Imagine suffering from a condition that doesn't officially exist. Your friends think you're a little bit bonkers, and your family worries about you. You get headaches, chest pains, dizziness, tingling limbs and even blotches on your face. You struggle at work, and get little respite at home. Worst of all, your symptoms seem to be caused by technology that dominates modern life.

Annelie, who suffers from so-called electro-sensitivity, feels marooned in the 21st Century. She said: "I can't cope feeling the way I feel all the time."

She is convinced her symptoms are caused by electromagnetic fields and radiation from mobile and cordless phones, mobile phone masts and computers using wireless technology. This technology enables laptops to be used anywhere around the house, although internet access is provided by a wi-fi transmitter.

The Post contacted medical journal The Lancet, and the British Medical Journal who said to contact the Health Protection Agency (HPA). The HPA said in 2005 that there was no proven scientific link between exposure to electromagnetic fields and health problems such as Annelie's, although it said that people who complained of the condition can have real, unpleasant and disabling symptoms. Annelie has pointed out more recent studies on the subject, but the HPA told the Post this week its position has not changed.

The 36-year-old, who works as an English teacher at a Paris university, is currently on sick leave and recovering at her parents' home in Penllergaer.

Barmy

"When I first used a mobile phone around 10 years ago, I had a tingly feeling in my hand," she said. "My friends thought I was barmy. Then, when I came home to Swansea the Christmas before last I got chest pains, like I was going down with flu. "I went back to Paris, where I had broadband with a wi-fi modem installed in my flat."These symptoms continued. I went to see a lung specialist, but he could find nothing wrong with them. Then my wi-fi modem broke down, and the chest pains stopped.

"That got me thinking - and then I found out that my parents' house had a Wi-fi connection, which I hadn't realised before." She got rid of the modem at her Paris flat, but things began to deteriorate at her university, which had installed wi-fi near her classroom.

"I got violent reactions last October - dizziness, headaches - like I was being crushed," she said. "I was even losing my stream of thought in front of the students. It was dreadful. It's very frustrating, as I can't do my job properly. I feel I can't give my students what they deserve."

The situation back at her flat has been equally bleak. She said her neighbours use wi-fi and cordless phones, triggering more symptoms. "They think I'm nuts - I've even offered to buy them a new phone," said Annelie. It has left her spending evenings at the cinema, or at swimming pools, to avoid the headaches coming on. Even cafes, the majority of which have wi-fi, are out of bounds.

"I'm clearly going to have to leave Paris, and perhaps live in the countryside," said Annelie. "At the moment it's an inconvenience, but I don't want it to get worse. "I'm also hoping to get some specialist, military- style clothing, and I am thinking of getting a protective canopy for my head - all at great expense."

Annelie has been given homeopathic remedies for her condition, and has undergone blood tests and a brain scan. And she has seen a GP who also suffers from electro-sensitivity.

Closer to home, a charity called ElectroSensitivity UK has been set up, offering a sympathetic ear to sufferers. It says electro-sensitivity is treated as a disability in Sweden. A petition has been submitted to Number 10 Downing Street urging the Prime Minister to investigate the plight of sufferers.

Annelie said: "I think electro-sensitivity needs to be talked about."

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First Published in March 2009

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