Mobile phone masts!! - Beware........

In 2000, I moved into a new house.  It was a mid-terraced house, in a quiet cul-de-sac, with a very nice park at the end of the road.

The house was relatively cheap, as it needed some working doing, but this was mainly cosmetic, so I thought I'd be able to do most of the required work.  It had a nice garden, with a very high wall at the end.

A few months before moving in I had been diagnosed with Inclusion Body Myositis (IBM), but I was still physically quite fit, and was able to walk easily, with little problem.  To give you an idea, on the day I moved in, I stripped the wall paper in the front room, because it was so awful.  I can't imagine that now.

Anyway, having settled in I started on the work indoors, getting professional help as and when I needed it.  I needed a bit more help in smartening up the garden, but I still managed most of this, including laying a crazy paving path up the garden to a decking area I built.

As time went on I started to slow down, and things became more difficult.  I struggled with the work around the house, and was always having to have rests, where I would invariably fall asleep.  I put this down to the progression of the IBM.

Mum, used to come and stay with me quite regularly, and always complained about feeling lethargic when she was staying.  When she went home, within a couple of days she started to feel much better.

As I got worse, mum came and stayed more.  But the lethargy she felt seemed to come on more and more quickly.  It seemed that as soon as she stepped through the door she started to feel tired.

As I said, at the bottom of the garden was a very high wall, and behind this was an industrial unit.  This was occupied by a cable television company, and the site was covered with satellite dishes and mobile phone masts.

Mum became convinced that these dishes and particularly the mobile phone masts were the reason for how she felt when she came up to me.  I was a bit sceptical, but it did seem to be the only explanation.

In 2005, I sold the house and moved to the bungalow where I am now.  Physically by this time my walking was terrible and everything was a struggle. 

However, within days of moving I started to feel a bit better.  I was less tired, had a bit more energy to do things and even a bit more strength.  It was also as if I'd been given some drug to pep me up.

Now obviously, these things are relative.  The boost was only small, but it made a big difference to me.  And mum has never complained about the feeling of lethargy she had at my old place.

And now we might have a terrible mobile phone signal, but there isn't a mobile phone mast within 1 km of the house.

I mentioned this to my consultant at the time, and he was interested to listen to what I had to say.  I'm not sure he ever did anything with this information.

I'd always been a bit sceptical about stories on mobile phone masts and their effect on peoples health, but after this experience, I wouldn't say I'm a believer, but I certainly would never move close to one again.