Watch and Wait is Very Confusing

[Emmaline]

Hi Cityview,
Is it possible to buy a medical insurance that covers doctors from every state in the USA? I didn't know that was an option at any price. Does it have to do with out-of-network coverage, which I thought was still geographically limited? Can anyone -- individuals, families -- buy such an insurance? I'm very happy with my neurosurgeon and otolaryngologist, and I'm sure I'll stay with them in any case, but it's still interesting that insurance like that exists.

I too am confused regarding surgery at this point, with most of my hearing intact but my tumor still small and, therefore, more easily removed: on the one hand, I'm told that there's a 60% to 80% chance my hearing can be preserved; on the other hand, that there's no hope, with all my hearing gone whether surgery's done now or in the future.

Here's a brand new and interesting article on cell phones and tumors: http://www.odwyerpr.com/story/public/6568/2016-03-23/cellphones-are-potential-cancer-risk-heres-why.html

[ANGuy]

Hi Cityview,
Is it possible to buy a medical insurance that covers doctors from every state in the USA? I didn't know that was a possibility at any price. Does it have to do with out-of-network coverage, which I thought was still geographically limited? Can anyone -- individuals, families -- buy such an insurance? I'm very happy with my neurosurgeon and otolaryngologist, and I'm sure I'll stay with them in any case, but it's still interesting that insurance like that exists.

I'm too am confused as to whether surgery at this point, with most of my hearing still intact, will preserve what's still here: on the one hand, I'm told that there's a 60% to 80% chance my hearing can be preserved; on the other hand, that there's no hope, with all my hearing gone whether surgery's done now or in the future.

Here's a brand new and interesting article on cell phones and tumors: http://www.odwyerpr.com/story/public/6568/2016-03-23/cellphones-are-potential-cancer-risk-heres-why.html

You do realize that the article you linked is written by someone who has no credentials and has done no research in this field?  It would be like if I wrote an article showing that milk causes hair loss.  It's this kind of junk science that has resulted in the deaths of people around the world when they stop vaccinating their children.

[Emmaline]

Hi ANGuy,
I don't think the article is comparable to "junk science that has resulted in the deaths of people around the world when they stop vaccinating their children": in the first place, the author is advocating caution-in-use, not a blanket rejection of a proven medical procedure; in the second, limiting cell phone use would not result in harmful health effects, whereas renouncing vaccines would.

With regard to your statement, "You do realize that the article you linked is written by someone who has no credentials and has done no research in this field": The article's author appears to be a journalist specializing in modern technology, though I haven't investigated his formal credentials. In any event, as a journalist, his job is to interview and quote experts in the field, which he's done, not be one himself.

As you wrote in an earlier reply, "Believe what you want." I'll add my own two-cents here: "To each his or her own."

Finally, you're right, in that there's no established scientific truth yet regarding causation between cell phone use and tumors, but caution seems to be the word of the day.
 

[ANGuy]

I disagree regarding the dangers of lay people passing themselves off online as experts.  It circumvents the scientific process.  I am not talking about you and your opinions, I'm talking about people like the author of the article you linked. 

FWIW, he lists his credentials at the end of the article and via a link under his name in the heading of the article.  I have copied and pasted them here:

"Lloyd Burrell 
 
Lloyd Burrell is the founder of ElectricSense.com. His website offers solutions to the growing number of people whose health is being compromised by exposure to wireless and similar technologies."

Curious, I navigated a bit farther and found the "about" section for LLoyd on his website.  This is where he should list his background, and all he does is talk about his concern for "electrical sensitivity" as he calls it.  He also suggests that the increase in childhood obesity is due to cell phone usage...

To his credit, he does mention that he receives income from the sales of items designed to protect you from the effects of EMF's through his website.

Read it for your self here:

http://www.electricsense.com/about/

[Emmaline]

Hi,
Thank you for the link. You wrote:

I disagree regarding the dangers of lay people passing themselves off online as experts.  It circumvents the scientific process.

The facts, however, are the opposite. Lloyd Burrell, the article's author, makes his amateur status explicitly clear in the link you provided:

Electricsense.com is not my job, it’s my passion. Most things on the site I do myself but some things are above my head technically [...] What you read on this website is my own opinion, speaking as someone who has gone through the trials and tribulations of electrical sensitivity. All of my recommendations are based solely on my own evaluation.

Additionally, almost all scientific articles in general magazines and newspapers, including Time, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, are written by non-specialists who are assigned, for however long, that particular beat.

Finally, yes, Mr. Burrell does make a quick reference to obesity, which I didn't explore further, so I'm assuming he partly means that our cell phone obsession is making sedentary couch potatoes of us all. Yet, he's also pretty practical, because he acknowledges cells are here to stay, and so we ourselves should stay as safe as possible.

[ANGuy]

Uh, he is no more a journalist than I am.  I don't recall him calling himself a journalist or listing one single educational or professional credential even in the section of his website that is reserved for just that.  We don't even know if this guy finished high school.  Also, it is very common for scientific articles to be written by scientists, MD's etc even in non-professional journals.  This guy is just a guy who is selling products, and excepting donations.  His article that you linked is nothing more than a hypothesis that has been around for over a century and never gotten past the hypothesis stage despite some of the most extensive scientific research devoted to proving it as fact that has failed to do so.

It is irresponsible for him to declare, and I quote from the very first sentence of his article,

"Cellphones are hazardous because they use a low level radio frequency that modifies the tissues of the body. When held close to the head, brain tumors are a significant outcome."

This has never been shown anywhere to be true, yet he declares it as fact.

True Journalists will yes, reference studies they didn't participate in, but they will also post contradictory information when it exists.  There are volumes of studies that have shown NO RELATIONSHIP yet he didn't cite any that I can see.

As for the child obesity, he does, in fact, attribute it to the EMF's emitted by the phones.


Here is an article that may be of interest refuting the whole EMF causes (fill in the blank) disease or condition:

http://skepdic.com/emf.html

[Emmaline]

Hi Cityview,
Thanks for the information. If you're buying as an individual, as opposed to a family, you're lucky that you even have the opportunity to buy a PPO, because in several states that's not possible. I'll have to investigate more, because I'd been under the impression, probably wrongly, that PPOs allow out-of-network doctors only within state, but now you're saying that doctor choice is not geographically limited, but network limited. I wonder if PPOs allow both out-of-state and out-of-network doctors to be seen. It's so convoluted, because things change all the time.

I don't see either your age or tumor size written here -- though I seem to remember from another comment that it was quite small; smaller than mine -- so if you've the luxury of Watching and Waiting, more power to you. At this point, I'm so fraught with anxiety as to whether it will grow or not that I just want it out of my ear canal. Again, who knows if early surgery will preserve hearing, but if it does, I think it's worth doing. Most things good in life involve risk!

In your case, I guess you have to make a definite decision as to what you really want to do, and then research your local doctors' expertise and track record to see whether changing insurance is worth it. Obviously, you want a team of surgeons who've done this over and over to success. As far as the money, yes, it's a lot, but it's a one-shot-deal, and then you can go back to your HMO.

[Emmaline]

Hi ANGuy,
It seems we've become disagreeing pen pals. You wrote:

True Journalists will yes, reference studies they didn't participate in, but they will also post contradictory information when it exists.  There are volumes of studies that have shown NO RELATIONSHIP yet he didn't cite any that I can see.

You make an excellent point. An objective -- professional -- journalist would have included studies with contrary results, and so Mr. Burrell certainly won't be up for a Pulitzer, but he isn't competing for one either; he's what I think most people would call an advocacy journalist, a citizen journalist, or, in our global online world, a blogger. And he's quite clear about his goals, which stem from his personal experience, so, as you rightly pointed out in an earlier comment, we can't fault him for misrepresentation.

In response to another of your comments: 

I don't recall him calling himself a journalist or listing one single educational or professional credential even in the section of his website that is reserved for just that.  We don't even know if this guy finished high school.

Mr. Burrell graduated from London Metropolitan University in 1988.
And while credentials are important, they're no foolproof guide to the truth, because if they were we wouldn't have multiple "expert" witnesses on court cases. Plenty of credentialed professionals can be bought and sold.

I opened your second link and the article is very long, too long for me to read carefully right now; however, I did skim it and one section stood out:

It is not very likely that the average person has anything to worry about from power lines cell phones, microwave ovens, cordless phones, baby monitors, or Wi-Fi. Most of us do not get that close to power lines to be significantly affected by their EMFs. Our exposure to them, even if they are nearby, is not direct, up close, and constant.

I've specifically been referring to an "intimate" relationship with an electromagnetic field, one in which the cell phone becomes another bodily appendage. While I myself am not a scientist, I have spoken to a couple of well-respected oncologists and a professor with a PhD in environmental engineering, and while none of them has claimed that there's incontrovertible evidence linking cells to cancer/ ANs, they nevertheless concluded that such a relationship is highly probable, especially over long periods of time, up close and personal.

Finally, there are studies -- I think I put a link of one in an earlier comment -- that provide evidentiary food for thought on the topic.

Is your unquestioning belief in the harmlessness of EMFs due to your having a lot of stock in Verizon Wireless or Nokia? If so, I'm sorry to pile financial suspense on top of your Watch and Wait suspense, but you can always sell before it's too late!
Best,
Emmaline

[Emmaline]

Hi Cityview,
I'm sorry about your kitty, but if she's worth it, so are you! It's good you have a sense of humor about it all -- great survival mechanism.
Under 1CM is so tiny, so you have time.
Best,
Emmaline

[ANGuy]

"While I myself am not a scientist, I have spoken to a couple of well-respected oncologists and a professor with a PhD in environmental engineering, and while none of them has claimed that there's incontrovertible evidence linking cells to cancer/ ANs, they nevertheless concluded that such a relationship is highly probable, especially over long periods of time, up close and personal."

Next time you speak to them, ask them how they come to that conclusion when the NIH, Harvard and many other scientific communities have concluded the opposite.  Ask them why they believe the EMF's emitted by cell phones is a problem, but the EMF's emitted by the wiring in your house is not an issue when the level of EMF's from interior wiring are higher than those from a cell phone.

What exactly ARE the medical conditions that have been shown to be caused by cell phones?  You are saying that it is AN's, yet you keep referring to "cancer".  AN's are not cancer, they are normal cells.  Could you please put forward one study, performed by some reputable scientific entity, that shows cell phones cause acoustic neuromas?

You speak of an "intimate relationship" with cell phones.  You are exposed to higher doses, for significantly more time from the wiring in your house.  How on Earth would anyone be able to conclude, even IF a relationship between EMF's and AN's had been established, WHICH EMF's were the culprit?  The sun bathes you in EMF's, subatomic particles from space bombard you your whole life, being indoors doesn't protect you because they actually penetrate the entire thickness of the planet!  They are traveling through you and I even as you read this. 

[ANGuy]

Here is an article explaining how, among other things, the WHO has concluded, after considering 25,000 articles written on the issue, that there is no evidence to support the relationship between EMF's and health issues.  The aritcle is footnoted.

http://www.emfandhealth.com/

[ANGuy]

More:

http://www.ices-emfsafety.org/expert-reviews/

[Emmaline]

Hi ANGuy,
Just a quick answer before I go out: I know ANs aren't cancer, but the studies I've read have linked ANs and, perhaps, malignant gliomas to cell phones, which is why I wrote "cancer/ANs" earlier.

Here's one article: http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/28/health/cell-phones-brain-tumor-risk-berkeley/

It's still early in terms of conclusive studies: it took about 80 years -- from the beginnings of mass cigarette production -- before the Surgeon General required tobacco companies to put a warning on every pack.
Best,
Emmaline

[PaulW]

My AN completely filled my IAC all the way to the end. I had Cyberknife and I can still hear quite well. Lost some high frequencies but low frequencies are normal.
As for The mobile phone radiation argument..

This is the latest theory
You use a mobile phone a lot and you will notice hearing loss sooner and are more likely to be tested.

I for one first noticed my hearing loss because I couldn't hear my phone properly. I already knew about AN's and went to a doctor immediately.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24434752

[PaulW]

Mobile phones emit non ionising radiation... Ie it's not the right frequency or power to knock electrons out of orbit, causing unwanted chemical reactions.. Like breaking DNA
As frequencies increase radiation becomes ionising. UV-B Rays I believe is the lowest frequency to become ionising. Hence high frequency ultraviolet light causes skin cancer but visible light does not.
XRays gamma rays are all ionising and are therefore proven to be dangerous.
The photons have enough power to knock electrons out of orbit making atoms chemically active.
Mobile phones emit very little power around 0.1W  what's more it's spread out in a sphere, and some will pass all the way through your head to the mobile phone tower. It should be noted that if the waves are passing through your head and making it to the mobile phone tower they are not smashing electrons in your head, causing potential problems. Mobile phones use frequencies that allow low power usage and have good penetrating power. Last week I was within a foot of a 50,000W radiation generator. I got so close to this unshielded radiation source I could feel the radiation on my legs and chest. I then gave my kids sticks so they could poke it.. and then put marshmallows on the end of the sticks to toast them... Nothing like sitting around a campfire....