This recent research illustrates the harmful effects of a new type of wireless modem, enabled for both personal use and functioning as a public hotspot: Exacerbation of demyelinating syndrome after exposure to wireless modem with public hotspot. The public hotspot feature was designed to reach up to 100 meters (or 328 feet which is close to the length of a football field).
Here is the entire abstract since it explains the situation so well:
In August 2003, 48-year-old JS of Colorado, USA, a fitness therapist and sports nutritionist, contracted neuroinvasive [i.e infecting the nervous system] West Nile virus which left her with disabilities due to spinal axonal damage.
In August 2014, she suddenly developed symptoms very much like her acute West Nile infection 11 years ago, including focal seizures, ataxia, vertigo and headaches. Her blood count looked normal so there was no obvious infection. What struck her as odd was that when she left her apartment for any length of time, the symptoms stopped.
She found out that a new type of wireless modem, enabled for both personal use and functioning as a public hotspot designed to reach up to 100 m, had been installed in the flat under hers. Her neighbor replaced the modem with a router without the hotspot feature. After that, the seizures stopped immediately, and the other symptoms faded gradually, after which she was fine and again could sleep well.
Later, when another activated hotspot was installed in an adjacent flat, JS once again noticed symptoms.
A possible association between electrohypersensitivity, myelin integrity and exposure to low-intensity radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) typical in the modern world has recently been proposed.
Since the West Nile virus attacks both the nerve cells and the glial ones, one explanation to the above observed case effects is that the initial virus attack and the wireless modem’s RF-EMF affect the nervous system through the very same, or similar, avenues, and maybe both via the oligodendrocytes [i.e. the myelinating cells of the central nervous system].
Here are a few of the other symptoms she reported before discovering that it was the public hotspot that was causing her symptoms:
- losing sensation in her face, neck and torso
- tinnitus (ringing in the ears)
- allergy symptoms like those of severe hayfever
- difficulty concentrating
- poor fine motor control
- impaired short-term memory
- pain in the facial bones, especially the cheeks, jaw bones and the roots of her teeth
- numbness and tingling
- difficulty breathing and swallowing (more pronounced after exertion)
- dizziness
- elevated morning fasting blood sugar levels (up 25% from usual to 100 mg/dL) and then back to normal 2 weeks after the hotspot was disabled
- fight or flight reaction for the first 2–3 weeks, which then turned into fatigue and apathy with little accomplished during the day
These symptoms all dissipated when she wasn’t home. Once home in the evenings, her desire for sweets increased and her sleep was also impacted:
In the evening, her appetite was much increased and she craved sweet food, which was not usual for her. She became sleepy at the usual time, settling down between 10.30 pm and 11 pm and could fall asleep, all as normal.
However, within 1–2 hours, she routinely woke suddenly having had very vivid, disturbing dreams and with a pounding heartbeat. This was usually followed by a seizure, sometimes focal, where one part of her body (primarily right arm) would be shaking. Other times, her whole body was shaking.
She also noticed more severe symptoms when the modem with the activated public hotspot was closer to where she slept i.e. distance was a factor. On bad nights, after waking, she would sometimes go and sleep in her living room which was further away from the modem.
After a seizure, she slept fitfully, unless she moved to sleep on the couch in another room. There, JS found she could fall asleep quite quickly and sleep through the rest of the night.
When in her bedroom the modem was just 20–30 feet away and when in the living room it was about 50–60 feet from her (plus an additional wall), both of which weakened the signal.
It should also be noted that JS used a cell phone, a wireless router and a computer and had no problems from any of these – it was only the modem with the public hotspot that was problematic.The study authors shared that
The hotspot antenna almost certainly has a considerably higher transmit power as this would be needed to increase the effective transmit range for users in the area.
Other possible causes/mechanisms are reported as follows:
- the pulse width of the beacon signal
- an additional pattern or stroboscopic effect, or double intensity set up by the simultaneous transmission of the private and public hotspots
However, do keep in mind that for some people with electrohypersensitivity, simply using a cell phone and WiFi can cause symptoms.
Do you know if your router has this public Wi-Fi hotspot feature turned on?
Do you know if your router has this public Wi-Fi hotspot feature turned on? Many people do not and are fuming when they find out – I know I was!
JS discovered this as a result of a pop-upon her mobile phone:
From before the episodes occurred, JS kept her mobile phone WiFi disabled while at home. The day after she began having symptoms in August, she had temporarily enabled the WiFi feature while out shopping and when she came home that day, a pop-up appeared informing her she was in a free Xfinity WiFi zone.
In this article two Comcast customers sued the company for turning their Xfinity Internet routers into public WiFi hotspots saying “Comcast’s actions pose risks to subscribers and are taken without seeking their authorization.” They objected to the increase in customers’ electricity costs, the impacts on network performance and network security concerns.
However, they don’t even raise the issue of potential harm from a public WiFi hotspot that is activated on a modem in your home or one nearby.
In fact this site that offers instructions for disabling this public WiFi hotspot on your Comcast Xfinity router states that “We don’t necessarily think you have to disable this feature, as it seems to work fine — we haven’t heard any horror stories or reports of problems yet.”
I would consider this case study to be a horror story that is not common knowledge and needs to be. JS was seriously harmed on two occasions by modems with public WiFi hotspots. In both instances the home-owners with these modems were not even aware they had these public hotspots activated and very quickly had them disabled once they found out what was happening to JS.
The study authors conclude that this case study strongly indicates that:
emissions from these new wireless modems could cause physical harm for those susceptible to that type of radiation.
My questions are this:
- How many people are not even aware that their modem has this public WiFi hotspot feature enabled?
- How many other people like JS are being seriously harmed by modems with public WiFi hotspots?
- How many people have chronic issues like problems falling asleep, waking in the early hours, agitation, anxiety and heart palpitations – all possibly caused by a public WiFi hotspot on their modem or on a modem next door or even down the street?
I consider JS to be the canary in the coal-mine and her story is a good lesson for all us to wake up and get serious about WiFi and EMFs.
Here are some other blogs posts I’ve written about WiFi and EMFs:
- Wi-Fi is an important threat to human health and may contribute to unresolved anxiety, SIBO, oxalate issues and high cortisol
- Electrosmog and autoimmune disease: silver-threaded caps result in improved symptoms for 90% of study participants
- EMFs: a factor in neuropsychiatric symptoms and cancer (this post has additional information about the practitioner Electrosmog RX evergreen training and Nicholas Pineault’s book “The Non-Tinfoil Guide to EMFs: How to Fix Our Stupid Use of Technology” (my Amazon link)
Do share what you’ve experienced with modems that have public WiFi hotspots activated and if you can relate to any of the symptoms JS experienced?
George says
Trudy, what who have noted also due to the increases of shingles, miscarriages, dementia, peripheral neuropathy and the many neurological, cardiovascular and haemodynamic disorder. The symptoms are of “neurasthenia”.
This all begins by the exposure to microwave radiation and electrical fields. The danger of the exposure that has been know for over 100 years has a bearing on human health, and is being covered up by the telecom companies; medical profession; federal and local governments.
Trudy Scott says
George
Thanks for adding to the discussion! I’m adding the definition of neurasthenia for other readers: “an ill-defined medical condition characterized by lassitude, fatigue, headache, and irritability, associated chiefly with emotional disturbance.”
Are you suggesting that EMF exposure is contributing to shingles, miscarriages, dementia, peripheral neuropathy and the many neurological, cardiovascular and haemodynamic disorders?
I couldn’t find a study on EMFs and shingles but found this one on impacts on immunity: Electromagnetic fields may act via calcineurin inhibition to suppress immunity, thereby increasing risk for opportunistic infection: Conceivable mechanisms of action – “it is hypothesized here that exposures to electromagnetic fields have the potential to inhibit immune system response by means of an eventual pathological increase in the influx of calcium into the cytoplasm of the cell, which induces a pathological production of reactive oxygen species, which in turn can have an inhibitory effect on calcineurin” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28818275
In this recent blog post – Why is vitamin B6 toxic for some and why don’t symptoms resolve when vitamin B6 is stopped? https://www.everywomanover29.com/blog/why-is-vitamin-b6-toxic-for-some-and-why-dont-symptoms-resolve-when-vitamin-b6-is-stopped/ – I write about a possible connection between EMF expsoure and peripheral neuropathy. If you have insights to share I’d love to hear them
George says
Hi Judy,
I have suffered microwave illness since 1960s, as I worked amongst extremely high level military communications.
I have mentioned that about shingles as in our are there are so many people suffering from it and they are all excessive wireless technology users (young and old).
There was a Chinese study on miscarriages, and again miscarriages and IVF programmes have increase considerably since the introduction of wireless technology. Also, many young families are having a hard time to conceive.
Autism has increase considerably since the introduction of wireless technology, including breast cancer and brain tumours.
We know that wireless radiation (RFR) and electrical fields (ELF) are classified as 2B Carcinogenic, much the same as Asbestos, Cigarette smoke, lead and DDT was classified before they were banned.
It’s amazing how cigarette smoking in banned in public places, that is, in Australia, yet the wireless radiation is radiating others against their will, and most do know it has a bearing on human health.
No, there hasn’t been any medical studies on shingles, but it’s very strange how it has increased over the past two decades and is infecting young and old.
My comments are part and parcel of warning readers of the dangers and has been known for over 100 years.
In 1930 it was known as “radarman’s illness”, then during WW2 up to Korea it became known as “radioman’s illness”.
Then , from the 1950s it became known as microwave illness. Basically, it’s not a sensitivity—it’s an illness. It does cause life-threatening illnesses, such as neurological, cardiovascular and haemodynamic disorders, that is well covered in the 1972 NRMI and 1976 US DIA research.
Trudy Scott says
George
I am sorry to hear that you have suffered microwave illness since 1960s. I know the military, hospitals, firefighters and police stations use Tetra. Sharing this link from Tetrawatch for other readers http://www.tetrawatch.net/tetra/health.php
I googled “radarman’s illness” and found this testimony from you https://beingelectrosensitive.blogspot.com/2017/05/my-testimony-of-microwave-illness-by.html I do hope you’re doing better now
George says
Many of my military mates have passed on from cardiovascular, neurological and cancers, we had some mean wireless transmitters in the military.
Frances says
Trudy, GABA mentioned here re Parkinson’s.
https://hms.harvard.edu/news/challenging-parkinsons-dogma
Trudy Scott says
Frances
Another excellent article….”The previously unsuspected presence of GABA could explain why restoring only dopamine could cause initial improvements in Parkinson’s patients to eventually wane. And if GABA is made by the same cells that produce other neurotransmitters, such as depression-linked serotonin, similar single-focus treatments could be less successful for the same reason.”
“If what we found in the mouse applies to the human, then dopamine’s only half the story,” said Sabatini.
I actually write about GABA (and serotonin) in Parkinson’s disease here https://www.everywomanover29.com/blog/gaba-tryptophan-pain-anxiety-parkinsons-disease/
deb huber says
Sorry I did not read this sooner. Thank you for this good information.
I had been suffering with insomnia, fatigue, senior moments, and apathy.
A week ago, I disabled the WiFi on my computer’s modem. I did not need that feature, as everything I use is hardwired.
Now I can sleep again. I’m still recovering from the chronic exposure and the poor sleep quality.
Trudy Scott says
Deb
Thanks for sharing – this are excellent results!
Immanuel says
I had to go through some articles and luckily found this, the reason been I have just bought wireless router and brought it , just in day 1 my mother who has been free from seizure attacks since is been on anticonvulsant. she was very OK and in the past only two episodes but my surprise was today about 4.
tried to ask myself what could trigger.?
and had to find link btn epilepsy and wireless router.
Trudy Scott says
Immanuel
I do hope your mother is doing better now. I am a big fan of wired internet connections for this reason.