Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Caused by EMF? - Doctors in Japan may be reluctant to diagnose Alzheimers
I wrote this a while back and sent it to the Gauss Network here in Japan for their input, but never got any back. Now, about three months later, I realized I never sent this to you.
In an Omega newsletter last July or August, I read an article about brain diseases in connection with chemical pollution. The article stated that the Japanese were not experiencing the increase in Alzheimers Disease that the rest of the world is now subjected to, and noted that when they leave Japan, they begin to be affected. I suspect that what is actually happening is that doctors may be reluctant to diagnose Alzheimers.
There appears to be a significant stigma attached to the condition. I stumbled into this accidentally when analyzing the behavior of a trouble-making older man in our community. When I mentioned that it fit the pattern of Alzheimers, I was trying to show him some compassion, but my remark was perceived as a shocking insult even by the people he had hurt.
Recently on TV we see many health-topic programs focusing on brain aging, where it has been noted that younger people are often showing deterioration of mental faculties similar to that of the elderly. Chronic fatigue syndrome and depression are rampant, and most of the time it is ascribed to purely psychological factors. The popular TV shows may point out missing nutrients or present mental exercises to keep ones thinking young. It is such a hot topic that if I get busy and forget I've left something on the stove, my husband gets worried that I am "getting old before my time." I have few statistics available, but it appears to me that the Japanese are showing an increase in brain deterioration just like everyone else.
In the past, I mentioned in your forum a condition occurring among the Japanese at a rate of 1-2% of the population throughout Japan, affecting all ages, but noted among the young, in which they withdraw from society, shutting themselves off in their rooms. At first the press was calling the condition "jiheisho" meaning autism, but later they switched to calling it "hikikomori" or withdrawing and hiding. What was curious was that it appeared to have a sudden onset coinciding temporally with a major expansion of cell phone service nationwide. The press was mum on this point, and I thought I was one of a very few who had noticed a connection, and I could not get corroborating evidence. It looks to me now that someone else has noticed and done some research into it, as the following article translated from Gauss Network's newsletter shows.
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Caused by EMF?
From Gauss Tsushin (the newsletter of Japan's Gauss Network), No. 68 August 15, 2004
"About 70% of withdrawn children have chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) with reduced blood flow to the brain," says Kumamoto University Medical School Professor Teruhisa Miike regarding his investigation of cerebral blood flow among children failing to attend school, which showed reduced blood flow in 75% of the cases. He says that their failure to attend school is not a "psychological problem," but a serious illness accompanied by disorders in central nervous system function and immune function. "If you force them to go to school, they risk having real psychological problems as a result," he says.
This chronic fatigue syndrome may be caused by electromagnetic waves according to a study by Ryoichi Ogawa, a physician in Kobe, whose view that "Reduced cerebral blood flow may possibly result from the influence of electromagnetic waves from IT equipment" was introduced in the Sunday Mainichi weekly of May 4-11, 2004. An excerpt from this article is given below.
Dr. Ogawa noted that about 80% of his CFS patients were frequent users on a daily basis of cellular phones, personal computers, TV games and other IT devices, and decided to conduct a clinical investigation into a possible cause-effect relationship of cellular phones and desktop-style personal computers to CFS, a "poorly understood condition" in which general clinical tests show no abnormalities.
The subjects were 40 young people, 20 male and 20 female, ranging in age from 12 to 32, who had received treatment for CFS, and an additional 25 male and 25 female healthy family members of the patients, ranging in age from 15 to 35, for a total of 90 people. The investigation was performed using the "Super Doppler Method" to measure the speed of blood flowing during a period of one second in the ophthalmic artery located in the upper part of the eyelid. This artery branches off from the internal carotid artery, which carries blood from the heart to the brain, and this method of testing was established for clinical investigation of blockage of cerebral blood vessels.
The subjects were asked to use a cellular phone, holding it to their left ear for 30 seconds. Prior to use, all of the subjects showed normal blood flow of 10 cm/sec. in the ophthalmic artery of both left and right eye, but after using the cellular phone, this dropped to less than 5 cm/sec. in all of the subjects. When blood flow in this artery is less than 5 cm/sec, it is considered a sign of reduced cerebral blood flow.
The subjects were also asked to use a personal computer, sitting within one meter of the screen for 15 minutes of normal use. When measurements were made directly afterward, it turned out that the blood flow was reduced to less than 5 cm/sec in both eyes among all of the patients who had been treated for CFS. Even among the healthy group, about 78% showed a reduction to less than 5 cm/sec in both eyes.
In addition, the subjects were tested again for speed of blood flow in the ophthalmic artery 30 minutes after finishing their use of these devices. The results showed all of the healthy subjects to have recovered normally to 10 cm/sec, so in their case it was learned that the reduction in cerebral blood flow was temporary. Among the subjects who had received treatment for CFS, however, only 60% had recovered normally. This demonstrates a possibility of some kind of effect on cerebral blood flow by IT equipment, and that these patients will need to take care regarding electromagnetic fields in their daily lives after treatment.
Message from Pat Ormsby, Japan
In an Omega newsletter last July or August, I read an article about brain diseases in connection with chemical pollution. The article stated that the Japanese were not experiencing the increase in Alzheimers Disease that the rest of the world is now subjected to, and noted that when they leave Japan, they begin to be affected. I suspect that what is actually happening is that doctors may be reluctant to diagnose Alzheimers.
There appears to be a significant stigma attached to the condition. I stumbled into this accidentally when analyzing the behavior of a trouble-making older man in our community. When I mentioned that it fit the pattern of Alzheimers, I was trying to show him some compassion, but my remark was perceived as a shocking insult even by the people he had hurt.
Recently on TV we see many health-topic programs focusing on brain aging, where it has been noted that younger people are often showing deterioration of mental faculties similar to that of the elderly. Chronic fatigue syndrome and depression are rampant, and most of the time it is ascribed to purely psychological factors. The popular TV shows may point out missing nutrients or present mental exercises to keep ones thinking young. It is such a hot topic that if I get busy and forget I've left something on the stove, my husband gets worried that I am "getting old before my time." I have few statistics available, but it appears to me that the Japanese are showing an increase in brain deterioration just like everyone else.
In the past, I mentioned in your forum a condition occurring among the Japanese at a rate of 1-2% of the population throughout Japan, affecting all ages, but noted among the young, in which they withdraw from society, shutting themselves off in their rooms. At first the press was calling the condition "jiheisho" meaning autism, but later they switched to calling it "hikikomori" or withdrawing and hiding. What was curious was that it appeared to have a sudden onset coinciding temporally with a major expansion of cell phone service nationwide. The press was mum on this point, and I thought I was one of a very few who had noticed a connection, and I could not get corroborating evidence. It looks to me now that someone else has noticed and done some research into it, as the following article translated from Gauss Network's newsletter shows.
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Caused by EMF?
From Gauss Tsushin (the newsletter of Japan's Gauss Network), No. 68 August 15, 2004
"About 70% of withdrawn children have chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) with reduced blood flow to the brain," says Kumamoto University Medical School Professor Teruhisa Miike regarding his investigation of cerebral blood flow among children failing to attend school, which showed reduced blood flow in 75% of the cases. He says that their failure to attend school is not a "psychological problem," but a serious illness accompanied by disorders in central nervous system function and immune function. "If you force them to go to school, they risk having real psychological problems as a result," he says.
This chronic fatigue syndrome may be caused by electromagnetic waves according to a study by Ryoichi Ogawa, a physician in Kobe, whose view that "Reduced cerebral blood flow may possibly result from the influence of electromagnetic waves from IT equipment" was introduced in the Sunday Mainichi weekly of May 4-11, 2004. An excerpt from this article is given below.
Dr. Ogawa noted that about 80% of his CFS patients were frequent users on a daily basis of cellular phones, personal computers, TV games and other IT devices, and decided to conduct a clinical investigation into a possible cause-effect relationship of cellular phones and desktop-style personal computers to CFS, a "poorly understood condition" in which general clinical tests show no abnormalities.
The subjects were 40 young people, 20 male and 20 female, ranging in age from 12 to 32, who had received treatment for CFS, and an additional 25 male and 25 female healthy family members of the patients, ranging in age from 15 to 35, for a total of 90 people. The investigation was performed using the "Super Doppler Method" to measure the speed of blood flowing during a period of one second in the ophthalmic artery located in the upper part of the eyelid. This artery branches off from the internal carotid artery, which carries blood from the heart to the brain, and this method of testing was established for clinical investigation of blockage of cerebral blood vessels.
The subjects were asked to use a cellular phone, holding it to their left ear for 30 seconds. Prior to use, all of the subjects showed normal blood flow of 10 cm/sec. in the ophthalmic artery of both left and right eye, but after using the cellular phone, this dropped to less than 5 cm/sec. in all of the subjects. When blood flow in this artery is less than 5 cm/sec, it is considered a sign of reduced cerebral blood flow.
The subjects were also asked to use a personal computer, sitting within one meter of the screen for 15 minutes of normal use. When measurements were made directly afterward, it turned out that the blood flow was reduced to less than 5 cm/sec in both eyes among all of the patients who had been treated for CFS. Even among the healthy group, about 78% showed a reduction to less than 5 cm/sec in both eyes.
In addition, the subjects were tested again for speed of blood flow in the ophthalmic artery 30 minutes after finishing their use of these devices. The results showed all of the healthy subjects to have recovered normally to 10 cm/sec, so in their case it was learned that the reduction in cerebral blood flow was temporary. Among the subjects who had received treatment for CFS, however, only 60% had recovered normally. This demonstrates a possibility of some kind of effect on cerebral blood flow by IT equipment, and that these patients will need to take care regarding electromagnetic fields in their daily lives after treatment.
Message from Pat Ormsby, Japan
Starmail - 22. Dez, 16:38
