I would like to know how many gulf war vets have been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis or probable multiple sclerosis. I would like to get some feel for the numbers and then start an agressive campaign for SC status for MS relating to Persian Gulf vets, eliminating the 7 year after discharge rule. I know for a fact that I have MS because of the Gulf War. Many thanks LizB

[This message has been edited by moderator2 (edited 07-02-2002).]

Dear LizB,
I am just beginning to learning about GWS and think the 2yrs plus I spent in Dhahran and few months in Kuwait may be the cause of so much wrong w/ my health.
I was Discharged in 96 and wonder what you meant about the 7 year rule. Obviously, time may be a factor.
Thank you,
E~

[This message has been edited by moderator2 (edited 07-19-2002).]

The seven-year rule limits the amount of time after honorable discharge from service to the time a doctor substantiates your illness and substantiates that illness is related to the Gulf War.

As I understand it, MS takes about 10 years to show up on MRI scans of the brain from the point of viral infection or from the point of exposure (service in the Gulf). The seven-year-rule can certainly ruin your chance for benfits. If you have lab results, I recommend you find yourself a personal injury/toxic tort lawyer right away. There are tons of lawyers who served in the military, who will know what you're talking about, and who will take your case on contingency (They get paid when you win).

I, too, thought I had MS because my right hand released its grip on things. I depend on my hands and my grip for a living. I learned through a non-veteran friend with advanced MS that muscle failure doesn't always begin in your legs. It can affect one leg and both arms in the early stages.

Also, my friend discovered that the lesions started in his lower spine, but were not discovered until they had reached his brain. There are medications that can stop progression if you can find a doctor willing to do a thorough MRI with dye scans of your entire spine at an early enough stage to stop progression.

If you want to find the numbers on any given illness related to the Gulf War, I recommend you perform Internet searches on Gulf War Illness or Gulf War Syndrome, then specifically search for autoimmune system diseases. They include MS, Lupus, Lou Gehrig's Disease, Parkinson's Syndrome, Altzheimers, on and on it goes. I've met a lot of veterans or veterans' families with autoimmune system diseases, but I've never met one with MS. That could be because it was too early, or it could be that they were too debilitated to show up to the political functions I was attending. It also could be that I got too sick when they became debilitated enough to participate in the funcions I was too sick to attend. Ships passing in the dark!

Suffice it to say, I am a senior paralegal with grassroots in the military JAG society. I no longer work in law firms or in organizations that harbor veterans as attorneys, but I've received advice from attorneys all along the path of my career.

Best of luck to you. God Bless, 'cause you've got a rugged, rugged road ahead.

[This message has been edited by moderator2 (edited 07-19-2002).]

Thanks Beckie for your reply on the avenues to search for relevant topics on autoimmune disorders relating to Persian Gulf experience. One of the reasons I posted this note was a prior posting(Apr-May) on the MS BB a couple of GW veterans talked about their diagnosis of MS. I actually emailed that entire posting to the Special Assistant for Gulf War Illnesses, to date I have not received a reply and I am not holding my breath on ever receiving a reply!

I also share your opinion that it does take up to 10 years for lesions to be discernable on a MRI.

Thankfully I have a great Civ Neuro who gave me the dx of MS with only a few very tiny lesions in both cerebral hemispheres. I'm sure if it was a VA doc I would be still be waiting for a dx, and consequently on no treatment!

I am also blessed to have as a great friend a service officer for AMVETS who is helping me with my claim to the VA. In my claim to the VA I am contending that I have had MS for quite a long time, and have gone to the VA doc's with complaints of extreme fatigue. We all know how the routine doc's respond to that complaint.."You are just very depressed" "Let's send you to Mental Health" I will wait for the outcome to my claim before I really throttle up with independent legal representation.

Honestly, sometimes it is hard to go to this BB because after I read the numerous postings I just get so _____ mad!

When and if I receive further information on any sort of quantative data I will share it with this group. Many Thanks, LizB

Unfortunately, sharing our anguish with each other and becoming angry over the way our government has mistreated us is the only thing that keeps some of us going one more day.

I try my very best to keep anybody from going through the hell I've lived for the past 11+ years. Posting my knowledge on this BB mysteriously helps lift the looming depression. I figure if I can just help one person that day not feel as fatigued, nauseated, achy, headachy, irritable, and foggy headed as I do, then I've done a good deed.

When I see other people turning away from the V.A., too, I feel I must have done something right through all of this.
Take care and hope to hear from you soon.

Hi, I was dx'd with MS in Aug. 2001. I am a Gulf Vet also. I currently have a claim pending with the VA for the MS, but have not heard anything yet except that they were waiting for my medical service records.
I also am very curious about how many of us have been dx'd with MS.
Rae

have been diagnosed as possible ms , and siezure disorder. I have filed a claim and have gotton on the pgw registry.have heard nothing ,just a note every month saying they are still deciding my case.I hold little hope for any kind of compensation, but the point is i at least got on their registry,seems the va has decided against their first diagnoses and without a spinal fluid test have said according to the mri it is possitivly not ms.yet my civilian doctor I had before I fell really ill have me diagnosed with ms.so go figuer, they are playing a numbers game at many peoples expense.

DX in Apr. 2000 . Got my notice of deniel of claim a few weeks ago . I was DX 8 years after service . So I missed it by 1 year . Just wondering if any of you have seen the report on squalene that came out July 15 .

Herb, I am sorry to hear about you denial.Are you appealing the ruling ? Did you go to the VA before 1999, complaining of your symptoms? If you did did they tell you that you were depressed and send you to mental health? Don't give up. LizB

I have Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy. That really isn't a diagnosis as much as it is a description of multiple symtoms. I was in the Gulf War, Marine Corps. I applied for service connection in 96, was denied in 99, appealed, and it was approved. I was stunned, I had forgotten about the claim and decided to just put it behind me. The reason it was approved for service connection is that a VA neurologist wrote me a letter explaining how my diagnosis was just a description of symptoms, and did not specify an etiology of the illness. Of course the regional office denied my claim despite the letter. In my appeal I made sure my primary argument for service connection was that letter. I feel that if someone could get two or more different diagnoses, with unknown etiologies, then that may be enough to say that the illness is undiagnosable. Wouldn't "Multiple Sclerosis" just be a description of a process, and not a clearly defined illness with a standard historic etiology?

I thought that you had to be having symptoms not dx'd with MS? Maybe I read it wrong, and right now I can't locate where I put the email I received from the Special Assistants office.
I am still waiting for a decision on my claim, but did receive and appt. to go have a Comp.and Pension Exam? Not sure if that means anything or if they are trying to get me to stop bugging them every month, lol.

Rae

Littlemirc , If you are DX within 7 years they consider it service connected . Take care , Herb

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