Never before or never again might anyone hear of a condition as rare as ‘electromagnetic hypersensitivity’ which is plaguing Peter Lloyd.For a person to be limited in certain aspects of life due to allergies might be considered unlucky but how unfortunate is a person who is allergic to the modern world. Peter Lloyd, a 42-year-old man from Cardiff, has been restricted to the sofa in his home, reported the Daily Mail.
Lloyd does not step outside his house as he fears walking near a wifi network would prove detrimental to his health. The symptoms of this rare infection started to emerge in Lloyd’s life when he was in his mid-20’s but his condition has only deteriorated further reaching to a point where Lloyd is unable to walk now.
“I would get a foggy feeling in the head after looking at a computer screen and had an inability to think straight. I had difficulty talking — what I called ‘thought block’,” said the former fitness instructor while speaking to Metro.
This rarest of rare conditions, known as electromagnetic hypersensitivity, means that Peter Lloyd is unable to withstand magnetic and electric fields, forcing him to adopt a more backward and old-fashioned lifestyle.
To pass time Lloyd reads an estimated 100 books per year often by candlelight so as to avoid contact with electricity sources states Daily Mail.
Lloyd recalls the hardships he faced ever since he had this condition. He once had to rewrite a cheque six times at a nutrition shop when he first started experiencing the effects of his infection.
“I had an early brick-type mobile phone linked to a network called GSM that affected me. As time went on, I realised it was becoming sensitised to more and different frequencies and devices,” said Lloyd.
He further added that “My natural reaction was to believe I could cope, but the situation just got worse. I would feel intense ache in the front of my head.”
Lloyd, who is a keen reader of scientific magazines and publications such as New Scientist and Scientific American, said that he came across similar symptoms while reading various articles, which gave him a better indication of his condition.
The publication further stated that Lloyd faces eviction from his current house after his landlady expressed resentment at the fact that he was not heating the house enough.
The Cardiff Council, which has been tasked with the responsibility of providing him with an alternate accommodation, has not yet found a suitable residence for Peter and it is more than likely that after his eviction he would be forced to live in a hospital.
Peter on the other hand has requested the Cardiff Council to be shifted to a purpose built isolated wooden hut, but the council has rejected these claims stating that it would not entertain individual cases.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 20th, 2014.
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