Thanks.

It is paradoxical that mercury metal is recognised as quite dangerous, is to be banned shortly in batteries and is already discouraged, and yet we pay to have it loaded into our mouths. I have quite a lot of it, by the look of things, and have swallowed some.

Alternate explanations include psychosomatic illness: psychosomatic doesn’t mean not real. For that matter, phobia is an intense reaction to a stimulus that ought to produce only mild or no anxiety. May there not be a category of psychological disorder which does not include conscious fear but nevertheless includes an intense physiological reaction?

The observation that there are deadly illnesses scientifically believed to be caused by bacteria or viruses which nearly everyone carries while remaining essentially healthy – such as the fact it seems that tens of millions of Britons are walking around with MRSA – underscores that etiology is something of a creative art, a work of imagination – then to be proven. Basically it’s like having a lottery ticket in your pocket; you won’t “win” the unusual illness if you don’t have the ticket, but nearly all of the people who do have a ticket won’t win, either. (It’s a matter of choice whether the common £10 prizes should be included in the metaphor, as well as the jackpot.)

It is not surprising that many people suffer physiological malfunction without an evident cause. Our bodies are very complicated systems, and are liable to suffer from an extraordinary number of complicated and catastrophic system failures. “To live at all is miracle enough”, wrote Mervyn Peake. Yes indeed: it’s amazing that we don’t all just drop down dead.

So your seriously trying to imply that conditions like Chronic Fatigue and Fibrromyalgia do not exist????

>>All or mostly intangible symptoms.

According to you, yes.

>> Diagnosed by elimination.

And what’s your point? Lots of conditions are…

>> Often psychosomatic and treated as a psychological disorder.

Almost never physchosomatic, but it’s trendy to think so when you can’t be bothered to look into it.

>> Affect mostly middle class, middle aged women.

As far as I am aware I’m a 22 year-old working-class male.

>> If you have one, you probably have several.

Which makes a lot of sense, as they are all manifestations of toxic overload in the system.

Just don’t bring your Oedipal issues here, jordanglassman.

ANSWER:

No plausible etiology.
All or mostly intangible symptoms.
Diagnosed by elimination.
Often psychosomatic and treated as a psychological disorder.
Fad diagnoses.
Affect mostly middle class, middle aged women.
If you have one, you probably have several.
Expensive to “treat.”

All manifestations of the same thing.

it’s well known that sunbathing will cook you from the inside out just the same microwave oven will do…… oh hang on….

Troyknight,

We’re not actually saying that there are not people who have these symptoms, what we actually spend our time mocking is the way the science news is presented, the blantent misinterpreting and utter bull that the journalists come up with plus the incredibly inaccurate claims that certain people make to promote their product / service *coughs* Gillian McKeith* et al.

Have a read through some of the previous months items, i recommend feb if you have any knowledge of audio apparatus!.

you see, i think this is really interesting. surely it’s possible to be dubious about the explanation of what causes the symptoms of eletromagnetic hypersensitivity without being dismissive of the actual symptoms and distress, which are clearly legitimate, real, and horrible?

If people do suffer from symptoms (burning skin sounds pretty extreme to me), then there should be a proper explanation for it. Dismissing it as hypochondria is at least as bad as making up some imaginary cause and equally imaginary cure.

New scientific discovery is risky, so either someone makes a breakthrough and discovers if there really is a problem, or we’ll catch up with the solution in a measured way. In the meantime, people on one side will dismiss those suffering, and those suffering will flock to the only people taking them seriously… however questionable they may be.

Is mentioning the WHO supposed to be some claim to the proof?

From the WHO factsheet
“EHS has no clear diagnostic criteria and there is no scientific basis to link EHS symptoms to EMF exposure. Further, EHS is not a medical diagnosis, nor is it clear that it represents a single medical problem.”