Severe Frequent Headaches
- Head “in a vice”
- Children with no previous history of headaches
- Migraines triggered, especially from shadow flicker
- Visual Blurring
- Only occurring with turbine operation
- Visual checks by health practitioners normal
- Tinnitus (ringing or buzzing, one or both ears)
- Ear pressure sensations (painful at times, especially if previous eardrum surgery)
- Hyperacusis (extreme sensitivity to ‘normal’ sounds)
- Balance disturbance (especially in elderly)
- Motion sickness/vertigo like symptoms
- Nausea (severe)
- Irritability, extreme anger and other mood disturbances (also being reported in workers)
- Memory & Cognitive deficits (worsening over time)
- Depression, at times life threatening
- Anxiety
- Body vibrations
- Tachycardias & arrhythmias (fast & irregular heartbeats)
Additional clinical observations
- Reports emerging of two specific clinical illnesses known to be caused by surges of adrenaline occurring with exposure to wind turbines (and other sources of ILFN)
- Tako Tsubo heart attacks
- Acute Hypertensive Crises
- Limited animal studies confirm infrasound exposure can result in adrenaline surges (NIEHS Toxicology of Infrasound report 2001)
- ILFN induced Sympathetic nervous system stimulation, via Vestibular stimulation or direct stimulation of the brain, is experienced ACUTELY by the person affected as:
- Tachycardia (fast heart beat)
- Elevated blood pressure including acute hypertensive episodes
- Tako Tsubo heart attack episodes
- Nighttime waking in a panicked state
- Acutely anxious feelings
- Unmasking of previous PTSD symptoms (but either well controlled or in abeyance at time of initial exposure to wind turbines)
- Observations of new onset hypertension (high blood pressure) with turbine operation
- Multiple causative mechanisms likely, probably concurrent (Qibai and Shi (2007) The Effects of Low Frequency Noise and Vibration on People [ed Prof C. Hansen] An Investigation on the Physiological and Psychological Effects of Infrasound on Persons 303-310)
- Infrasound (experimental studies have shown this effect, via direct or indirect (vestibular) stimulation of sympathetic nervous system ‘fight–flight’)
- Stress
- Sleep Deprivation
Predictors of onset & severity
Predictors of Rapid Onset of Severe Symptoms of Wind turbine Syndrome (WTS) appear to be
- Living downwind of a line of turbines (cumulative impact)
- Presence of ground borne (seismic) vibrations
- Beds vibrating
- Glass of water vibrating
Other reports of residential overnight exposure to ILFN
- Overnight exposure to ILFN seems particularly damaging to health
- Others who have developed similar health problems including Tako Tsubo Heart attacks, sleep deprivation and high blood pressure which start to partially resolve when exposure ceases
- Residents in suburban Melbourne next to industrial chillers at Melbourne University
- Residents 5km away from open cut coal mining activities active at night (diesel machinery)
Links to vibro acoustic disease
- Substantial body of work by Professor Mariana Alves Pereira & Dr Nuno Castelo Branco over 30 years in Portugal
- Serious health concerns (VAD) with chronic exposure to ILFN (variety of sources)
- Based on their recent work, levels of measured ILFN inside homes near wind developments will result in VAD in residents
Tissue vibro acoustic diseaserved in VAD
- Thickened collagen, resulting in
- Decreased lumen of blood vessels (arteries)
- Thickening of exterior lining of the heart (pericardium)
- Malignant tumours in the sole autopsy case
- (patients with WTS have been noted to have elevated cortisol which will certainly decrease the body’s own immunity and ability of the immune system to eradicate abnormal cells over time)
- Professor Alves Pereira also described collagen pathology found in horses on the farm in Portugal, using a case control design
- Ie, collagen changes are “cross species”, adding further weight to the evidence of a biological causal effect of ILFN on tissue with chronic exposure
The relationship between WTS & VAD
- I think Dr Pierpont is right, in stating as she did in Ontario that maybe we should call WTS “ILFN syndrome”
- Acousticians for years have been calling these symptoms “annoyance” without Medical Clinicians realising that there are serious health problems emerging with acute and chronic exposure (with a few notable exceptions such as Dr Harry, Dr Iser, Dr Pierpont & Dr Castelo Branco)
- My conclusions
- There are multiple pathophysiological mechanisms causing the pathology we are seeing
- There is a difference between the effects and therefore the symptoms of acute exposure (WTS) and chronic exposure (VAD)
- There may be a synergistic effect eg angina
- Acute effect – adrenaline surge leading to vasoconstriction
- Chronic effect – collagen thickening producing structurally narrowed diameter of blood vessel
- Both pathologies acting together will result in decreased blood flow to the heart muscle
Acoustics field data from inside Noel Dean’s bedroom, Waubra
[1]
[2]
Mechanisms for harm to health
- KNOWN – audible noise
- HIGHLY LIKELY – Infrasound & low frequency noise
- Airborne pulsations
- Resonance within dwellings
- Seismic (ground borne) vibrations
- POSSIBLE – Electromagnetic radiation effects
- OTHER?
What we know already
- Chronic severe sleep deprivation and high blood pressure are very damaging to health (extensive peer reviewed research)
- Both are being identified as new health problems in residents adjacent to wind developments after commencement of turbine operation
- Both are measurable
These need to be investigated and quantified
Research questions
- What is a ‘safe’ setback distance?
- What are the mechanisms of causation?
[plus slides about the Waubra Foundation and its Research and Updates on NH&MRC workshop, 7th June, 2011 Canberra, and Australian Senate Inquiryreport tabled 14th June, 2011]
Dr Sarah Laurie BMBS
Medical Director, Waubra Foundation
Presentation 14th June, 2011
Cape Cod
www.waubrafoundation.com.au
Download original document: “Summary of Recent Field Observations of Adverse Health Effects from Wind Developments in Australia [3]”
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/documents/summary-of-recent-field-observations-of-adverse-health-effects-from-wind-developments-in-australia/
URLs in this post:
[1] Image: https://docs.wind-watch.org/Waubra-2.png
[2] Image: https://docs.wind-watch.org/Waubra-3.png
[3] Summary of Recent Field Observations of Adverse Health Effects from Wind Developments in Australia: https://docs.wind-watch.org/WF-Windwise-Cape-Cod-Presentation-June-14-2011.pdf
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