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. 

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

Many thanks Bill for your posts and also to Mike for your responses.
Intra Cranial Pressure (ICP) is not something I have looked into in my pursuit of answers for my ES/EHS reactions. However, six weeks into my ordeal with the meters, I developed a pressure sensation on the top right-hand side of my cranium. Since the end of my ordeal, it is now intermittent. It was at its worst with the fourth meter (not a smart meter, just a plain digital display meter), when the pain developed all around my head, making me feel like my brain was being tightly squeezed, some 4 days after the meter was fitted.

As a result of the head pains, I was referred to a neurologist. After I described all my symptoms, he first thought I had Long Covid, something that wasn’t possible as I hadn’t had COVID-19 by that time and my symptoms wouldn't have varied upon leaving and returning home. (Note there are Long COVID symptoms that do match EHS symptoms.) He then said that I might have have suffered a bad migraine. After discussing whether someone claiming to be sensitive to EMFs should have an MRI scan or not, we agreed it was better to have a scan rather than miss an alternative and potentially serious reason for the pain. In the end, the scan revealed nothing out of the ordinary and I was given a clean bill of health, but with the caveat of asking my GP to refer me to a medical research establishment. (Sadly, that’s not happened, yet.)

Whether the scan was examined to the level of detail necessary to consider further investigation of ICP as a potential problem, or if even if it could reveal anything, I do not know. I will see if I can ask the consultant for advice advice on this, but it is nearly 3 years since the scan. The fact that the scan occurred a couple of weeks after the fourth meter had been replaced and I had stayed away from my home for over a week, meant that my head was feeling a lot better by then, this may not have helped with discovering the underlying problem.

A year after the appointment, I watched a documentary about migraines and discovered that there is much more to migraines than a terrible headache often accompanied by flashing lights around the periphery of the eyes. Here’s the full list of symptoms mentioned in the documentary:

• Light sensitivity
• Fatigue
• Urination problems
• Depression
• Irritability
• Food cravings
• Nausea
• Inability to concentrate
• Loss of libido
• Headaches that over the counter painkillers don't affect
• Light flickering in the periphery of the visual field
• Pins and needles
• Speech difficulties

I’m not going to go into too much detail, but at various times during the ordeal, I suffered many of these symptoms. Light flickering in the periphery of the visual wasn’t one, but this symptom is admitted by the ICNIRP as a possible consequence of exposure to non-ionising radiation. An expert interviewed in the documentary described a migraine aura as being an electrical wave that starts at the back of the brain and moves forward to the front, which can take up to 4 days to develop. So, maybe the fourth meter had indeed created a terrible migraine after all.

In the same program, volunteer migraine sufferers were given treatments that included interfering with the electrical signals around the head, plus given activities to do such as sea swimming, which is an excellent way of grounding the body. (Wild water swimming, whether in salt water or not, is increasing in popularity with people seeking some kind of relief for their health and well-being issues. I can get a very short bit of relief by soaking my head in cold water under the shower, but sadly, I won’t be entering any of the water courses in my locality due to other health concerns.) These treatments worked better than a drug based treatment tested on another volunteer, but I have to state that the experiments were on a very small scale and much more thorough testing would be required to reach any proper conclusions.

The documentary stated that 1 in 7 people in the UK are migraine sufferers. When I saw a GP who had helped me during my ordeal, we spoke about what I had learnt and I asked how many patients she saw with migraines. Her response was “loads” and that most could not be medically explained. I’ve tried to raise the attention of migraine experts, but after promising replies such as “this is fascinating”, I sadly never heard any more.

The next GP I saw, told me that he had been taught at medical school not to believe people like me exist, which may explain the reluctance by medical professionals to engage with me. The ICNIRP are often cited by various organisations as stating interference effects on the human body aren’t possible, but as I mentioned in the opening post in this discussion, this is simply not true: The ICNIRP admits there can be interference from low level EMR in their low frequency guidelines and mentions. As mentioned in my post of 29 March 2024, their 2020 statement “The Principles of Non-ionizing Radiation Protection”, reinforces their position, stating effects that the ICNIRP considers only to be “discomfort and annoyance” and won't protect against, can lead to adverse effects for some people. They leave it to national authorities to decide if exposure limits need to be reduced to protect such people. The UK, USA and many other countries rigidly stick with the ICNIRP limits, but there are some countries and regions who do impose stricter limits. (Examples can be found in the third chart in my opening post, albeit this is for microwave radiation.)

I’m pretty sure there are some great medical secrets to be unlocked by understanding what is going on within the bio-electrical signals permeating throughout our bodies. The whole essence of life is contained in these signals. When they stop, we stop - we’re dead.

In the meantime, I shall take a delve into the information posted by Bill and Mike on ICP - thanks again.

Your experiences in the UK, are on par with what is experienced in USA in both the medical community and in the technical world, such as electric utilities.  ES is a complicated and complex interaction of technical, medical, biology, etc.  I think we are a century away from valid conclusions and remedies, mitigation, etc.   As mentioned, this is often a result of <1% of the population complaining vs. 80% of the population complaining, its numbers that makes ES sufferers unheard.  The same is true of rare medical conditions, no funding as the cost is too high and any remedies would not justify a return on investment vs. more wide spread health conditions.  Just my take…

I want to state some details for anyone reading this…hopefully it will prevent some wild goose chases.   MRI or contrast CAT scans can often detect VERY high ICPs  that deform the brain.  This is common in hydrocephalus as certain areas get high pressure, showing a widening of that area.  Not the same if the overall pressure is increased.  Scans also can sometimes see VERY low ICP due to CSF leakage.  This presents itself as the brain sliding downward into the neck region where it meets the spinal chord.  I suffered from this from a CSF leak, it was devastating, luckily the scan detected it, after I saw multiple neuro docs as this is highly mis diagnosed as the field of expertise is sooo small.   These are both at the extreme ends of the pressure spectrum.  However, there is a big zone of pressure variance, where a scan will not detect anything as there are no significant changes to the brain or the dura.  However, this does NOT mean the pressure is elevated to the point where it creates symptoms for you.  As mentioned earlier, a simple change in barometric pressure, which alters ICP can make people feel horrible, so the effects are real.  Some  people actually move to different locations to gain relief of high or low barometric pressure, or constantly changing barometric pressures.  But once again, it only effects a small part of the population.  Hence the value of the NASA studies which might demonstrate who is sensitive to slight changes in ICP, regardless of what the root cause of the change in ICP, such as foods, physical activities, altitude, EMF, etc.    It is the brain / skull anatomy that you are born with that seems to be the culprit, or the safety net.   The NASA neuro scientist who studied this did create some very compelling math that describes the anatomy (brain volume, vs. skull volume) that is likely represents who is prone to symptoms from ICP variance (so they can use this to screen for astronauts)  don’t expect this science to be accepted in mainstream medicine for 50+ years or longer.  IMO, they are on the right path.  This has been overlooked forever, it took NASA to determine it in 2022.   But again, there is no rush to a solution, this is not Covid 19 that is affecting the entire human population.  

As I see it, at best, this information can be used to help determine if elevated ICP might be a culprit that can explain the symptoms, which overlap those of ES symptoms.   As mentioned, a simple test to lower ICP to test, is to consume NO SALT and NO FAT, read the UK Birmingham study, this proved to be more successful then drugs.  I have tried it, you have to be strict and very disciplined, give it at least a week, preferable two weeks, live on fruits n veggies, etc.  It was a complete success for me, I am very prone to the effects of elevated ICP.   Certainly difficult to sustain for long, but sometimes just having the knowledge is a big step in the right direction.   Many people are addicted to foods, so this test can be difficult.  There are drugs as well, but they have massive side effects that I could not tolerate, but the positive effects were incredible.  So this diet makes for a GREAT, low cost test.  If you feel NO benefits, u can eliminate elevated ICP as a possible culprit.   Its remarkable how successful this test is….it demonstrates, many people actually suffer from elevated ICP.    However, what is considered elevated readings presents a new set of problems, as what is considered normal, or avg, is unknown and what few standards that do exist have wide ranges and have changed through the years.  This goes back to the NASA study, it depends on your brain / skull anatomy, hence why this is such a complex issue.  Hope this sheds some additional light on the issue….

AR Brearley said:

The next GP I saw, told me that he had been taught at medical school not to believe people like me exist, which may explain the reluctance by medical professionals to engage with me.

Unfortunately this kind of mindset is quite common. A previous doctor told me that he didn't believe in allergies..... It took moving to another doctor to discover that I am in fact allergic to aspirin and ibuprofen, ibuprofen in both tablet and, as I discovered after a 7 hour trip to A&E one Saturday evening, the gel form of ibuprofen too (after that is another doctor telling me it was perfectly safe to use the gel even though I had said I had an allergy to tablet form and it's on my records) 

Needless to say, that's why Engineers are above Doctors in the list of most trusted professions 

Hello Lisa:

Please remember that any drug, even that sold "over the counter" is poisonous in "high enough" concentrations.

This "dangerous concentration" level depends on age and inherent existing body trigger responses.

I have reports (which I can not forward) showing the following subgroup names:

1- Ibuprofen (Advil Motrin,Midol) - Naproxen (Aleve, Naprosyn,Naprelan)

2- Acetaminophen(Tylenol, FeverAll, Panadol)

3- Aspirin.

4-Topical pain relievers (diclofenac sodium topical gel 1% can be effective for joint pain). 

Item 1 should not be used for Nerve pain.

Item 2 should not be used for Nerve pain or inflammatory conditions like arthritis.

Item 3 should not be used for wounds or bruises (aspirin may promote bleeding) or Nerve pain ( it just won't touch it). 

I frequently had/have disagreements with my general GP (we call PCP) and go directly to "in network" Specialists for actions.

Peter Brooks

Palm Bay FL 

Thanks for your reply Lisa.

Sorry about your allergy and the problem in being believed by your original doctor. I’ve had similar issues being believed by doctors over tinnitus in the past caused by NSAIDs including Ibuprofen. I hadn’t long freed myself this tinnitus before the new electricity meters caused their different type of tinnitus. If anyone is experiencing tinnitus after taking NSAIDs and are not being believed by their medics, it has been listed as a cause on the NHS’s tinnitus information web page for at least the last 3 years: www.nhs.uk/.../ However, you won’t find any mention of EMF causation.

What I need at the moment is to be trusted by the bucket load by my fellow engineers and also the medical researchers that I’ve so far contacted along with any I contact in the future, not to mention those in positions of authority over the design and manufacture of equipment known to generate excessive low frequency radiation. (This is not just a smart/digital meter problem, but anything containing switched-mode power supplies and/or inverters etc.) The details I’ve posted about what happened to me in this discussion and my original are entirely truthful. The third party information I have presented comes from learned people with plenty more years experience than myself as either EHS sufferers or scientific researchers. I have no wish to redact any of it. Then we have other members reporting similar effects, at least one of whom are currently having an especially difficult time sadly.

I had wondered what medical professionals might think of what I put in my previous message (and I know this discussion and the original are being viewed by lots of people outside the IET, including medical people). So firstly, let me defend the doctors who helped me: I had three letters written by three different GPs at my local practice, pointing out that my ailments had started and varied according to the meters that had been installed in my home. The second and third letters explicitly requested that my electricity meter be changed back to analogue, with the final one telling the Energy Ombudsman and my energy company to give me the benefit of the doubt as they were unable to help me otherwise. My energy company gave me that benefit and the improvement to my health within 8 days, albeit not complete, proved it was very much the right decision.

While there were unknown labour costs, I do know that the reconditioned meter itself cost less than half of what the NHS charged me for each of those letters, and much less than the cost of a GP appointment of which I had many. Yet there are still people telling me I need to have and live with a smart meter despite my inability to live in my own home with one fitted. Even on the day the analogue meter was fitted, the UKHSA wrote a reply to me, telling me that my doctors would know best how to treat me and that there were no problems with wi-fi and mobile phone signals. That was after I had sent them the third letter from my doctors and each time I wrote to them, I told them that the wireless communications hub had long since been removed and therefore the problem was low frequency radiation being generated by their switched-mode power supply that hadn’t been subject to any health testing of smart meters.

Whatever the sensitivity, there has to be exceptions made for anyone who reacts very badly to whatever kit is thrust upon them in their own home. Letters from doctors when presented by patients to those who own the kit, should be trusted and acted upon without delay. Meanwhile, engineers should be looking at what people are reporting and do their best to prevent others suffering similar fates in future.

Over 3 years has gone by since this started for me and I don’t feel any closer to having it accepted that electricity meters need to have noise suppression circuitry fitted to their power supplies. It costs peanuts and is mandated for every device that we plug in around our home – or at least I hope that’s the case, but at least we can replace a rogue plug-in device ourselves.

I am not attempting to throw you a curved ball, but do you have any teeth filled with dental metal amalgams?

There are reports from years ago, about dental amalgams acting as antennas and picking up electromagnetic radiation like cell phones and Wi-Fi.   

Peter Brooks

Palm Bay FL

Hi Peter,

Yes I do and I am only too aware of the issue and recommendations by campaign groups to have amalgam fillings removed. However, I've found little science that would convince me it would be good thing to do. This is the only scientific report I have downloaded on the subject:

Balagopal Sundaresan, Oct 2015, "Effect of Electro Magnetic Field (EMF) on Dental Amalgam and General Health", Biomedical and Pharmacology Journal, DOI: 10.13005/bpj/759

I actually decided long ago never to have any more amalgam fillings due to reports I'd read on them long before 2015. If converting all my remaining amalgam fillings was guaranteed to stop my tinnitus, the above doesn't convince me, I would be ringing my dentist to have them replaced asap. However, I've also seen other science about the effects of heavy metals in the bloodstream on health resulting in EHS type symptoms. I've already had conversations with my dentist and he states that dislodging the fillings is likely to risk such contamination and advises against it. He would rather progressively replace them as they wear out.

My dentist is not aware of EHS issues, but he cannot see how my fillings would transmit the received radiation up into my ears. As he will be making a lot of money out of the work to replace my fillings, it reinforces my trust in him. I believe the two fillings closest to my left ear, the worst affected side, are coming up for replacement. When they are and if changing them for composite fillings makes a difference, good or bad, I will be reporting it here, or in whichever discussion is live on this topic at the time. If the difference is positive, the rest of my amalgam fillings won't be remaining until they are worn out.

Andrew

Hi Peter,

Yes I do and I am only too aware of the issue and recommendations by campaign groups to have amalgam fillings removed. However, I've found little science that would convince me it would be good thing to do. This is the only scientific report I have downloaded on the subject:

Balagopal Sundaresan, Oct 2015, "Effect of Electro Magnetic Field (EMF) on Dental Amalgam and General Health", Biomedical and Pharmacology Journal, DOI: 10.13005/bpj/759

I actually decided long ago never to have any more amalgam fillings due to reports I'd read on them long before 2015. If converting all my remaining amalgam fillings was guaranteed to stop my tinnitus, the above doesn't convince me, I would be ringing my dentist to have them replaced asap. However, I've also seen other science about the effects of heavy metals in the bloodstream on health resulting in EHS type symptoms. I've already had conversations with my dentist and he states that dislodging the fillings is likely to risk such contamination and advises against it. He would rather progressively replace them as they wear out.

My dentist is not aware of EHS issues, but he cannot see how my fillings would transmit the received radiation up into my ears. As he will be making a lot of money out of the work to replace my fillings, it reinforces my trust in him. I believe the two fillings closest to my left ear, the worst affected side, are coming up for replacement. When they are and if changing them for composite fillings makes a difference, good or bad, I will be reporting it here, or in whichever discussion is live on this topic at the time. If the difference is positive, the rest of my amalgam fillings won't be remaining until they are worn out.

Andrew