Gulf War Illness and CFS

New Research on Chronic Fatigue and how it Possibly Connects!

What is interesting here is break thru research is finally happenning.  Years ago, Col Herb Smith was tested and showed that there was a problem with Lactic Acid and yet his problems with Gulf War illness were denied and one Doctor at Walter Reed even berated Col Herb Smith that Col Smith was bleeding himself!  The battle for truth on Gulf War illness is in the mix here!  I sincerely say that this test should be immediately be funded for Gulf War Veterans! 

As I have testified to the Gulf War Veterans Advisory Committee in Washington DC there is a critical need to set up INTEGRATIVE RESEARCH TO CLINICAL CARE CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE in at least 8 places in the US so that we can get answers fast from Research and then quickly have it transfered to board use in Clinical Diagnosis, Treatment and Care for Gulf War Veterans!  If the VA truly wants change then the Gulf War Veterans that have sufferred for 18 years will help!  WE have Doctors, nurses, health care professionals that were outstanding and still are even through they are ill and we can help you!  But it begins with you listening to us!

WE have stood and battled for 18 years but time and again we offered our knowledge, background, experience to you if you just started helping instead of blocking, denying, delaying, and refusing to acknowledge that there is a problem and working together to make things right!  WE have offered step by step point papers to all involved to show the road that could be taken but yet you the VA and our government followed the old path from Atomic Veterans, Downwinders ie Skull Valley, Utah, Project Shad, Agent Orange, and Gulf War illness.  You could have been the leader!  You could have paid attention when we said this affects Security at Home and make a difference in learning what to do in Diagnosis, Treatment, and Care if something catastrophic happpen at home in the US!  Well something has been learned and past on to Homeland Security re testimony given May 19th in the VA House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation.  I suggest that we find those documents and have them examined and witnesses from Homeland Security to testify on what lessons were learned!

How many veterans atomic veterans, agent orange, project shad, gulf war illness are there in total that need help?  How many civilians with CFS, MCS, Fibromyalgia (1-4mil?)  How many downwinders and nuclear plant workers?  How much economic damage total in loss of people able to work and make a living and pay taxes?

And yet the VA has not been a Leader in solving the problem!  The lawmakers on the hill need to listen to us as yet again we ask for Joint Hearings of the House and Senate VA Committees.

http://nyp.org/ enews/chronic- fatique-test. html

Is It Chronic Fatigue Syndrome?

New Research May Let Doctors Know for Sure

New York (May 15, 2009)

NewYork-Presbyteria n scientist Dikoma C. Shungu, Ph.D. is collaborating with other researchers in a new study to develop a clearer method to diagnose patients with chronic fatigue
syndrome (CFS).

Earlier diagnosis can lead to earlier intervention and a more effective course of treatment.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome:  From "Yuppie Flu" to Recognized Diagnosis

Doctors sometimes find it difficult to diagnose CFS because there is no one definitive test, and because CFS shares symptoms with a number of other conditions including diabetes, thyroid disease,
depression, anxiety, and substance abuse.

The disease was not so long ago dismissed as the "yuppie flu," but it has gradually gained legitimacy and is now accepted as an established diagnosis.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) developed a set of diagnostic criteria in 1994, and the agency has started tracking cases and reports that as many as 4 million Americans suffer from CFS.

Dr. Shungu’s earlier research, published in the October 2008 issue of NMR in Biomedicine, revealed that patients with CFS often have elevated levels of lactate in their cerebrospinal fluid, the fluid that
bathes the brain. Lactate is a type of salt that the body produces when there is increased demand for energy to power certain body functions and oxygen levels are low – during intense exercise, for example.

Understanding the Connection Between Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Lactate

Chronic fatigue syndrome often develops on the heels of flu-like illness from which the patient does not really recover, said Dr. Shungu. "They remain sick and start feeling very, very tired."

The illness may set in motion a chain of events, he explained: As the body works to fight off the infection and attempts to neutralize viruses and bacteria, the immune system forms highly reactive molecules called free radicals.

These molecules sometimes accumulate in such high numbers that they create a destructive process called oxidative stress, which targets and destroys the mitochondria, the cellular "engine" that
processes oxygen and generates energy for cell function.

When these can no longer produce cellular energy, an alternate energy-production process kicks in called glycolysis – "and the end product of glycolysis is lactate, also called lactic acid, which is what we’re detecting," Dr. Shungu said.

Another theory is that damage to the mitochondria may be due to low levels of oxygen in the brain, Dr. Shungu said. Mitochondria require a minimum amount of oxygen to operate, if oxygen levels dip, the mitochondria cannot product energy efficiently so glycolysis kicks in, and lactic acid is produced.

"Preliminary studies have shown that brain blood flow is decreased in CFS compared to the other groups, which might be a cause for the increased lactate," said Dr. Shungu.

Dr. Shungu’s New Study for Chronic Fatigue Research

Dr. Shungu’s new study, sponsored by the Chronic Fatigue and Immune Dysfunction Syndrome (CFIDS) Association of America, will attempt to better understand what is happening within the brains and bodies of patients with CFS – what mechanical processes are taking place that lead to elevated lactate levels.

In this study – as he did in his earlier work – Dr. Shungu will employ a technology known as magnetic resonance spectroscopy. This imaging test reveals the chemical composition of tissues in the body such as the brain.

The researchers will observe markers of oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction and cerebral blood flow.

This study will also have much narrower parameters than the previous one. Dr. Shungu’s earlier study showed levels of lactate that varied considerably among the CFS patients in the study.

"We actually had a very big spread – more than half of them had significantly increased lactate, but there were also patients who didn’t have increased lactate."

This is consistent with CFS, he said, which is a "very, very heterogeneous, multisystem condition."

This study will compare patients with similar symptoms and should make it easier for researchers to draw conclusions about the mechanisms that link CFS with elevated levels of lactate.

Faculty Contributing to this Article:

Dikoma C. Shungu, Ph.D. is a Professor of Physics in Radiology at Weill Cornell Medical College, one of
the affiliate medical colleges of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.