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N7GCW > VETS 23.03.05 23:44l 130 Lines 5862 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: GWS...caused by brain damage..
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Sent: 050323/1620z @:WA7V.#SEWA.WA.USA.NOAM [Walla Walla] $:40214_WA7V
Brain Damage May Hold Key to Gulf War Syndrome
The finding might lead to treatments for thousands of veterans, a new study
suggests.
By E.J. Mundell
HealthDay Reporter
MONDAY, Oct. 4 (HealthDayNews) -- Since returning from service in the first
Gulf War, former Army sergeant Charles Towsend, 55, has suffered from
dramatic personality changes, lack of attention, disordered sleep, chronic
diarrhea, skin lesions, and other symptoms linked to what's been called
"Gulf War Syndrome."
"I was furious at doctors, furious at everybody, I hated the world," the
Dallas resident said.
While he says he's learned to control that anger over time, Townsend remains
on 100 percent disability, can't work and is doubtful he will ever sustain a
healthy romantic relationship.
"My total life is destroyed," he said.
Townsend's story finds echoes in the lives of thousands of other veterans
sent home from that 1991 conflict.
"We sent 700,000 troops over to the first Gulf War, and between 100,000 and
150,000 are ill," said researcher Dr. Robert W. Haley, a professor of
medicine and chief of epidemiology at the University of Texas Southwestern
Medical Center at Dallas.
Haley has long been searching for a root cause that would explain the
pattern of seemingly unrelated symptoms seen in these veterans. Now, in a
study published in the October issue of the American Journal of Medicine,
he and his colleagues say they may have found it.
According to Haley, low-level wartime exposure to sarin nerve gas and
similar agents appears to have damaged cells in the brain's basal ganglia
and brainstem, areas in the "primitive" part of the brain responsible for
what's known as the parasympathetic nervous system.
"The parasympathetic nervous system controls all of those unconscious
functions that your body does constantly," Haley said. From its headquarters
in the basal ganglia and brainstem, the parasympathetic nervous system uses
the vagus nerve -- which runs from the brainstem to the pelvis -- to control
such disparate body functions as heartbeat, intestinal movement, gall
bladder function and sexual organ response.
The parasympathetic system also kicks into high gear while people sleep.
According to Haley, "it's responsible for the restorative functions of the
brain," providing that refreshed feeling after a restful night's sleep.
Haley theorized that damage to the parasympathetic nervous system might be
key in explaining the motley assemblage of symptoms Townsend and other Gulf
War vets experience.
To find out, he and his team used new technology to monitor and compare the
24-hour heartbeat patterns of 22 ill Gulf War veterans to those of 19
healthy, matched control subjects. They zeroed in on heart rate because it
is closely tied to the firing of the vagus nerve, which is, in turn,
controlled by the parasympathetic nervous system.
As expected, the activity of the parasympathetic nervous systems of healthy
volunteers was lower during waking hours, but then peaked during the
restorative sleep-time period.
On the other hand, "in the sick Gulf War veterans, it almost didn't change
at all," Haley said. "It didn't switch on when they went to sleep -- in
fact, it went down further compared to daytime levels."
Haley said this type of parasympathetic dysfunction could explain a common
complaint of ill Gulf War vets -- a feeling of fatigue even after a full
night's sleep. "They're miserable the rest of the day -- that's what chronic
fatigue means in this group," he said.
Parasympathetic dysfunction would also explain other symptoms common in Gulf
War illness, such as gall bladder dysfunction, personality changes, chronic
diarrhea and sexual problems.
Rat studies conducted by scientists at the University of New Mexico appear
to support this theory, Haley said. Researchers there exposed the rodents
to very low levels of nerve gas, then examined their brains a month later.
The result: Damage to the basal ganglia and brainstem, exactly those areas
responsible for parasympathetic function.
"What's really important about these findings is that it examines a group of
symptoms that were frequently, in the past, labeled by the Department of
Defense and Veterans' Affairs as 'mysterious symptoms' in a 'mysterious
disease.' But now we can connect them all with one abnormality and show that
these are part of one process," Haley said.
In fact, after resisting for years the idea of a specific Gulf War illness,
the Department of Defense has become a supporter of his research, and fun
ded this latest study, Haley said.
For long-suffering veterans like Townsend, finding the cause of the illness
may someday lead to effective therapies.
"First we go down to the basics and find out what's going wrong, to
understand the disease at a cellular or even molecular level," Haley said.
"We might then be able to come up with a treatment."
And what of soldiers fighting now in the second Gulf War conflict? Haley
believes most will be spared any nerve gas-related syndrome. He pointed out
that most of the nerve gas exposure to troops during Gulf War I occurred
when Allied forces blew up enemy munitions or chemical-storage facilities.
This time round, however, "the military took great pains to avoid blowing up
[suspected] nerve gas depots," Haley said. "They didn't bomb any facilities
they suspected of having weapons of mass destruction, and they were also
using more sensitive indicators, better masks and gear."
More information
For the latest on research into Gulf War Syndrome, check with the Department
of Veterans Affairs.
SOURCES: Charles Townsend, Dallas; Robert W. Haley, M.D., professor,
medicine, and chief, division of epidemiology, University of Texas
Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas; October 2004 American Journal of
Medicine
Copyright =A9 2004 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.
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