No Gulf War Syndrome?

[Orrex]

I don't really have an opinion on http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/09/12/gulf.illness.ap/index.html">this because I honestly haven't researched the subject beyond cursory investigation.

Your thoughts?

[stellanoir]

1. I heard about this on the radio this morning.

Our entire military is being "swift boated" and disgraced and priceless few care.

I've heard some first hand reports and be mindful of the fact that both Timothy McVeigh and John Allen Mohammed (DC sniper) were both Desert Storm vets.

Generally, I'm an optimist but I've trouble being hopeful about the rehibilitation of our Vets after all they've had to endure.

[RufusEarl]

2. We buried my neighbor last month,

he and half of his unit that were in the gulf war in 91 have died. He was 57 years old, he got ill and died three months later, the doctors had no idea what was wrong with him.

I haven't done much research on this topic myself, but after watching Dust to Dust last night on IFC i have no doubt our government will stay in full denial mode until after all the 91 vets are gone.

[acmejack]

3. I think that obviously thousands of veterans are liars.

Of course, they're all faking and just want a free ride like those fakes claiming they have PTSD from seeing their friends blown to tiny bloody bits. Thank God we have Compassionate Conservatives to mind the National purse strings or we'd be broke! Oh wait...

I'd like to know how these sorry bastards (you'd be hard to pressed to find a veteran among the lot of them) sleep at night!

[Chef]

4. BSWS

Bull Shit War Syndrome

Same as delayed stress syndrome, et al. Comes from patriotic Americans serving their country and find they are used by scumbag politicians promoting their own nefarious purposes.

[Celebration]

5. some info

http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/gulf.html

This is a pretty cool website, for kids (and those of us that want a quick summary)

Three different types of Gulf War Syndrome have been identified:
Syndrome 1 (Impaired Cognition)
Symptoms: Depression, concentration difficulties
Commonly found in veterans who wore pesticide-containing flea collars.
Syndrome 2 (Confusion-Ataxia)
Symptoms: Thinking and reasoning difficulties, dizziness, balance and coordination problems
Commonly found in veterans who said they were exposed to nerve agents.
Syndrome 3 (Central Pain)
Symptoms: Joint and muscle pain, fatigue, numbness and tingling in the arms and legs
Commonly found in veterans exposed to insect repellents with the chemical DEET.

The existence of three syndromes rather than one is used as an excuse not to recognize this as a disorder, IMHO. The symptoms reported are very broad--therefore it must not exist at all, particularly since recognizing it would affect our military budget and ability to pay for more bombs, no bid contracts etc.

Further down on the webpage it goes into the specific neurological results found in ill vs. healthy veterans. However this is probably not done at the VA on the average "Gulf War" case, if at all.

[Warpy]

7. That doesn't even come close to the worst of it.

Gulf War Vets' Children have
More Birth Defects
Suzanne Gamboa / AP 5oct01

WASHINGTON -- The children of Gulf War veterans are two to three times as likely as those of other vets to have birth defects, suggests a government study based on questionnaires and interviews with the veterans.

Gulf vets reported more miscarriages, too.

The research, published in this month's Annals of Epidemiology, follows other studies that did not find evidence of greater risk of birth defects.

The latest study, conducted by the Department of Veterans Affairs and Johns Hopkins University scientists, surveyed Gulf and non-Gulf veterans from all four service branches. Just under 21,000 active and retired military, reserve and National Guard members answered questionnaires about their health, reproductive outcomes, exposure to risk factors and other issues.

Reprinted at: http://www.mindfully.org/Health/Gulf-Children-Defects.htm

[Celebration]

6. ALS

http://www.bcm.edu/fromthelab/vol02/is10/03oct_n1.htm

According to the study in the Sept. 23, 2003, issue of the journal Neurology, Gulf War veterans deployed to the Gulf Region have nearly double the risk of developing ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

In the study, sponsored by the Department of Veterans Affairs, researchers identified 40 Gulf War veterans with ALS out of the total of approximately 700,000 who participated in Desert Storm. They compared the incidence of the disease in this group of military personnel to the incidence of the disease in the 1.8 million veterans who were not sent to the 1990 Gulf War. The incidence of ALS in veterans deployed to the Gulf was twice as high as the incidence of the disease among those who did not go to the Gulf. An estimated one in 150,000 people are diagnosed with ALS every year.

A second study published in the Sept. 23, 2003 issue of Neurology by Robert W. Haley, MD, professor of medicine and chief of the epidemiology division at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, showed similar results in younger patients. The study identified 20 ALS patients under 45 years of age who were deployed to the Gulf Region, an incidence that is two to three times greater than that in the general population.

“I was surprised by both studies,” said Harati, a co-author on the VA study and formerly the chief of neurology at the Houston Veteran Affairs Medical Center. “The results show a convincing association between Gulf War veterans and ALS.”

Gee,I am *sure* this is a coincidence.

[Odin2005]

8. People used to deny the existance of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and PMS.

Some still deny the existance of ADHD.

[Orrex]

9. I hope I didn't imply that I think that GWS is a hoax

My sense, and I believe that this is borne out by the article, is that Gulf War veterans suffer a wide spectrum of ailments of varying severity. To call these, in the aggregate, a single "syndrome" might hinder efforts to treat any subset thereof. Better, I think, to address each of the different illnesses separately, since they stem from a range of exposures and manifest greatly different symptoms.

That's not meant in any way to belittle those illnesses nor the veterans who endure them, of course!

[Celebration]

10. pretty sure that what this means

Is no disability $$ for vets with the "syndrome". It would be MUCH harder to get without the designation. It's all about money, not treatment. Apparently there are some vets that will immediately begin to lose disability, and they will have to reapply under some other designation. *If* that happens, you can count on some suicides, etc.

Congress and the Veterans Administration rely in part on IOM to determine compensation levels for various illnesses. The VA has resisted calls to classify Gulf War symptoms as a service-connected syndrome. Tuesday`s conclusions appear to make it more unlikely that soldiers will be able to prove to the government`s satisfaction that their symptoms are a result of service in Iraq and therefore deserving of full compensation.

'It makes it much harder to make that case,' Shannon Middleton, assistant director of health policy at the American Legion, said in an interview.

http://www.gulfwarvets.com/iom_quashes_gws.htm