If you’ve been following my health story here you know that I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2006. After that initial MS attack I was fairly symptom free until 2014. That’s when things began to get weird.
Non-Toxic Green Building Materials, Check!
We had renovated a 100 year old house in historic Mapleton Hill and moved in during the summer of 2014. I believed we had done a totally green renovation. That’s because I knew nothing about wireless technology. Every single thing in the house from lighting to thermostats to the sound system and more was wireless and ran on electromagnetic radiation. It was the equivalent of living with 300 cell phones in my home buzzing constantly.
For someone with the MTHFR genetic mutation, it was too much. By the spring of 2015, less than two years after we moved in, I was in the hospital with the worst MS symptoms of my life, completely numb from the neck down, along with an array of other concerning issues.
I began doing hyperbaric oxygen therapy and getting weekly IV nutrients. I was stabilizing and not getting worse, but I was not fully recovering which was odd. Things were stagnant in spite of my complete focus and dedication. I had never experienced that before.
Deteriorating Health
Fast forward to the fall of 2016. I knew something was seriously wrong. Before moving into the house, I had lived the full and healthy life of a New York Times best selling author, writing a book for Random House every two years, going on book tours, doing TV and radio, all while posting on my blog a few times each week. I had attended the boys’ sporting and school events regularly. Now I went to doctors and treatments and wrote on the blog every couple of weeks if I was lucky. I watched my life pass me by, missing family events and vacations.
Discovering EMFs and Building Biology
When the fall of 2016 rolled around I had a lucky break. Our HVAC vendor walked in one day and said, the house has too many electrical systems in it and everything is shorting out! And so I began my research. I learned about building biology and electromagnetic fields (EMFs). I discovered the effects EMFs can have on people like me. I found out what had made me so sick, and prevented me from getting well in spite of my best efforts.
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Since then we’ve removed all of the wireless systems from our home. On March 1, 2017 I began living in a mostly WiFi free environment. Although my living environment is almost perfect and we’ve removed all of the wireless smart technology, there are small compromises that we make.
Balancing Different Types of Stress
We still let our boys and their friends use their cell phones when they’re here. For me the stress of not having the gang in our home is far greater than the stress of being near half a dozen cell phones a couple of hours per day. That’s a trade I made. The boys have made compromises too. While they can still use their cell phones in the house, they’ve lost their wireless head phones, wireless speakers, and gaming console.
Don’t Make my Mistake
I don’t want you and your family to go through the pain and heartache that we’ve suffered. I’ve lost years of my life so that we could have silly smart systems like lights and thermostats that operated remotely.
Living in a home filled with wireless radiation severely exacerbated the multiple sclerosis I had been diagnosed with in 2006. If you have a neurological condition such as MS, autism, Alzheimer’s, or Parkinson’s, or an illness such as cancer or Lyme disease, you are far more vulnerable to the effects of electromagnetic radiation (EMR) and may need to take the extra precautions that I outline in my post called Simple Steps to Reduce EMFs.
The Good News
Little by little I’m getting well. It took over a year to get sick so I anticipate I’ll need at least that long to get healthy again. I’m sticking to my program of sleeping as much as I can, eating a low-carb diet, and exercising moderately. The body can heal itself, and now that mine is in a healing environment the sky is the limit!
Roxanne says
How about fit bits and other devices to measure steps and heart rate? Do you use them?
Thanks for this blog and all your wonderful recipes.
Elana says
Roxanne, I don’t use fitbits and I ask people not to use them in my home because they emit quite a bit of wireless radiation.
Susan Shaver says
The more I read about EMF’s, and various reactions to an abundance of electrical activity, the more I am able to associate many of my symptoms to when I am in the city, or the reverse, my lack of symptoms to when I am completely in nature away from all of it.
I have a little place in the mountains that doesn’t get cell reception at all, which at first I found rather irritating. Neither is there TV, radio, etc. I am realizing that when I arrive there and get out of the car, my anxiety and tension drops away. I find myself stopping and listening for birdsong, the wind in the trees, and listening for actual silence.
I am coming more and more to thinking that nature heals, perhaps following the rhythm of the sun and nightfall, eliminating TV, radio, microwaves, etc. is a form of cure…… I took a walk last week with my niece up there in the mountains.
It was awesome until we walked under some electrical wires. I think we had become so used to the total silence and natural energy that we were not prepared at all for the sudden uncomfortable change. If we had been taking a walk in the city we would have never noticed it.
Maybe just eliminating wifi is not nearly enough…..
Elana says
Susan, thanks for your incredible comment! I totally agree with everything you said here :-)
Sunny Heydorn says
Hi Elana, your article mentioned the MTHFR gene mutation. I have that, as well as Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome. Can you elaborate on what role the MTHFR plays in being sensitive to EMF’s?
Thank you!
Elana says
Sunny, those like myself with the MTHFR genetic mutation do not detox as efficiently as those without it. This is an issue with EMFs since they are a constant, chronic assault on the cellular level that create inflammation and require constant detoxification.
Penny says
Hi Elana:-) I’m glad you finally figured out what was making you ill – you might want to research Deuterium Depleted Water as your main issue (at a subatomic level) is instead of having light hydrogen bonding, you are loaded with deuterium… this is how a ketogenic diet helps people – your mitochondria using the beta oxidation of fat pathway will make deuterium depleted water… most equatorial water is 150 ppm of deuterium to light hydrogen, but glacier water has less… you can also expedite things by eating animals which naturally filter out deuterium: oysters, egg yolks, seafood in general, grass fed meat – expecially grass fed beef broth – anything you can do to increase the production of ATP in your mitochondria will help you as it will remove deuterium faster – any C3 or C4 plant is loaded with deuterium and fruit is where plants store their deuterium… this is why people think they can’t eat fruit – also, you are living in a high latitude area of the country where there is less sunlight – going to the Yucatan on vacation and free diving a cenote would be a fantastic move for your health – another fail about your zipcode is there are 7 military bases in the corridor where you live… all that RF is horrible for your health – deuterium depleted water is the fasted way to improve your health – it takes 2-4 weeks to reduce your levels – look at the work of Laszlo Boros:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3C-IuRvvMM
Of course, Dr. Jack Kruse has many other ways to deplete deuterium – a great way is what is called cold thermogenesis – eat seafood, eggs and get cold and you will heal fast:-)
We’re all going to be joining you soon as congress just passed a bill allowing 5G to be put anywhere they want without telling us… best start these protocols soon –
A great book to get is called Defeating Cancer – also, methylene blue is fantastic for your mitochondria – 4 drops per day for someone with a neurological problem seem de rigeour… :-)
Elana says
Penny, thanks so much, very interesting!
Penny says
Hi Elana – blue light or any high frequency wave will break the bond between vitamin a and melanopsin – melanopsin has been found in your skin and fat cells – i.e. vitamin a when released will then attack whatever photoreceptor is in its vicinity – this includes b12,folic acid, catalase, melatonin, dopamine, and last but not least, your mitochondria… it is why MS presents first with eye problems because the vitamin a attacks your photoreceptors in your eyes first… in fact, retina problems will precede most diseass including altheimers by this mechanism – you can find more info at facebook/drjackkruse – just google melanopsin or vitamin a and jack kruse and you will have a plethora of daming evidence – his blog index is at jackkruse/blog-index – it is the keys to the kingdom – vitamin a unbound is why we are all so sick and tired… cheers:-) Can’t wait for what 5G will do to us…
Elana says
Thanks Penny!
Kathy Simkins says
WOW! I have enjoyed your site for several years. I hope you get feeling better very soon. I have so many allergies and sensitivities that I tell my friends that it is easier to tell what I can eat rather than what I can’t eat. Many of my problems might stem from being around lots of chemicals because my father was a crop duster. I also think that the stress hormones my mother had during the whole 11 months of my gestation. ( Yes, I did say 11 months. I also carried my children for 11 months. 9 months is just the average, not the norm.) I had not thought of EMFs. Thanks for all that you do.
Elana says
Kathy, thanks for your wonderful comment and for sharing some of your story. The best thing about what I do is that I get to meet people like you :-)
Kim says
Wow, this is so enlightening. I learned something new this morning. thank you. My 1st time on your blog
Elana says
Kim, so nice to meet you here! I’m so glad this information is helpful :-)
Jennifer says
Thank you for sharing. I was diagnosed with MS in 2014. I agree that we can really help our body heal itself. Through diet, exercise, essential oils and suppliment I have been able to turn my health around for the better. As I try to eliminate as much toxins for my body, EMF exposure has not been on my radar. So thanks again for sharing!
Elana says
Jennifer, you’re very welcome!
Adrienne says
One of the best things I have discovered this year has been RIFE Therapy. I sounds like “snake oil”, but really works on so many diagnoses. My therapist uses a Rife machine plus also treats water which I drink. I am 71 years old and have had Lyme, Epstein Barr, toxoplasmosis since I was very young. I am now free of these and still working on hypothyroidism and osteoporosis. My therapist has had great success with eliminating MS. Just thought you might want to look into it. It is very big in Europe.
The therapist likes to substantiate, by having labs done before and after. My daughter had one session and her hemoglobin went so high that her doctor related she has never ever seen such great hemoglobin in all her days of practice….. Labs were taken before and after the Rife.
Elana says
Adrienne, thanks for sharing this interesting information.
margaret mckinley, Syracuse, NY 315.471.1603 says
Hi Elana…….I’ve been ES almost 20 years, long story as to what put me over the edge……..Over the past 5 yrs, I’ve unfortunately been exposed to wifi in the service trucks/jeeps I’ve had to ride in to service calls….I’ve made various managers aware of my condition, but without medical verification, they couldn’t help me much, they at least let me work the midnight to eight shift, which limited my exposure to wifi and your basic emf due to not having to sit in the truck a full eight hours every night if we didn’t have customer calls. More recently, though, dozing off on shift became a problem, and came to the attention of management……to my relief, and consternation, I was diagnosed with sleep apnea…..but at least it explained the “why’s”……..so, I got taken off that shift as a disciplinary measure, and placed on days….in the jeeps, with a laptop computer utilizing wifi, eight inches from my head……after 4 months of exposure daily, eight hours a day, I got out of the jeep at the end of the day on a friday, and couldn’t walk without limping the way people w/ MS do….on Monday it was even worse, and I had my Dr. take me out of work……he didn’t explain all my symptoms properly to the company that monitors absence management for the, get this, Gas & Electric company I work for…such irony……anyhow, they never gave a stamp of approval to my absence, now my company is refusing to pay me as being out of work sick, and I’m trying to work this out with my Dr. ……to get a valid reason acceptable to all involved (does walking like “Lurch” count ?…lol !! ) but what I’d like from you, is if you know of any Dr.s in the Central NY vicinity that test for emf/wifi sensitivity, or is this just a no win situation all in all ? besides a shoulder to cry on, is there any direction you can give me, (and I’ve STRONGLY considered protesting in front of the AMA, wherever they’re located !!! )….I DO have the email for an emf Dr. in the UK where my G&E Co. is headquartered, and that MIGHT help me in the long run, MAYBE, but it’s very frustrating at the moment, since my income is being immediately effected……and my mortgage is at stake…..now, I’m working on that, like I said, but having verifiable support medically for this dire situation I find myself in…….(walking like Lurch is considerably unattractive)…….is imperative at the present moment…….and my Dr.refuses to sign off on a situation that would, in his mind, and undoubtedly in reality, jeopardize his professional reputation….yay……I can understand his position, but it certainly IS frustrating…..so can you help me in any way ? I remain, sincerely yours, margaret mckinley, Syracuse, NY
Elana says
Hi Margaret, thanks so much for your comment and I’m so sorry for all that you’ve gone through. I think there is a doctor in France who does worker’s comp claims for EHS, but I can’t recall where I heard that. Please stop back by and keep me posted :-)
Jane says
Margaret,
The French Dr. mentioned is Dr. Dominique Belpomme. He has a treatment center, and you can see more info at this link:
https://www.emfanalysis.com/treatment-centers/
http://www.ehs-mcs.org/en/diagnostic-criteria-of-emfis_192.html
You can also find info at the EHS and MCS Research and Treatment European Group.
I hope these two links are helpful to you!
Elana says
Thanks so much Jane!
angela says
Dear Elana,
Hope you are feeling better everyday!
I wanted to share this interview with Chicago chiropractor Dr. Libby Darnell, awarded one of the Top Ten Chiropractors in Illinois in 2016. She shares tips on reducing EMF exposure. She is EHS herself and lost her 7-year old nice to a glioma brain tumor which she believed was caused by the high EMF’s in her home and at her school, where teachers and other kids also developed cancer, and teachers had late term miscarriages.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZL2CqiCCguE
Elana says
Thanks so much Angela!
Debra Ryser says
Hello Elana, I appreciate your blog and have gleaned many gf recipes from you! I have been meaning to email you for awhile to let you know that I am praying for you. I have never met you in person but I feel like I know you at least a little from your writings. My heart goes out to you because I can hear that even though you put so much time and energy into doing the right things to be healthy yourself and helping so many others, it sounds like you still have health struggles. I pray for every bit of pain that is afflicting you to go NOW. i am asking God for a miracle and for your body to be made totally whole and well. For the peace of God to rule and reign in your heart and mind. Thank you Lord for being with Elana and for helping her every step of the way!! Many blessings to you my dear, Debra Ryser
Elana says
Thanks Debra!