Reasons why I suffered tinnitus, insomnia, chronic fatigue, and other health problems after having digital electricity meters installed

Just found this article and am in a state of shock.  I could have written this, it is my story exactly! 

I live in California, USA, and have been in my current home for the past 20 years.  In late August of 2024 I began hearing a very high-pitched tone, similar to something that might be made by an electric motor.  The source of this high frequency tone has so far been extremely difficult to locate.  I have spent months driving around my neighborhood and industrial areas of my small city.  I have consulted an electrician, who could not attribute the noise as coming from anything in my home.  The power was shut off at the meter, but the noise continued.   Unfortunately, I have not as yet found anyone else who can hear this high frequency tone, making it all the more difficult to be understood.  It is now February 2025, and as yet I have been unable to identify a source.  This noise seems to be concentrated at the back of my home, in the proximity of the electric meters.  While I have kept my analog electric meters, I am surrounded by Smart Meters, as well as utility poles and overhead wires in very close proximity (perhaps 8-10 ft., give or take) to the back of my home. 

For the past six months, I have been living with a form of torment and torture.  I sleep no more than 2-4 hours a night and suffer from exhaustion, as well as constant aggravation as this high frequency seems to bore into my brain.  I know I don't have actual tinnitus because when I leave my house, the noise stops.  I requested an inspection from my utility company, PG&E, but when the service technician came out, all I received was the equivalent of an angry lecture about how "electricity doesn't make noise," and "Smart Meters don't break because they have no moving parts," and "PG&E isn't going to change out the meter."

Thanks to this article, I at least now know I'm not delusional and imagining something that isn't there.  Not sure where to go from here, and may be forced to sell my home. 

Those interested in what comprises a sensible level of ultrasound exposure might find the work of Tim Leighton at the University of Southampton quite interesting  https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspa.2015.0624?  This quite long paper is an intro to some of his work, but in summary he suggests that current guidance that extrapolates from tests made about half a century ago on a small sample of adult males, may guarantee no permanent injury, in the sense of no bleeding or burns, but may not really cover the 'irritating noise and headache' levels properly.

Shorter less rigorous article that is an easier read here https://www.livescience.com/62533-ultrasonic-ultrasound-health-hearing-tinnitus.html

I'm still looking for anyone doing good recent research into the equivalent pseudo electrostatic effects.

Mike

Hi Mike,

I’ve been in contact with Professor Leighton a couple of times, the latest time only last month. Both times he stated that he doesn’t know much about the interaction of electromagnetic fields with human tissues. Just before Christmas, he sent out a bundle of documents concerning research into airborne ultrasound (such as emitted by electronic garden pest repellers) to the people who had previously contacted him for help. He apologised for the slow pace of the work to enable changes to be made to the guidelines. He also informed us that the one of the organisations involved in setting the exposure guidelines for ultrasound is the ICNIRP, as sound is also considered NIR.

Meanwhile, I’m finding more science about how the ear reacts to electric and electromagnetic fields. How the piezoelectric and electro-receptive components of the cochlea can interact with each other, combined with the ‘ultrasound hearing’ phenomenon that makes such interactions possible with only a very small stimulus, gives rise to what I consider a logical mechanism for ‘ringing of the ears’. I can also foresee the possibility for a cure by interrupting that mechanism, but the sufferer would have to keep away from the stimulus in order to prevent a relapse. That though would require a lot of serious research.

Thanks to Professor Leighton, I’ve also discovered that the sensation of pressure on the ear is a recognised symptom of ultrasound exposure. My television’s surround sound system has not recreated the wretched pressure feeling I suffered when smart/digital electricity meters were present in my home. Hence, I cannot investigate whether it was ultrasound or low frequency EMR being emitted by the system that caused the pressure sensation. The fact that the pressure feeling seemed omnipresent around the house rather than abiding to the inverse square law, makes me think that it was a result of the system adding more frequencies of ‘dirty electricity’ onto the mains. The effect was very localised to the house, as seems to be the case with the tone Cheryl is hearing. I could walk out of the property (or turn off the system) and the pressure feeling would immediately start ebbing away.

Cheryl may not have tinnitus, but she has my utmost sympathy. Suffering a bad reaction to NIR of either type is a disaster if the source of that NIR is equipment outside of your control and the people who can change it, simply scoff at the suggestion that it could be to blame, leaving you considering having to move home. There are countermeasures, but those on offer are very varied, usually very expensive and may not even work. Cheryl and I have been in our homes over 20 years, and even if we decided it was better to move despite all the costs and stress, how could we ensure our safety in our new homes? Even if we tested that our potential new homes were free from the NIR that causes our symptoms, the day we move in, a utility could come along and install a piece of equipment that takes us back straight back to square one.

Andrew

You are not crazy,  For some of us, listen to your body, it speaks, but not everyone, which is what is so perplexing about this malady.  As you have prob learned, the problem is incredibly complex and often involves much more than smart meters.  IMO, it also can be exacerbated by existing biological conditions, mainly high ICP, (intra cranial pressure)  As others have mentioned, experiment.  Try to find a EMF safe environment and get away for days or weeks, confirm your symptoms subside.  Process of elimination is often more effective, more conclusive and lower cost than properly identifying / isolating and combating the culprit. 

Andrew, very impressed with your analytical approach and overwhelming desire for relief.  Unfortuately, as in all new emerging fields, it takes both, and often even more.  And sadly, often decades, or sometimes if the problem is big enough, a century, human lifespan is too short.  

  Since you are so open minded, I wanted to share this with you, as its possibly something you can explore.  I have been battling ES for 25+ years, before it was even widely known.  I battle issues with smart meters, ground currents, RF, EMF, elect fields, etc.  They all bother me to different levels based on intensity and exposure time.  

I recently had some medical issues that may shed some light into the tinnitus and other related symptoms.  It seems ICP, Intra Cranial Pressure,  plays a role in ES and FOR SURE in the tinnutis.  It's my hypothesis that high or low ICP can give us symptoms identical to ES, but also might be the root cause of the ES, which can possibly explain why some people are non reactivce to any form of Elect Pollution, while others are high reactors.  

In my case, I developed problematic high ICP, severe misery, head pain, tinnuitis, confusion, fatigue, etc.  This is well known medical condition, nothing new, however, it is often treated or diagnosed ONLY under extreme pressures, such as brain tumors, or CSF blockage, injuries, etc.  But like all conditions, it seems the more mild ICP, often classified as IIH (Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension) fall into the medical mystery bucket.  Regardless, it's at least recognized here in USA but rarely diagnosed.  After daily suffering that dwarft all my previous 20+ yrs of ES suffering, I had a VPS shunt installed in my skull, which essentially is a pressure control valve which can be reset externally through a magnetic control device...this provides tunning of the CSF fluid pressure inside your skull.  (Cranial Spinal Fluid)  This is not a fun surgery, but more more commonplace than most think.  When my CSF pressure is too high, I get severe tinnutis, lowering the CSF pressure, i.e. valve pressure, it subsides, its remarkable, completely shuts off the noise!  Imagine that!   The valves are not perfect, as they are differential pressure valves which make them vulnerable to pressure at each end.  They are also higly effected by gravity.  Thats a completely different topic that books could be written on.  

The issue I wanted to offer up is... high ICP can sometimes create symptoms which u are aware of, i.e. head pain, titnnutis, balance, brain fog, etc.  (there is a difference between high ICP and hydrocephelus, although they are similar, beyond the scope of this post)  However, elevated ICP sometimes has no symptoms.  The exact pressures are not even well understood and keep changing through the decades by the med. community.  What is high for one person is not high for others, within limits of course.  I noticed when my ICP is too high, I get all the same symptoms as my ES.  The connection is for me, ES worsens my ICP symptoms, which are the same symptoms as the ES by itself.  It only makes sense that external electrical interference or stimuli (often of specific frequencies or intensities) can effect biology of a pressurized liquid vessel. (which is your skull n brain).  The Dura is the outer thick skin like matter that is the walls of the pressure vessel that runs from your tailbone to your top of your skull.  It contails the spial chord and the brain, as well as about 6 fluid ounces of CSF fluid, certainly not much.  But this exact amount is required to make the brain 96% weightless as the brain is buyouant.  Inside the dura, the pressure is diferent than any other part of the body when it works as designed, this is one reason its isolated.

When my ICP is on the high side and I get exposed to any form of EMF, my skull / csf fluid acts as a tuning fork, making me ultra sensitive to certain frequencies / intensities.  This science is well known outside the body. 

When I was in the hospital for a 12 day EVD test, where they insert a drain tube inside your brain atop your skull, into a drain bag next to you, I had some insightful and unexpted findings.  This test is called an EVD, quite common, google it.  It is a simple graivty control method of controlling ICP.  Raise the bag to increase ICP, lower the bag (in reference to your top of skull) to lower ICP.  They monitor your reactions to the different pressures to correleate symptoms to ICP.  As they slowly lowered the bag each day, my ICP dropped lower, to the point, where I got 100% releif.  I felt 40 yrs younger, slept like never before, no pain, great energy, no fatigue, no brain fog, no effects from EMF like before, it was truly remarkable.   After the test was concluded and it was obvious high ICP was the culprit, they raised the bag to prepare for next day surgery, and it was back to horrible symptoms as the pressure again rose.   This fluid changes out 6x a day, so there is great opportunity for pressure changes when things are not working right.  At that ideal pressure,  I found the fountain of youth and pain free / symptom free living, at least for 24hrs.... but maintaining that pressure was not as simple as I hoped for...

If the test is successful, they will often install a VPS brain shunt (liquid control valve) to accomplish the same internally and automatically as the external test.  A few weeks later, they installed the valve.  It drains excess CSF fluid from top of the skull between your brain lobes, down to the groin area.  But getting to the right pressure is not simple for everyone, which is beyond the scope of this post. Although these shunts have been used for nearly 100 years, and save lives, they are sometimes do not provide the level of precise control the human body does when working as designed.

The point being here, at least for some of us, these two conditions are related.  Its possible those who are ES, have naturally higher ICP (like me) and EMF exposure simply raises the ICP to levels that make you more symptomatic which increase high ICP symptoms.  The remarkable thing is the symptoms of ES and high ICP are nearly identical...of course dangerously high ICP creates pain that is beyond manageable, and requires immediate surgical intervention, but that is the exception.  Slightly elevated ICP is the norm., prob. very commonplace and prob one of the most under diagnosed conditions today.  Its difficult to diagnose due to the complexity of getting a reliable readings which involves piercing the dura with a thick needle and using a mechanical pressure gage.  There is newer non invasive ICP testing that is not yet approved in USA, which will provide non invasive readings of ICP, such as a headband you wear.   Techology moves slow in areas of low volume and low funding. 

  Slight ICP variation can be very symptomatic, this is well known by the medical community.    A perfect example is those who develop symptoms from changes in barometric pressure, which for those sufferers, it alters their ICP and symptoms often surface to varying degrees.   This is why some people can perfectly predict when it will rain the next day.  There is a large body of evidence of these overlapping symptoms of elelvated ICP and ES.  The two seem inextricably interrelated. 

Its my hypothesis, that those who have excellent internal ICP pressure control mechanisms never suffer from ES.  This casual connection could explain why the majority of the population has no sympathy for the ES sufferers, as their well funcitioning ICP controls makes them immune from symptoms and ES person reacts to.   It also might represent a possible solution for ES sufferers who can not escape exposure.  ES symptoms are all neurological.

By no means am I promoting this, as its borderline voo doo medical practice by todays medical knowledge and testing protocols.   If you went to a neuro surgeon and said you have ES and suspect it could be high ICP, they would probably ask you to leave.  But everything starts somewhere, and for those who have suffered enough, sometimes u must steer your medical care staff into directions they would never consider.  That was the case with me, but it came about from another condition.   

As for me, the insertion of the VPS shunt has saved me from total misery and constant severe pain I had for a full year... a life not worth living.  This condition came about for another reason not part of this post.  However, due to the VPS valves rough control of pressure (i.e. it's not a fine control system that is highly reactive and responsive control system)  I am still ES, but when the VPS setting is ideal, my ES and all my overall symptoms are greatly reduced.  If the valve was more refined, like the new ones coming on the market hopefully in the next 2-5 years,  which measure ICP pressure electroically and control the valve to maintain a fixed pressure set point, I will be the first to change out this valve, as I have experienced first hand how fine control of ICP is my key to symptom free living.  With very precise ICP control, I suspect one day I will be completely ES symptom free, till then, I tweak the one I have and still practice as much EMF avoidance as possible.  Regardless of symptoms, EMF exposure is surely harmful to some degree, so avoidance is always prudent regardless of symptoms. 

(see additional information below in response to Mikes post for more detailed information into CSF pressure and links to neurlogical efffects EMF suffers experience)

Thanks for posting this Bill, as first person experience it makes a very interesting read, and personally this is the first I have heard of anyone drawing a link between fluid pressure and tinnitus / ES / RF sensitivity  symptoms. I have seen papers that try to link pressure to migraines, however not with anything like a perfect correlation - there clearly is more going on than we currently understand.

It may not be relevant, but compared to the skin and bone, and the brain itself, the fluid is a pretty good electrical conductor  (1.8 siemens/m approx. - like a saline - by comparison blood is almost an insulator ;-) ) and certainly in very high power RF fields at least up to HF, is also the thing that absorbs most of the power, to a degree providing RF shielding the brain itself. However, the conductivity varies quite a bit, and is often lower in folk with tumours for example. I wonder how easily one can induce brain perceptible currents in it magnetically ;-)

I fear your observations  probably open more questions than are answered, but thinking long term this is not an uncommon in an under-studied area & not a bad thing. 

What is needed now of course are some more cases to compare it to.
Mike.

edited to add some links for the interested, as this is way off the normal areas of folk on here.

Mike, fully agreed, in under studied, unexplained fields, more data often equals more questions, Thats where this field is today and will prob. will remain for our lifetime.  

We should feel lucky when the health conditions that unfortunately strike most of us, are the ones which science fully understands TODAY and have clear and proven protocols on how to diagnose and treat.  A recent example is type I diabetes.  100 years ago, it was a death sentence.   Today, with diligent care, u can live nearly a normal life and a full life span.  You can be properly diagnosed in a day.  These advances are taken for granted today, and considered normal.  Unfortunately, this represents the exception, not the norm for most health conditions.  

        One interesting observation I will add to my post that really set off the "alarm bells" for me during my week + brain drain trial while in the ICU .  

I was never able to tolerate a cell phone to my ear, it would create extreme head pain, within minutes, the pain would last for 24hrs, no drugs would help, the effects were quite devasting, brain fog, fatigue, weakness, sometimes even slurring my words, etc.   I have no history of any brain disorders.   When not exposed to EMF, I live a perfectly normal life.   My EMF reaction is commoplace today for many EMF sufferers, but we represent the minority of the general population.  I quickly learned in the late 90s to never talk on cell phones... and in the rare event I was forced to, I would use the speaker phone and place the phone 3-4ft away from my head, which allowed a short call with minimal effects.  Even BT headsets effected me.  This of course is of no surprise, as anyone who tests these devices truly understands the "inverse of the square" fall off (double the distance = 75% reduction in field strength).   From memory, 3-4ft equals about a 98% reduction, i.e. having the phone on your ear vs. 3-4ft away.  Hence the adage, distance is often your best defense.  This is true for consumer type EMF sources, but not all sources.  Back on track...

During this EVP hospital trial period, where my CSF pressure was normalized and I felt great, I grabbed my cell phone, made a call which shocked the receipiet.  I spoke for 15 minutes with the phone to my ear.   This was a bold trial for me, as I know the cosequeces that would likely follow, however, I was in an Intensive Care Unit at a major hospital, if there was a time to be bold, this was it.   For the first and ONLY time since cell phones were introduced in the late 1990s, I did NOT react to the phone to my ear.  This was stunning to me, as there was NOTHING more consistent than the agony that followed putting a cell phone to my ear for 10+ minutes.  This was the "ah-ha" moment for me in the ICU.  It made me suspect the elevated CSF pressure and its response to RF, or EMF in general.  I am suspecitig it is the RF, vs. magnetic fields, but again, this was far from a scientific experiment. 

In my case, I linked the reduced CSF pressure to the zero symptoms that followed the cell phone to my ear.  That was the only thing that obviously changed in my case.  For others, it could be the chemistry of the CSF fluid, some being more or less conductive.  It could be the total volume of CSF, open spaces in the skull which is discussed below, etc.  So it opens up a lot of issues.  For me, it shed some light onto my pathology, i.e. possibly I am predisposed to being an ES sufferer.

All this relates to, IMO, the bigger question, why do some people react to EMF and others do not.  It appears the reactors are in the minority which will always slow down research.  

Interestingly enough, there has been some odd research in this field coming from an unusual but well funded source  - NASA.  There is a few studies done by highly qualified scientists and medical teams for NASA.   As it turns out, some astronauts come back from space and have similar brain effects we discuss with EMF exposure.  These effects burden "some" returning astronauts from space travel for extended time that really effects their lives. These privelaged few get the ultimate in treatment and care that is the basis for the costly research.  

The same is true to for "some" who climb Mt. Everest.  While it is the beyond the scope of this post, the purpose of this reserach was to better understand the randomness of why some are effected by space travel or high altitude hiking, and others are not.  If this was understood, NASA could then better screen for which astronauts have the ideal physical characteristics (identified by skull / brain scans)  in which they will not suffer upon returning from space travel.  This was the most intense research I have read on this specialized field.  NASA has million$ to spend which is often the missing link in advancements.  

They ran brain MRIs for those who react, and those who do NOT react to both space travel and high altitude hiking.  The findings were remarkable. It has been a year since I read the studies, and I dont have the time to find them and repost now as I am burried with my day job, but a quick google should locate them quickly. NASA did two studies, the latest one was IIRC around 2022.

  Quick recap from memory.  There was specific pathology differences in the brain scans of the non reactors vs. the reactors.  It related to the volume of open areas in the skull thereby effecting the amount of CSF fluid and the amount the brain could expand before experiencing pressure from hitting the skull or hitting itself between lobes or other cavities.  I always felt that "pressure" feeling, so this fully aligned with my experience.  Again, not pressure to the point of exploding as is the case in severe injury through trauma, but to the point of making symptoms that many suffer from.  This increased brain pressure, regardless from space travel, high altitude hiking, or EMF appear to produce the same symptoms regardless of the source.  Another interesting study was excess Vitamin A which has the exact same effect, and I also react to, as it greatly increases CSF pressure as learned thousands of years ago from the Eskimos eating the liver of sea animals, which has 1000x the amount of Vitamin A as any food.    Anyone really interested in this subject should review the NASA and similar studies by NIH on Vitamin A and CSF pressure.  

While this research was not relating to EMF directly, I feel the effects are correlated.  EMF can simply be another contributor to increased CSF pressure.  And based on your skull / brain anatomy, this could be a non-issue, or a life of misery.  It appears having more open spaces inside the skull has tremendous benefits and is an anatomical gift at birth.  Interestingly enough, some whose brains are packed in too tight, have parts of their skull removed to create a larger skull, so the premise is well known, but here its not to those degrees.   

The brain is central control system for our neurological systems.  Nearly all neuro actiivity starts there, or is controlled in the brain.  My thought is, the cause of elevated CSF / brain pressure, whether induced by space travel, high altitude hiking, exposure to EMF / EMI, creates the same undesirable side effects we suffer from.  Even if the only type of relief is avoidance, (which was NASA's end goal of their study, i.e. only send into space travel those with anatomical skull features which produce no undesirable health effects from increased pressure), just kowing this would be a major advancement in the field of EMF, vs. where we are today, i.e. most of the science community thinking the EMF suffers are pychosomatic.  

There is a lot of gifted minds on this forum, hopefully something good might come from others more educated than me in these fields to further make the connection or shed some new light on the issue.   

Interesting - quickly found these, there may be more.

Evidence Report
Risk of Spaceflight-Induced Intracranial Hypertension and Vision Alterations

Determine the relationship between the fluid shifts-induced ocular changes and fluid shifts in the CNS, including whether elevated intracranial pressure or brain edema play a role.

Mike

Interesting - quickly found these, there may be more.

Evidence Report
Risk of Spaceflight-Induced Intracranial Hypertension and Vision Alterations

Determine the relationship between the fluid shifts-induced ocular changes and fluid shifts in the CNS, including whether elevated intracranial pressure or brain edema play a role.

Mike