The Potential Causes of Gulf War Illness

It seems funny that after over twenty years we still have no cause. There seems to be no interest by the media other than back page stories in newspapers and no television that I have seen or heard of. Most of what I could find for the causes of Gulf War Illness is the same today as it was twenty years ago. It's becoming evident to me that the only people who really care about Gulf War Illness are those of us who have it. I guess we are lucky that it's not the same for Cancer, Leukemia, Aids or other diseases that affect far more people in our society. Then again, if we really cared we would find a cure and stop letting big pharmaceutical companies run the country. Right now there are lobbyists lurking in the halls of congress waiting to trade favors in exchange for getting another big drug approved so that when you get sick, and god help you if you do, they can give you a bunch of pills instead of trying to find a cure or a cause for what is wrong with you.

The following factors may have interacted to bring about specific symptoms in veterans. Obviously, the combinations of factors differ with individuals, hence it is likely that there is not one single explanation of the whole spectrum of symptoms. However, the following main categories are candidates for causal relationships with illnesses reported by veterans:

Administration of three vaccines intended as protection against nerve and biological warfare agents. These were:

Pyridostigmine, normally prescribed for myasthenia gravis and known to have serious side effects, especially when the person taking it is exposed to heat. It is also known that exposure to pesticides and insecticides (Baygon, Diazinon and Sevin) should be avoided when taking pyridostigmine because they can accentuate its toxicity. Some women who took this drug during pregnancy and have breast-fed infants have seen side effects in their child.
Botulinum Pentavalent, an unproven vaccine intended to counteract botulism. It is unlicensed in the United States.
Anthrax, to protect against the disease anthrax. This was apparently selectively administered to troops during the war, and women receiving it were warned not to have children for three or four years.
Depleted uranium was used for the first time in this war. It was incorporated into tank armor, missile and aircraft counterweights and navigational devices, and in tank, anti-aircraft and anti-personnel artillery. The scientific information on this deadly chemical has been reported in "Radium Osteitis With Osteogenic Sarcoma: The Chronology and Natural History of Fatal Cases" by Dr. William D. Sharpe, Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine, Vol. 47, No. 9 (September 1971). There was no excuse for this human experimentation because the effects of this exposure were known.

Smoke and chemical pollutants released by the continuous oil- well fires. Levels of soot, carbon monoxide and ozone have been studied by an Environmental Protection Agency Task Force. The National Toxics Campaign, Boston, Massachusetts, found five different toxic hydrocarbon products in the smoke (1,4-dichlorobenzine, 1,2-dichlorobenzene, diethyl phthalate, dimethyl phthalate and naphthalene), any one of which could induce serious health effects.
Old World leishmaniasis, a parasitic disease transmitted by the bite of many species of sand fly indigenous to the region. Non-indigenous people who enter an infected area are known to be more seriously affected by this parasite than the inhabitants. If left undiagnosed, and therefore untreated, it can be fatal. Diagnosis requires bone and spleen biopsy, and the disease can have a three-year incubation period without causing symptoms. It can be transmitted by blood transfusion, and transmitted by a woman to her unborn child. Leishmaniasis was reported as widespread in Iraq and Saudi Arabia. This disease is thought to be responsible for the Pentagon ban, November 1991, against blood donations from Gulf War veterans. This ban was lifted, for unknown reasons, on January 11, 1993.
Pesticides and insecticides were used extensively throughout the war to protect against pestilence. It is known that large quantities of DDT, malathion, fenitrorthion, propuxur, deltamethrin and permethrin were used. They are all toxic nerve agents, and many are suspected carcinogens and mutagens.

Destruction by allies of Iraqi chemical, nerve and biological warfare weapons resulting in widespread distribution of these toxins in the environment. This problem has now been, at least in part, documented by the U.S. Department of Defense. They are focusing on this potential cause as if it were the only candidate cause.
The electromagnetic environment which permeated the battlefield during the war. Veterans were exposed to a broad spectrum of electromagnetic radiation created by electricity generated to support the high-tech instruments, thousands of radios and radar devices in use. This intense electromagnetic field causes both thermal and non-thermal effects, and potentially interacts with the other hazardous exposures and stresses of the battlefield. Electromagnetic radiation can alter the production of hormones (neurotransmitters), interact with cell membranes, increase calcium ion flow, stimulate protein kinase in lymphocytes, suppress the immune system, affect melatonin production required to control the "body clock," and cause

changes in the blood-brain barrier.

Before I got Gulf War Illness

When I was younger I was proud to join the U.S. Navy. I was twenty when I volunteered. I never really gave it much thought, but a friend went to a recruiter one night and invited me along in 1988. He showed us pictures of The Phillipines and Australia and discussed how fun it was to go overseas while we drank a 12 pack of beers. One thing he said resonates with me to this day. He said twenty years from now you will come home from being out to sea and have a million stories to tell. Your friends, however, will still be working in those dead-end jobs and sitting on that same old bar stool they were when you left. You will have travelled the world, maybe got a college degree, and you'll have a nice retirement check for the rest of your life along with healthcare for you and your family if you have one. He had a point.

I wanted to go quickly before I changed my mind. I had become quite accustomed to having long hair. (It was good for picking up girls in the days of head-bangers and heavy metal). So when I went to the recruiting center I just took whatever job was available at the time without thinking. I was a mess-specialist which is a fancy way of saying cook, or burger-burner. I didn't care, though, I was off to San Diego in two weeks.

After two years on shore duty at the Oakland Naval Hospital I found out that I was attached to the USNS Mercy TAH-19. It's a converted oil tanker used as a floating hospital. It's very impressive inside. I was back to the galley again after spending my last years in the Navy in the supply department driving a forklift and other things. I liked that better than cooking. I hated being a cook, but I was good at it. I got really good at taking four orders at a time from patrons in the breakfast line for eggs to order. The trick was to balance everything when the ship was rocking.

I spent nine months out to sea and after I got back I spent another three years in the Navy. My last duty station was at a bombing range in Astor, Florida. While I was there I met my wife and I stayed here. My wife had three kids when I met her. She had been abused and so had the kids by her ex-husband. I fell in love with her and the kids, quit drinking and settled down to make a life with her.

After I got out I went to school to become a graphic designer. I was very good at it and eventually worked my way up to $50,000 a year. I worked as an Art Director for a retirement community for a year and a half and then for myself for a while before I got very sick. I tried very hard for years to work with the many symptoms of Gulf War Illness, but finally I could hardly get out of bed. I have to take several medications just to get up and around in the morning. I can't walk more than about 100 yards before I have immense pain and have to sit or lay down. My life revolves around pain.

My kids are all grown now and my wife is disabled as well so we are lucky to have my daughter to help take care of us. I try to do as much as I can, but I never expected life to be like this at age forty-five. I have been fighting to receive service-connected disability for almost four years now. I receive a pension, but it's not for service connection and is hardly enough to live on. My wife receives Social Security supplemental income or SSI and that is just a few hundred more a month and we barely pay the bills.

I am writing this blog to try to raise awareness of this illness which afflicts many veterans who served in the gulf recently and over 20 years ago. The VA claims they want to help us, but the doctors I have seen offer no help and do not want to even hear the words Gulf War Syndrome or Illness. All they want to do is throw a bunch of pain meds at me and silence me. I am not going to be silenced. I am fighting to do something about the problem and I hope you will join me.