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With appreciation to edepression.net

—notes by Gerry Meyer, Brownsville, Wisconsin (5/14/10)

About a month ago I received a phone call from a woman in great distress. She was calling about the serious health effects she is experiencing from living near the turbines.

Wanda moved here to live with her boyfriend on X Road in September 2007. She has two sons in the 6th and 9th grades from a previous marriage. Some of the industrial wind turbines were already up; however, the turbines closest to their home were not yet up. The problems began about two months after she moved to rural Oakfield.

As soon as the turbines began spinning, she had a tightening in her chest, pain in her chest and gasping for air, as well as headaches. Wanda has a history of headaches, which were not improved by living in her new residence. She had migraine headaches in the past. She says the headaches she is getting now are not migraine headaches, yet they are more severe. She takes large amounts of non-prescription pain killers, going from one brand to another looking for relief.

Then came eye pain. It feels like the left side of her head is inflamed, although it is not. As time went on the headaches became excruciating and the left eye hurt more.

She mentions she is becoming forgetful. Talking on the phone is painful and she tries to avoid it.

She also realizes she is more crabby than in the past over simple, “stupid stuff.”

Another issue is lack of sleep. Frequently she gets only an hour of sleep, looking at the clock over and over at the night goes on. She tried Benadryl for sleep, but it did not work.

This spring the health effects got worse. She had severe abdominal pain. She had an upper GI series with negative results. She had an abdominal CAT scan with “all is OK results.” One doctor told her stress was the cause. The only new element in her life is the industrial wind turbines.

From March 6th to May 6th she lost 20 pounds. Wanda states that her daily life is no different from the past other than the sleep deprivation caused by the wind turbines. But she feels like her body is changing. She has been tested for allergies. Nothing shows up.

Wanda’s body reacts to foods that never were a problem for her in the past. She enjoys drinking milk, but her stomach no longer can handle it.

She feels very frustrated and angry over this invasion of her life. Often she has difficulty breathing. She does not smoke. She often has a fluttering in her chest.

She has had a CAT scan of her sinuses with normal results.

She is tired, exhausted, has anxiety, and stressed.

Wanda emphasizes that when she moved to this home in September 2007, she was in good health and felt really good.

Her eyes and ears have hurt the last few months. Most recently, she has spots in her eyes and does not dream anymore.

After our discussion, she called me back with an additional new problem: she does not have good circulation. Her feet and fingers are always cold, with winter now being especially uncomfortable.