Does anyone have any information on Avascular Necrosis?
My husband has it now after returning from the Gulf War. He's 39 and had 3 hip replacement surgeries. They also tell him that it is affecting his shoulders as well... I know that many of you have soft tissue deterioration problems, and want to know if you've found any link between them and gulf war. My husband is finally being evaluated after nearly 10 years of suffering. I'm sure many of you have similar stories. We know that an evaluation does not mean that they will do anything about the problem, but I would like to gather as much information as possible prior to this health review.

Thank you,

Elise

All veterans I have met have connective tissue diseases or ailments. Proving service connection is an uphill battle.

I have fibromyalgia and chronic inflammation in my pelvis and ball-and-socket at the top of my right leg. My other half has serious rotator cuff problems in his strongest arm.

The first sailor about whom I read before I understood what Gulf War Illness was, was on crutches by 1993. I participated in Dr. Robert Haley's study funded by politician and businessman H. Ross Perot in Dallas. There were three soldiers in wheel chairs, and one or maybe two on crutches. Every single person in that room had "raccoon" eyes (sunken eyes with purple, brown, or black shading close to the nose and under the bottom eye lashes -- connective tissue).

More recently, the connective tissue disease has shown up in people who took vaccines, but never deployed. It is showing up as Schleroderma, Lupus and Lou Gehrig's disease. I believe the CDC (Center for Disease Control) offers printouts or websites on connective tissues disease as a whole. I ordered a set of all connective tissue diseases years ago (1996?). If I can track down those documents and get a website that ends in .gov or .edu, then I'll post it here.

I'm speculating now. But the cause of the connective tissue disease could be two-fold. Experimental vaccines or vaccines super-boosted with adjuvants (namely Squalene) caused connective tissue damage in lab rats. That's the problem with sailors or soldiers who took overseas vaccines before or during Desert Storm, but never deployed.

Low doses of nerve agent also have affected connective tissue. My exposure to nerve agent and "(bio)-chemicals" was all secondary: I was fitted with a dirty protective mask that had returned from the Gulf. I still have all of my teeth, unlike most soldiers who were exposed to nerve agent. But my face swells up once a week because my tooth roots on that side of my face are inflamed. I get cluster headaches every time the weather changes (barometric pressure dropping or cold fronts approaching). And overall, my Central Nervous System is damaged.

I tell you all of this so that you may understand that the connective tissue deteriorating in your husband may just be a major symptom of the overall bigger picture of why he is falling apart at such a young age.

I tracked down my connective tissue diseases packet.

National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases
National Institutes of health
Public Health Service
U.S, Department of Health and Human Services

Scleroderma Federation
Scleroderma Research Foundation
United Scleroderma Foundation

The NAMSD offers information on a variety of autoimmune diseases of the connective tissue, including ankylosing sponsdylitis, Behcet's syndrome, juvenile arthritis, lupus, mixed connective tissue disease, polymyalgia rheumatica, polymyositis/dermatomyositis, psoriatic arthritis, Raynaud's syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, scleroderma and Sjogren's syndrome.

My hip pain has been going on for 6 years now and I finally gave in last April and went to the Outpatient Clinic in Fort Worth and was diagnosed with Stage II AVN w/moderate degeneration of the Femoral Head bilaterally. Talk about a shocker!!! I have been healthy very healthy all of my life as have all of my predecessors. There has been no causation explained to me by any of the Dr's at the Dallas Hospital, all they want to do is a THR, which I have denied after learning how they are troublesome for the younger crowd.

I do experience alot of pain on a daily basis, that only serves to motivate me to persevere and acquire the proper diagnoses, treatment and compensation from the VA. I was one of the few that was able to file SSDI and receive an award in less than 90 days. I am completely disabled according to them and have recently filed my claim for service-connection. Staying in sync with them is quite the game that only the intenionally ignorant would pursue. I have made it my objective to get on top of the game and remain there throughout the process.

For all of us that are suffering the illness of AVN, which is an autoimmune disease that Squalene is well stated to cause, need to get together! I am not interested in playing the idiot game...I have already done that.