Beckie99

I'd like to reinforce everything you've said here, and then expound upon it. I was diagnosed with toxic levels of zinc after years of being treated for Gulf War Illness with antibiotics, steroids, supplements, diet, ad nauseum. I would suggest to you that the vaccines themselves may not have caused the elevated levels of metals in our bloodstreams. But the long-term effect of those vaccines DEFINITELY influences our digestive tracts and neurological systems. The answer to zinc toxicity was to stop taking supplements. Frequently, doctors recommend you stay away from all meats, including fish, until levels return to normal. That wasn't possible with me because I was so underweight at the time that I desperately needed as much fat in my diet as I could possibly muster. I was about to start on a physician-recommended course of liquid colloidals (minerals and metals suspended in liquid) to beat the debilitating fatigue, when the doctor found that part of the reason I came close to passing out while walking from my car to the office 200 yards away was toxic levels of zinc. Some of my other metals were high, but not out of normal range.

My husband is not a veteran, but has Gulf War Illness. He has never visited an Infectious Diseases doctor as I have. But he has survived years of sensitivity to all poultry products, especially eggs and turkey, just as I have. We both were allergic to milk at one time, but exhibited no symptoms with sour cream or cheeses. We both found that we had systemic fungus, which feeds furiously off of yeast-risen bread. We both have stopped all sugar, dairy and wheat intake in conjunction with prescription antifungals like Mycelex troches, Diflucan tablets and Sporanox capsules.

And, on a final note, most doctors seem to think that the digestive tract and the nervous system are two separate entities. With Gulf War Illness, they most definitely are not. Most of the illnesses that present with neurological problems (cluster headaches, numbness in the extremities, weakness in the extremities) also present with severe digestive tract problems. The digestive tract is nerve-bundled tissue directly linked to the brain transmitting messages to induce peristoltic action and "flow" of food and acids DOWNWARD through the digestive tract. I can tell you within a day that begins with a cluster headache, pronounced gag reflex, diminished use of vocal cords, and general weakness will always will finish with nausea, vomiting, sensitivity to almost all foods and explosive gas, sometimes diarrhea.

After having survived all of the above, I have just one question about LONG-TERM treatment or the possibility of a cure:

Once you've come back with normal bloodwork on the metals, and you've restricted your diet -- in conjunction with medication -- to stop the gastrointestinal distress, then why, pray tell, why do the neurological problems continue only to meet up again with more bloodwork problems and more gastrointestinal problems? Gulf War Illness has been a very pronounced cycle with me and my husband. My cycles began the day I received my vaccines in November 1990. My husband's symptoms began in late 1994, a little more than a year after he married me in 1993. We've both beaten the infections that kill many veterans, spouses and children. But we can't interrupt the neurological, auto-immune system, gastrointestinal cycles, no matter how much money we throw at it.

I also want to suggest that because my and my husband's infections begin in the salivary glands, dental work is a major concern, particularly for children. I had silver fillings in four of my teeth. I also have two gold crowns. Two of the silver fillings cracked my teeth. So, I had three silver fillings removed and replaced with synthetic bond. A MAJOR portion of my headaches and sinus problems dissipated. But the dental work itself took two months to heal (needle holes and laser burns around the gum lines). Obviously, I declined to have my teeth "cleaned" because a.) they didn't need it, and b.) my Infectious Diseases doctor told me I would need to take a course of antibiotics to get over the infection I would develop underneath the gum line if I succumbed to the dentist's recommendation that I have my teeth "cleaned". Metal fillings may not cause the problems, but I believe they exacerbate that factor in the long-term side effect of our vaccines: elevated metals in our bloodstreams.