Aidan Walsh
Senior Member
- Messages
- 371
Gulf War Illness radiation sickness
Welcome to Phoenix Rising!
Created in 2008, Phoenix Rising is the largest and oldest forum dedicated to furthering the understanding of and finding treatments for complex chronic illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia (FM), long COVID, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), and allied diseases.
To become a member, simply click the Register button at the top right.
I think that veterans with Gulf War Syndrome before leaving were probably sick of mild ME, worsened for all the harsh physical and psychological received in war, that they ate food of excellent quality, with preservatives, they were forced to make vaccines , to take drugs, they were in contact with many harmful chemicals, explosives, used drugs, had strong emotions (fear, anxiety, anger), extreme cold and heat, etc., etc .; these factors would lead the majority of people with ME to manifest MCS and then GWS .....
breakage of chromosomes could be explained (perhaps) even with viral infections or
metabolism of viral products;
Hi everyone, and happy new year. May this be the year they figure out the nature of this beast that, for good or bad, binds us.
I could not help myself from posting to this thread and add to the conversation. In a way it feels like we are a bunch of people stuck in a dark room trying to describe what colors look like. It's already 2015, we have landed on a comet, and about to land on Pluto, and we still have no clue why we are so relentlessly sick. This is my 16th year in this hell, and still trying to learn as much as possible about it, and not willing to give up quite yet.
The lack of funding and the way this illness has been ignored make it very difficult to discern what's making us so sick. There are as many theories for ME/CFS as Ben & Jerry's has flavors of icecream. Yet we have no clear explanation, no cure, and no funding to figure it out.
I doubt radiation is the actual culprit, although I'm aware that exposure to depleted uranium was a major component of GWS. Other theories for ME/CFS claim that the origin is either metabolic, thyroid, immunological, vascular, intestinal, genetic, pathogenic, etc. At the end of the day, ME/CFS is multi-systemic, affecting just about every fiber of our beings, so it's not surprising to see so many different research paths and approaches. Yet, we are missing the key, the 'one ring to rule them all'.
For the vast majority of us, ME/CFS started suddenly, with a flu-like illness that never quite went away. The more I read, and the more I compare the research that I slowly digest (thanks, brainfog!) to my own experience, the more I'm convinced that this illness is the result of a complex and unfortunate series of events. This is how I see it:
(In my particular case, I can certainly put a checkmark on every single one of those. I seem to have all the markers they look for. Then add Lyme positive results to the mix. Fun times.)
- I believe there may be some genetic propensity first. Some of us may be more vulnerable than others to be affected by this illness. The studies by Dr. Huber on the HLA-DR4 gene allele could explain why some people develop chronic Lyme, and why others bounce back without a problem. Some of us may have a predisposition to have our immune system ravaged by the right trigger or pathogen.
- There is a trigger, and it seems to be an infection. Most people suffering from ME/CFS recall that sudden change, usually accompanied by a flu-like infection, and how nothing was ever the same after that. We don't know if this is a specific pathogen, but enteroviruses have been suspected. Same goes for EBV, HHV6, and countless other infections. Some theories speak of combinations of intracellular bacterial infections (cPN, Lyme, etc) with EBV, creating a perfect storm of immune evasion. Maybe we are talking about a novel virus that hasn't been identified yet (Dr. Lipkin is on the case, if he gets the money).
Also popular is the idea of a hit-and-run virus: it infects you, you get the flu-like symptoms and the subsequent CFS syndrome, but then the virus goes away, which makes it devilishly difficult to identify. Others like Dr. Shoemaker have identified mycotoxins as the trigger for the syndrome, also following a "hit and run" model.
- There's a subsequent immune disruption that affects all systems, with concrete neurological implications. Those of us that are in the care of CFS specialists know the "markers" that doctors are looking for in our blood: elevated levels of cytokines, high TGF-b1, high EOS, decreased numbers of NHK cells, reduced NHK/natural killer cell function, extremely high IgG levels for a number of specific infections (EBV, HHV6, Parvo, others), as if our immune systems have been turned upside down, and fighting a never-ending war that can never be won. As repeated studies have proven, most recently by Dr. Montoya, this immune disruption has major neural effects, even affecting the brain of patients with a noticeable reduction of white matter.
Then it affects other bodily systems and functions as well (vascular, intestinal problems, metabolic, etc)
I may be completely wrong, but I really think those three steps listed above constitute the closer scenario to what's happened to us. Our immune system has been kicked into a vicious circle, a battle it can't win. This is a neuro-immune disorder that's likely triggered by a specific pathogen, but it doesn't affect everyone the same (hence the potential genetic predisposition for some of us). As many have pointed out, MS may be the closest thing to ME in more ways than one.
It's important that science focuses on identifying the conditions and triggers to the illness (pathogens, biotoxins, genetic types that could make some people more vulnerable, like HLA-DR4), and how to reverse the immune disruption, how to put the genie back in the bottle, which may be the most difficult part yet. Specially without funds for research or even the recognition of the medical community.
Just my two cents.
For the vast majority of us, ME/CFS started suddenly, with a flu-like illness that never quite went away.
Hi Aidan,Hi everyone, and happy new year. May this be the year they figure out the nature of this beast that, for good or bad, binds us.
I could not help myself from posting to this thread and add to the conversation. In a way it feels like we are a bunch of people stuck in a dark room trying to describe what colors look like. It's already 2015, we have landed on a comet, and about to land on Pluto, and we still have no clue why we are so relentlessly sick. This is my 16th year in this hell, and still trying to learn as much as possible about it, and not willing to give up quite yet.
The lack of funding and the way this illness has been ignored make it very difficult to discern what's making us so sick. There are as many theories for ME/CFS as Ben & Jerry's has flavors of icecream. Yet we have no clear explanation, no cure, and no funding to figure it out.
I doubt radiation is the actual culprit, although I'm aware that exposure to depleted uranium was a major component of GWS. Other theories for ME/CFS claim that the origin is either metabolic, thyroid, immunological, vascular, intestinal, genetic, pathogenic, etc. At the end of the day, ME/CFS is multi-systemic, affecting just about every fiber of our beings, so it's not surprising to see so many different research paths and approaches. Yet, we are missing the key, the 'one ring to rule them all'.
For the vast majority of us, ME/CFS started suddenly, with a flu-like illness that never quite went away. The more I read, and the more I compare the research that I slowly digest (thanks, brainfog!) to my own experience, the more I'm convinced that this illness is the result of a complex and unfortunate series of events. This is how I see it:
(In my particular case, I can certainly put a checkmark on every single one of those. I seem to have all the markers they look for. Then add Lyme positive results to the mix. Fun times.)
- I believe there may be some genetic propensity first. Some of us may be more vulnerable than others to be affected by this illness. The studies by Dr. Huber on the HLA-DR4 gene allele could explain why some people develop chronic Lyme, and why others bounce back without a problem. Some of us may have a predisposition to have our immune system ravaged by the right trigger or pathogen.
- There is a trigger, and it seems to be an infection. Most people suffering from ME/CFS recall that sudden change, usually accompanied by a flu-like infection, and how nothing was ever the same after that. We don't know if this is a specific pathogen, but enteroviruses have been suspected. Same goes for EBV, HHV6, and countless other infections. Some theories speak of combinations of intracellular bacterial infections (cPN, Lyme, etc) with EBV, creating a perfect storm of immune evasion. Maybe we are talking about a novel virus that hasn't been identified yet (Dr. Lipkin is on the case, if he gets the money).
Also popular is the idea of a hit-and-run virus: it infects you, you get the flu-like symptoms and the subsequent CFS syndrome, but then the virus goes away, which makes it devilishly difficult to identify. Others like Dr. Shoemaker have identified mycotoxins as the trigger for the syndrome, also following a "hit and run" model.
- There's a subsequent immune disruption that affects all systems, with concrete neurological implications. Those of us that are in the care of CFS specialists know the "markers" that doctors are looking for in our blood: elevated levels of cytokines, high TGF-b1, high EOS, decreased numbers of NHK cells, reduced NHK/natural killer cell function, extremely high IgG levels for a number of specific infections (EBV, HHV6, Parvo, others), as if our immune systems have been turned upside down, and fighting a never-ending war that can never be won. As repeated studies have proven, most recently by Dr. Montoya, this immune disruption has major neural effects, even affecting the brain of patients with a noticeable reduction of white matter.
Then it affects other bodily systems and functions as well (vascular, intestinal problems, metabolic, etc)
I may be completely wrong, but I really think those three steps listed above constitute the closer scenario to what's happened to us. Our immune system has been kicked into a vicious circle, a battle it can't win. This is a neuro-immune disorder that's likely triggered by a specific pathogen, but it doesn't affect everyone the same (hence the potential genetic predisposition for some of us). As many have pointed out, MS may be the closest thing to ME in more ways than one.
It's important that science focuses on identifying the conditions and triggers to the illness (pathogens, biotoxins, genetic types that could make some people more vulnerable, like HLA-DR4), and how to reverse the immune disruption, how to put the genie back in the bottle, which may be the most difficult part yet. Specially without funds for research or even the recognition of the medical community.
Just my two cents.
Sorry you are ill but strong strong evidence is now pointing towards radiation injuries & these Governments have known this for the longest times now I do not think it has anything to do with bacteria viruses or any infectious agents it could also explain why they refuse to fund this illness 'cause they want to hide the truth we will see soon if radiation is the cause it will be out soon that's 100% the best on the globe are now working on this & they are convinced this is the cause to me it makes the most sense aside from Vitamin D3 is it possible it does something to radiation I guess time will tell if people recover on it or not Anything is possible but sorry I do not trust NIH/CDC to do anything they never have nor will they fund serious Science but that's ok we will fund from the Private side for the real truth 'replicated truth' not b.s. lies...Hi Aidan,
I am not a conspiracy theorist but I am a research social scientist, I believe that the basic reason there is no funding for research is that there is no money in it for drug companies to find a cure. I will put on the table that they have already concluded that this is likely to be a bacterial problem and therefore needs the right treatment protocol to fix ... not new drugs. In fact, for many drug companies that provide various potions used to treat symptoms, it is in their worst interest for a cure to be found, as their potion would no longer be needed ....
The medical profession in most part believes that we are a bunch of loonies and need to sit around a campfire singing kumbaya in order to deal with our psychological issues which is causing all our problems ......
Personally, I believe that we are on the tip of an iceberg and there is going to be a pandemic of disease associated with these bacterial problems .... A healthcare crippling pandemic .... A national healthcare budget destroying pandemic ......
It is going to cost us more than 2 cents ....
We'll see if they are right one thing is very clear a person should not have this radiation but unfortunately all of the cohort are positives this same cohort were also positives with Dr. Henry Heng as well plus the severity of cromosone damage was far greater than Gulf War Ilness...Time will tell soon once work completed/publishedis very rare that patients have the opportunity to direct research on the cause of a disease, that I believe we ME sufferers have this possibility; unfortunately most of us do not have the courage to say anything you know; is content to survive and is swept by an almost steady current ......
I agree with Elph68, although I think it is more likely an unknown virus
the cause of ME,
Aidan,
if they were really radiation to cause ME I think that would emerge in the dozens of epidemics;
however there should be an exaggerated incidence of the disease in those places where these "radiation" are more ... but this has never emerged.
Mesci,
maybe probably your beginning was light, so you have not given weight to a sore throat in the most .... why do not remember.
night