hello everyone! This is David. You know I'm heavy into clinical and scientific Proof. As my dear friend Dr. Jimmy Gutman says "You need 3 things to validate a product; Science, Science and MORE Science."
Well, This is for everyone who says that Electromagnetic fields, Electrical wires and smelly perfumes give them headaches and all kind of other physiological issues, but your doctors, friends and family say "you're a nut" and "it's all in your head".
This article is copied from "The Townsend Letter", a newsletter on natural and alternative medicine, which I highly recommend.