Gulf War Illness: Veterans Encouraged to Participate in Important Treatment Study

Veterans have been asking for treatment and the researchers are now working toward finding answers

They need your participation!  This study is important. 

Stanford University had done a small study earlier on LDN.  There has been alot of activity on the use of LDN for the last 5 years.  It has promise and a controlled study is needed to see if it in deed helps.  That is the kind of documentation and work that has to be done to get doctors both civilian and VA health care providers to see thru controlled studies that it is useful and can help with minimal side effects.  A great number of civilians are already getting doctors to do this but it is hard because it is not an on label use and doctors in the main stream are very leery to do that in practice.

Here is a chance for veterans to be in a controlled study with a highly respected physician and researcher.  By the way this is one of the doctors that helped contribute their knowledge and be interviewed for the new book by Arnold Mann that will be available to be ordered next week.  The book:  THEY”RE POISONING US : From The Gulf War To The Gulf of Mexico, AN INVESTIGATIVE REPORT again is expected to be available to order next week, VT will keep you informed on further developments.

We encourage veterans to participate and help yourselves and your fellow veteran by doing so.  We in the veteran community are advocating for each of you to get diagnostic and treatment trials that are good to you.  You have to do your part and follow up and be a participant.  Sometimes we also need controls that could be friends, family members, other veterans that are not ill and we encourage you to help also to find others that can serve as controls. 

This is the second study in a couple of months that are new researchers that have asked us to get the word out.  I will have a couple of more to post on soon.  The last one I encouraged you on was a VA Study out of New Mexico for IBS.  A reminder you can go to the list of writers for VT and click on my name Denise Nichols to see all the articles that you may have missed including the one on the IBS study in New Mexico which is also a treatment trial.  Many have asked on the topic of the Sky Fish test….working on an update to post on that hopefully next week.

Anyway here is the study Greenvile, North Carolina

GULF WAR ILLNESS STUDY

If you served in the 1991 Gulf War and developed symptoms of Gulf War related illness, you may be eligible to participate in a treatment protocol conducted by Dr. William J. Meggs at the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, in Greenville, North Carolina and sponsored by the Department of Defense.

After a telephone screening interview, participants who qualify and wish to participate will be brought to the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, in Greenville, North Carolina, to undergo an evaluation.

The study will test the benefits of two approved generic drugs, naltrexone and dextromethorphan, in treating the symptoms of Gulf War illnesses. These drugs will be studied because they are beneficial in illnesses similar to Gulf War illnesses, safe, readily available, and reduce inflammation in the brain that may be responsible for some of the symptoms that Gulf War Veterans are having.

If you feel that you may qualify for this study and are interested in participating, please contact Dr. William J. Meggs either by email [ meggsw@ecu.edu, copy to farmera@ecu.edu ], or telephone [252-744-2954].