Look at the BIG PICTURE  - Typical comments -

Circle those that apply - Cross out those that don't  - Add your own!  

When you see your doctor - Take this with you

Especially if you are seeing a specialist

Be involved in your own health care!
Type of Symptom:   Do you have this?  Comment - how severe starting when?

Symptoms of First Exposures - in general *

Here are Symptoms (most common first) include: 

  • headache, 

  • sore throat, 

  • voice change or loss, 

  • constant humph, 

  • catarrh, or a cough that won't quit

  • unexpected tiredness, 

  • fatigue, 

  • sore/watery/gritty eyes, 

  • irritability, 

  • anxiety, 

  • depression, 

  • loss of concentration, 

  • short-term memory loss, 

  • reactions to other chemicals, 

  • dizziness, 

  • blocked nose, 

  • rhinitis, 

  • mouth ulcers, 

  • bad/metallic taste in mouth, 

  • lip sores, 

  • chest tightness, 

  • shortness of breath, 

  • chest pains, 

  • asthma, 

  • sinusitis, 

  • nasal discharge, 

  • nose bleeds, 

  • ulceration of nasal mucosa, 

  • itchy burning skin, 

  • rashes, 

  • dermatitis, 

  • aching joints and muscles, 

  • fibromyalgia, 

  • uncontrollable twitching, 

  • heart arrhythmia's, 

  • palpitations, 

  • abdominal pain, 

  • nausea, 

  • diarrhea, 

  • tinnitus, 

  • earache, 

  • pins and needles, 

  • numbness in fingers and toes, 

  • Raynaud’s Syndrome, 

  • menstrual irregularities, 

  • pain/difficulty urinating. 

  • Other areas of concern include liver damage, cancer, teeth and gum problems, reproductive effects and lack of interest in sex.

Q and A

  
Blood damage 

Chronic Fatigue  *  *

  • Check for fragility of red blood cells
  • Check for Hematuria

Check blood - Does it present an abnormal picture showing:

  • Erythropenia 
  • Reticulocytosis 
  • Granulocytosis 
  • Leukocytosis

These symptoms of Hemolytic anemia *

  • Chills  8
  • Fatigue
  • Pale color
  • Shortness of breath
  • Rapid heart rate  *   *
  • Yellow skin color (jaundice)
  • Dark urine (indicative of blood in urine - never dismiss this! Stop exposure immediately!)
  • Enlarged spleen   * 
  
Other Enlarged glands/organs
  • Gall Bladder
  • Thyroid
  • Pancreas
  • Heart chambers
  • Testes
  • Liver
  • Uterus
  
Endocrine Disruption *
  • Changes in Blood Pressure
  • Changes in Blood Sugar
  • Headaches in area of Pituitary Gland
  • Changes in Growth
  • Changes in Thyroid levels
  • Damage to Testes - Even zero sperm *
  • Reproductive Effects
  • Loss of interest in sex
  
Central Nervous System Damage 

Forget things; Short Term Memory Loss

Difficulty Concentrating 

I can usually last only about 5-30 minutes at doing just about anything that requires me to use my head...such as reading, mathematics, writing, listening, and so on...

I would like to post more, but it seems to take me forever. Also some of the post seem to be interesting, but I can never read, and understand them all....can some one translate, and shorten?  - by loco
Ya loco me too, I have this problem with reading or writing, I sometimes have to proof read my sentences three or four time's just so I can understand what it says and even than I still won't understand it, like stuff that my daughters bring home from school one is in first and the second is in the third their homework sometimes does not get finish because I cannot understand the directions to explain to them on how to do it, especially math stuff. by Mark
 

Difficulty Sleeping  *

I really do not sleep well at all. When I do sleep well, I still feel tired. I might even feel worse then if I did not get a good sleep. When I wake up I usually feel like a mack truck smacked into me or like when you drank a lot and you have that hang over the next day. I have taken pills nyqiaul anything to get me to sleep but no luck. I will lay in bed most of the night rolling from one side to the other trying to sleep. It is tearing me up. On top of all that I have these weird dreams that wake me up as well cause they feel so real.  I have no remedy and I am getting tired of taking pills. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Mark A
USN
Prior  "I can not stand how my body operates, one day I'll be full of energy and then the next day I will be too tired to do anything.  My sleep will always be irregular, either I will be sleeping all day or I will be up all night not being able to sleep due to pain, or it can go on for days with nothing but sleep and just plain tired and weak.  The only stress I have is those bills that pile up on us but with a budget we survive" Mark
My sleep study last summer recorded 9 minutes of REM sleep. I have also been diagnosed with "Unspecified Sleep Disturbances" in which I filed a claim under undiagnosed illness. Robert
How well do I sleep? NOT!!! genie

Depression

Suicidal Tendencies

Disturbances of the central pathways in the otovestibular complex  (hearing and balance nerves and their connections)

Work in Sweden has shown that long-term solvent-exposed workers have disturbances of the equilibrium (vision/sense of balance) system and that an otoneurological test battery (ear nerves/balance) adds worthwhile information about abnormalities within the brainstem-cerebellar complex.  It is the same VIII nerve which carries messages about sound and balance.

-Niklasson M et al.  Are deficits in the equilibrium system relevant to the clinical investigation of solvent-induced neurotoxicity?  Scan J Work Envir Health.  23, 3, 206-13, June 1997.

Hostile, Irrational thinking - behavior compared to before - Paranoid - Hard to control ANGER Outbursts - Hard to live with or work with *

Timothy McVeigh? 

"If it is true that our brains are damaged then whatever personality disorders which we have will become highly exaggerated as the emotion will be disassociated with the action. I don't really think he knew the reason he did what he did. But here is the most inflammatory statement I will make thus far. Both the poor individuals who died in Oklahoma and Timothy McVeigh are victims of the Gulf War." ddgarzilla

Was 'Death-Row Jones' a Changed man? *

Multiple Neurological Diagnosis

Staff Sgt James Alford has a neurological diagnosis, is there more?
 
Eye Damage 
  • Have ophthalmologist check for holes in retina
  
Sinuses affected   
Lungs affected  
Autoimmune Issues  *

"immune supression"  * info

  • Catch everything that comes along, and it lasts longer for you, too?  Most likely the immune system, becomes autoimmune.  This is a root cause issue!
  
Joint Pain 
  • Connective tissue damage (check for sarcoma cancer such as Robert Urich had) Or consider autoimmune issues
  
Skin Damage
  • Rashes, even 'Leathery skin'
  
Odd lumps *
  • check for lymphomas *
  
Children Affected 
I had a child in 1994, her father is a gulf war vet. She has had several medical problems since she has been born. She was conceived about one year after he returned. She has severe asthma, allergies, a heart murmur, stomach and gastrointestinal problems, ADHD, and she is constantly sick. Shannon
I have two little girls myself, who I believe are sick because of me.  It hurts see them when they are having the same problems as me. When they are ill and I see the tears that come out of their eyes, because their bones are aching, it urks me. Your child is a gift from god; a lot of us who want to have a baby can't and this is some of the things, that has been taken from us, besides our health. Mark

Two Daughters   Another Daughter
a dead child
 
Liver   SGPT  
Kidneys *  
   
Cancer?  *From  WHO  (via Toxins Awareness Group):  paint solvents are carcinogenic, painters having a 40% higher chance of  lung cancer and 20% higher of stomach, bladder, larynx, etc cancers,  while their children are at increased risk of leukaemia and brain tumours.  
   
   
Main Effects Solvents cause are drying, cracking, reddening skin; dermatitis;  toxic effects on liver, kidneys, and cardiovascular system, on the central and peripheral nervous systems and “general lassitude with tiredness, sleep disturbances and lack of motivation.” Dr Keir Howard  
Inerts: the secret pesticides.   Inerts are the ingredients in pesticides which do not have to be specified. EPA lists over 1400 of these including solvents, stabilisers, and preservatives.  Linguistic gymnastics allow tricky manouvres. Inerts include glycol ether, xylene, toluene, formaldehyde and glutaraldehyde.

NCAP - Internet:  http://www.efn.org/~ncap/ActiveInertsRel.htm  

71 different solvents were identified in 8,000 pesticides in 1993, (particularly xylene).  The solvent may explain the increases in the risks for leukemia and non-Hodgkins lymphoma in farmers

Petrelli G et al.  Solvents in Pesticides.  Scand J Work Envir Health  19, 6, 1993		  
Alphabetical listing of Gulf War Vets' Diagnosis  
More  
1-30-04  

 

Info on 2-butoxyethanol also known as ethylene glycol monobutyl ether - 

It is in hundreds of products - Many people have been and 

Unless there are some National policy changes, many will be harmed by it

 

Now, when Walter Reed and studies say Gulf War Vets are no more harmed than the general population, what do they mean?  Are they comparing apples to apples?  People with multiple symptoms to those with similar multiple symptoms?  Or giving 'credit' to high blood pressure, diabetes, CNS depression, etc SINGULARLY?  *  *

A prayer

Misc Comments

January 21, 2004    

Gale,
I have been trying my hardest to stay off the drugs they give me. I have been doing a good job at dealing with my pain by occupying my mind with other things and not think of the pain as much.  As far as sleep meds just do not do it for me nortrypiline just made me fat trazadone just does nothing so I lay there with my eye's open until I fall to sleep .The doctors do not seem to worry about my sleep problem as much.  But when I do sleep ,well I have weird dreams or sometimes no dreams at all.  I have a hard time getting out of bed at night when I have to go to the rest room cause I have no balance I have to hold on to the walls just to make it there.  There has been times that I just do not want to get up cause the room is just spinning.  When I do get the proper sleep I feel more refresh and less pain through out the day But fatigue is what really gets me and it hits me all day at times.  I do not even watch the news since it is just depressing for me. I really do not want to know what is going on.  It Stresses me out way too much.
Mark A    -  source below
USN

The thing is not to have that give up mentally.  No matter how hard things get never give up or even put your mind thinking like that.  When I went to a pain management class they did make us try that meditation .The key is to try to put your mind in a place of relaxation which is not an easy task when you have pain. This has worked for me.  Like I have said before I am trying to stay off the pills they give me especially the pain stuff since that in turn can do more damage to your body. One of the things I like to do is take walks out into the woods and sit and watch nature. I then try to picture those things I seen when I was out there on my off times. I can do those things But then I go through weeks Of trying to recuperate. But I do find that this helps for me mentally.
Mark A
USN

Trust in God - shared by Mark   General Public  'Anemia'   'Dry Cough and rashes'

THE Fatigue   AIHA of CFIDS is proof EGBE is the root cause

Look for these things *

Complete Blood Counts are important   -   & absolute cell count   -   Helps Chart

Mark A answer to "What helps you?"  -   http://www.gulfwarvets.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/000049.html