| Last updated at 1:38 AM on 16/07/08 |
Woman receives diagnosis for allergy to electricity 
CHRIS QUIGLEY
The Western Star
CORNER BROOK — Joanne March-Laberge always knew in her heart that it wasn’t all in her head.
She says she now has the documentation to prove it.
In a story published in the Aug. 4, 2007 edition of The Western Star, March-Laberge claimed to be suffering from a form of “electromagnetic and chemical sensitivity,” but was unable to get an official diagnosis because she said the illness wasn’t recognized or acknowledged by medical doctors in the province.
Through the passage of time, March-Laberge’s symptoms have gotten progressively worse, especially since she’s been living in St. John’s surrounded by electricity producers. However, she says she has finally received the diagnosis from her current doctor, Maureen Gibbons, which advises that she suffers from the illness and will require accommodations in single housing in an area of the province, which is a great distance away from power stations and electrical sources.
That was certainly a better reaction for March-Laberge than the usual “it’s menopause, depression, anxiety or it’s all in your head” diagnosis she had been receiving from various doctors up until that point.
Through her own research and tenacity, she managed to put the pieces of the puzzle together and came to grips with what she knew she had, and then managed to convince her doctor, thanks to a plethora of information from interviews with others involved with the illness, both researchers and sufferers.
“She wasn’t convinced at first, but I had my facts,” said March-Laberge. “I wasn’t accepting depression or menopause or anything of that as a cause of what was wrong with me.”
Anything can trigger it
Now, the main issue for March-Laberge is successfully moving out of St. John’s into an area where her body won’t constantly be bombarded by the electrical currents that have crippled her once active lifestyle. Symptoms of the illness include nausea, headaches, shortness of breath, rapid heart beat, chest pain and a burning sensation up the throat and mouth — absolutely anything that emits electric energy can trigger the allergy.
“I now know what I have, what caused it and how to live with it,” she said. “But the best thing is avoidance and in St. John’s, I’m surrounded. It’s like a blanket that continuously gives out signals.
“I had to spend all my savings to find out about this illness,” she added. “I cannot work and now I’m considered disabled. I had to put a plea into our government for help and assistance to try to get me out of the city and into a smaller place, but it takes time.”
March-Laberge is hopeful her situation may be straightened away sooner rather than later, but she insists her main goal is to force the government and the medical community to recognize the illness as the serious, life-altering illness that she says it is.
“All things go in three stages in life — first is ridicule, then it’s morally opposed and then it’s accepted,” she said. “I hope the government doesn’t wait too long to recognize this, for our children and our grandchildren as we use more and more technology and electricity.
“All I need is a place in Newfoundland away from most towers and I’ll be fine,” she added. “That’s not too much to ask for when we have so many forests, but it all comes down to money and politics. So many people have this illness and our government is trying to knock it down.”
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