Gulf War Illness Research

[Dr. Yes]

Hi Diesel,

This is an extremely important, yet almost inexplicably neglected, topic and I hope to post on it soon. You may want to check out the (brief) previous discussion on it starting at post #35 on this thread:
http://www.forums.aboutmecfs.org/sh...roblem-in-GWS-(and-CFS)-(-)&p=55446#post55446

 

[Esther12]

Would be big news if confirmed - especially this bit: "They appear loosely linked to at least three different types of agents to which many troops were exposed"

They sound very certain, but we've had a few things like this before. I guess brain scanning technology is advancing all the time - if there were abnormalities there could well have been technical limitations to our ability to identify them earlier?

 

[Dr. Yes]

There have been a number of valid neuro-imaging studies in the past that documented marked abnormalities in ME/CFS patients vs. healthy controls and vs. patients with clinical depression alone. The most consistent findings in the past, via SPECT or PET scans, were reduced cerebral perfusion to, and reduced glucose metabolism in, certain brain regions. Nobody has bothered to follow up on these studies. Standard MRI scans have not revealed anywhere near as much, and are the main ones that have been focused on for some reason.

I would HOPE that we can get something approaching this amazingly comprehensive study on GWI done on ME/CFS patients. Perhaps we can convince the same group to test some of us, if nobody else will?

 

[guest]

Thanks Dr. Yes, I wasn't aware of the other thread. We would need lots of more studies about the brain, what it does and what it means for certain illnesses like GWS and CFS. I really hope they find the exact cause and a working treatment for it.

 

[Dr. Yes]

Yes, though in order to get the kind of funding (and to generate the research interest) in those far more complicated studies, it would certainly help to demonstrate beyond doubt (even to 'denialists') that there are clear abnormalities observable for all to see in ME/CFS patients' brains. SPECT scans are so easy to do! PET have higher resolution, and are not much more difficult (though patients get a higher dose of radiation :worried. fMRI and bold MRI are more cutting edge, but they have been done on ME/CFS patients before, with abnormal findings... I can only assume a lack of funding has been the problem.

Perhaps the Department of Defense will take an interest in us. First time I ever wanted them to take an interest in me...

 

[parvofighter]

More please!

I know little about this topic, so look forward to learning more. Keep it coming!

And Dr Yes, be careful what you ask for

Perhaps the Department of Defense will take an interest in us. First time I ever wanted them to take an interest in me...

Mwahahaha:Retro smile:

Parvo

 

[MEKoan]

Can you imagine doing what they did - taking the risks, feeling the fear, enduring the suffering, deprivation and indignities, doing what they felt or were told needed to be done, living with the trauma of all that... then getting sick and being treated like shite! And, most of them were kids.

Makes this pacifist crazy!

 

[guest]

Interesting is that according to a newspaper article the number of soldiers with PTS has never been higher although soldiers were put under more pressure and maybe even toxins in Vietnam and other wars. Moreover in my eyes the number of people with CFS is growing too. I cannot proof this of course but it would be nice to know why that is. Do humans become more susceptible to these illnesses?

Dr. Yes you are completely right. I'm also hoping that maybe the US military helps funding research. The research regarding GWS made some huge steps forward during the last years. A professor said that they made more progress in this particular year than in the 15 years before.

 

[JillBohr]

I just want to emphasize here that the rate of autism is double in military members than it is for civilians. Here is a link to a Newsweek article that was published in 2008.
http://www.usnews.com/articles/news...e-system-to-help-their-autistic-children.html

And for reasons that aren't clear, autism is diagnosed in military children at roughly double the rate it is in the civilian world, a striking 1 out of 88, according to Defense Department data.

 

[MEKoan]

Jill,

Wow, wow, wow!

I can't express how much I hope current research helps people with Autism. Like most people, I have friends on the spectrum and friends with kids with Autism.

And, I worked with kids with Autism in my first career. I was taught, and believed, that Autism was caused by cold, distant mothers - "refrigerator mothers". I remember spewing that crap in a meeting with someone during a job interview. It was the accepted "wisdom"; I got the job. I remember it because I still feel bad about it. Thank heaven I worked only with the kids and not with the parents!!! This memory keeps me humble when considering how the psychologizers manage to carry on psychologizing.

It's terrible that we have such an explosion of this dreadful condition now.

This new piece of information is so disturbing!

 

[flybro]

Worrying my mother, myself and my daughters were all born in military hospitals.

Also most of familiy, many with military service or wives/children off servicemen all have swathes of missing medical notes.