Tarzane's interview
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How did all start?
Currently there are 3 members in my family affected by this thing called EHS. Let's start with me first. I was in high school when I started to get this painful headache. It happened at night and for days and I couldn't sleep. I remember I was crying on bed silently cuz I didn't want to wake my family up. I went to college, my major was English Language. The headache didn't stop. It happened almost everyday. I just took it for granted. Then during my second year at university. I started to notice that it was hard for me to remember and learn things. My major was English and I was supposed to continually learn vocabularies and practice the language. I just realised that it was so hard and much harder than before. Besides, listening and reading were like a nightmare to me. I couldn't focus. I did very bad at listening and reading test. Part of it was because I couldn't remember exactly what the speaker just said or what I just read previously. And I couldn't finish any reading tests within the designated time. All my friends always finished the tests having a lot of time remained and I remember times I asked them how and that made me feel really weird. However, I was pretty good at speaking. I mean I didn't have to think much when I speak. The words just came out of my mouth most of the time. Much easier than reading and listening. That's how I realized my memory and concentration got problem. I remember one time I felt like I couldn't take it anymore and I decided to call my parents to tell them I wanted to change school (music school) because I had to struggle so hard in this major and I felt like I wanted to give up. But I love English. That's why I decided to stay. I hated headphones and loud sound. Imagine you put a headphone on and every 5 minutes you have to take it out for your ears to rest. Because It's painful. I love listening to music and stuff but sometimes this pain in the ears make me hate music and sound a lot. Have you ever gone to an electronic shop where there are full of TV screens and laptops and phones and stuff and you felt like the place hurts you. It hurts your head, your eyes and your ears. You feel painful in your head, eyes and ears. You wanna get out as quickly as possible. I hate shopping in that kind of shop. And I aways thought how the people can work and stay and there all day. How? I work on my laptop everyday and recently I got a painful feeling on the back of my head, down to the neck and shoulders. I have to stand up and rest after every 30 minutes. That's frustrating. I feel tired all day. What's wrong with me. Did I say too much about myself? But I'm honestly telling this because I don't care if anyone thinks I'm crazy. I wanna say all about the feelings I got for years I couldn't tell. Done with myself, now let's move to my sister. She got hearing lost on her left ear after suffering years of tinnitus. Now it started to her right hear. It happened around half of a year now. She just went to the hospital for ear check and they found nothing in her ears. They just asked if my sister often got exposed to loud sound. And they gave her a lot of meds. She lost around 10kg after 2 years. She got weaker everyday. My mom told me she feels tired everyday. She did some other health check but nothing bad happened yet. My mom. She hates TV screen. She feels sick every 10 minutes watching it. She feels dizzy if watching long. That's all I can say for the members in my family who got this weird sickness.
Do you already have a diagnosis? How long did it take you to get it?
We did head check, ear check, and others and nothing wrong happened as said by the doctors. I did the diagnosis by myself after reading the information about EHS on the Internet thanks to my English. My native language is Vietnamese. There's not much written about this in Vietnamese. The reason for me to do searching on the Internet in English because I got disappointed after the doctors did the check and couldn't find the reason for my sister's hearing loss. So I collected information from different sites and also looked at the survey results available on http://emfsafetynetwork.org. I found the symptoms and the causes match the facts happened to me and my family members. My family live in a countryside. Our house is located near a post office and right next to it is a cell tower. It's about 30 meters from the cell tower to our house. My sister's room is on the second floor and it's kind of facing the tower. Unlike my parents' bedroom which is on the first floor where there are other rooms, kitchen, warehouse surrounded, my sister's room is like bare facing the tower with a window looking over it. The cell tower has been there for decades already.
For what medical specialties have you been treated? What has been the most useful specialty for your?
I didn't take any. Just in the past few years I took some vitamin for my brain because I thought I got a weaker brain and nerve system than other people. I also took a lof of pills for my headache. I stopped taking it after graduation.
What has been the most useful thing for you so far?
Stop using headphones. Stop using phone and other electronic devices too much. Take a walk everyday outside. Turn off wifi when I sleep. Avoid staying in too much. Quit working in an electronic factory.
What have been your biggest difficulties?
Remembering, Concentration, Listening to loud music and sound (loud for me, normal for other people) Shopping in a electronic store or in a shopping mall where there are a lot of lights and screens
How has your social and family environment reacted? Have your social or family relationships changed?
I don't know what I should answer. My parents are kind of disappointed about my work performance and my health. They got disappointed because I couldn't do any significant things in my career and that their daughter life became miserable. They used to be very proud of me, smart and pretty. We live in a small poor village so that's kind of big opportunities for me to change the look of the family. You know Asian culture.
What things have you stopped doing?
Stopped making music and stop listening a lot to music (I can make music by using software) Stopped working in office. ( I'm a freelance English teacher now) Stopped .... many other things. I was so passionate about things... you know.
What do you think about the future?
I want to live in a countryside or a rural area.
So far, which years have been the best years in your life? What have you done during them?
My high school and my early years of university. I did great in study and I got a lot of passion for my life.
What would you like to do if you didn’t have your condition?
A music producer and a blogger.
If you had to describe your life in a sentence, what would it be?
I have my moments.
Finally, what advice would you give to a person in a similar situation?
Stay strong no matter what and pray to God. Find a place where you can find your peace and let's not be stressed about what we could have been able do. Think about the beautiful things you used to have, be thankful for them. And find your peace of mind for the present and for the future.
