Assess Health After Operations Start

By Dr. Sarah Laurie (continued from Assess Health Before Wind Turbines Spin)

What Residents Can Do:

• keep thorough personal health journals contemporaneously; both when exposed to the turbines and when away from home.  Markedly elevated blood pressures have been noted in young adults, which have reverted completely back to normal when well away from wind turbines, (even when at maximal exercise capacity).  Note if the turbines have been turning at the time symptoms are experienced, if known;  and the more detail that can be given to locate the precise date and time of symptoms, weather and wind conditions at the time will be very useful.  Details of the sort of information useful to keep is documented at the Wind Turbine Syndrome site and included in this page.

• record all episodes of illness, no matter how trivial, especially infective, for all family members;  and episodes of disturbed sleep;

• monitor growth, development, and language and cognitive development in children, with particular focus on language acquisition, mental arithmetic and memory & concentration;  especially if there is any regression once turbines have commenced operating.

• monitor mood changes, disruptive and aggressive behaviour in children; and note any changes in their behaviour and sleep patterns when at home (with turbines operating) compared to when away or when the turbines are off for more than a day.

• liaise closely with school teachers, so parents may be alerted to any learning difficulties at school in a timely fashion;  and ensure that teachers are aware of what abnormalities have been reported.  The most detailed information comes from Dr Nina Pierpont’s study, available in her book, which can be purchased at cost from www.windturbinesyndrome.com .  Part of the book including the section written for health professionals and the raw case data containing details of what changes were noted in the children in the study was kindly submitted to the Australian Federal Senate Inquiry (number 13).

• monitor blood pressures; actively try to manage stress, and try and organise time away from exposure to operating turbines if needed, and able to do so; especially overnight.

• consider a trial of antioxidants (given their reported benefit to rodents in one experiment with prolonged exposure to infrasound).  These might include multivitamins.  This is NOT based on peer reviewed published medical research, rather observations in one animal study looking at chronic infrasound exposure (see study number 58 in this document).

Post Construction History, Examination and Investigations

As indicated by the clinical context and presenting problems, together with past medical history:

• detailed history of new symptoms with correlation of exposure to operating wind turbines, (well kept personal health journals can help greatly here, as people’s short term memory is often impaired, but patterns can be quickly identified)

• detailed health and sleep history especially correlated to turbine operation, climatic conditions, wind direction and estimate of wind speed, and time of day or night, where possible;

• Detailed health history of illnesses or symptoms when away from turbine exposure (eg holidays, and turbines off for maintenance);

• comparative repeat night time salivary cortisol, and more extended serum cortisol testing (has been found to be markedly elevated with exposure, but returns to normal when repeated again after cessation of exposure to ILFN (when residents report feeling “better”);

• comparative repeat cognitive, sleep, and mental health questionnaire assessments as indicated.

Other investigations which may be indicated in specific situations where specific pathology is suspected or has been identified include:

• 24 hour blood pressure monitoring;

• sleep studies (comparing “in home” and “away from home” if possible);

• specific blood pathology indicated by the clinical picture (kidney, liver, CBP, clotting, thyroid function, blood glucose & Hba1c);

• specific radiological investigation where focal pathology is suspected, including brain MRI where indicated (eg cognitive deficits being reported, suspicion of late onset epilepsy).

• Referral to specialists, if indicated, for sleep, ENT, Endocrine, Cardiac, Opthalmology, Psychiatric, Psychological, Optometrist, Audiologist and other relevant expertise.