A woman who can't use electricity

A 55-year-old British woman is so sensitive to electricity that she cannot watch television, listen to the radio or talk on a mobile phone

Janice Tunnicliffe, a resident of Nottinghamshire, claims to suffer from an extremely rare condition called "electrosensitivity".

She was struck with the illness after she received chemotherapy for bowel cancer three years ago, the Daily Telegraph reports.

Tunnicliffe cannot use an electric kettle, and keeps her washing machine in a concrete outhouse.

She cannot bear to be anywhere near an electromagnetic field, and hence has been left "completely isolated" from the modern world due to her medical condition.

She suffers headaches, chest pain, nausea and tingling in her arms and legs whenever she is near electrical devices.

"iPhones make me feel really sick within about 20 minutes of being near one. Wifi makes me feel like I have a clamp at the back of my head which is squeezing the life out of me. It's completely draining and a home hub can totally immobilise me - I'm left unable to move my arms and legs."

Tunnicliffe was admitted to hospital in February 2008 with severe abdominal pain and vomiting. After tests, it was found she was suffering from cancer. Doctors removed a six-inch tumour from her bowel.

Despite the size of the tumour, the cancer did not spread, but it was decided she should have chemotherapy as a precautionary measure.

It was then that her problem began. She began to feel ill whenever she was near electrical and wireless items.

"Personally, I think there must be a link with the chemotherapy and the electrosensitivity, but no one is going to admit that," she said.

Tunnicliffe even had to cover her windows with special material to "deflect" electromagnetic waves.

Graham Lamburn, technical manager at Powerwatch, an organisation that promotes a safer environment, said the medical profession has been "slow" to recognise electrosensitivity as an illness as its causes are as yet unknown.