Gulf War Link

I have seen several Gulf War vets with the strange and undiagnosed problems and it is good to see there is some evidence that they may have been exposed to some chemical.

It is always frustrating for both patients and doctors to not have an answer. Many times, patients would rather have an answer that is not good rather than to continue to know they are having symptoms and not being able to find the cause.

The causal agent at the present time seems to be that exposure to acetylcholinesterase inhibitors played a role in illness in Gulf War veterans.

A number of studies so far have found a significant positive correlation between acetylcholinesterase inhibitor-related exposures and illness in Gulf War veterans.

Workers with exposure to acetylcholinesterase inhibitor in an agricultural setting also report multiple symptoms that match those in Gulf War veterans, including fatigue, muscle complaints and cognitive dysfunction. Such symptoms have also been reported in victims of terrorist attacks in Japan using sarin gas.

These findings do not imply that all illness in Gulf War veterans or illness in all Gulf War veterans is the result of acetylcholinesterase inhibitor but there is mounting evidence to suggest at least some link to many of the symptoms.