Any U.S. Navy Veterans (ship stationed)having problems?
I noticed on the old board for this site several people in the U.S. Navy stated having problems. I have recently started having problems and I am trying to determine if any other U.S. Navy Sailors are having similiar diffculties or symptoms currently or in the past.
A brief prospective of my symptoms history is as follows:
1990-1991 participated in Desert Shield/Desert Storm. Side note was only exposed to the air over there once briefly during Desert Shield.
1993 discharged honorably U.S. Navy
1995 Swollen lymph node on the left side of my jaw. V.A. ran numerous tests all negative. Diag. as cat scratch fever (even though test showed negative results)treated with anitbotics and the symptoms subsided until recently (slight lump on that side of my neck is still visible).
2001 Nov Minor problems I had sleeping turned into major sleep disturbances.
2002 Jan (approx) started having problems with an intense pain (I belive Neurological in order) in my legs and arms.
2002-2003 I have severe to mild pain anytime I attempt to perform any physcial activites. I have had several rashes on my chest. I have been getting tingling in different parts of my body. I have had small bumps which seem like acne but do not develop in to white heads and which do not pop. Late in 2002 I have begun getting severe headaches with the same kind of pain as in the rest of my body. This pain is interior of the skull (brain). I have also experienced some short term memory loss recently with small things that I normally remeber.
Once again I am trying to get some feedback to see if any other prior or current U.S. saliors are having or have had similar problems.
The following user gives a hug of support to wes0007: Calisun (02-24-2011)
Well It is good to know that I am not the only one,My symtoms started back in 91 and they started with having the flu every two months i Then would have my hands and feet that would swell up and feel num at the same time they would hurt like there were thousands of needle pick at them.I also started getting rashes with these pimple that would pop and laeve an open sore.Since 99 ihave not been able to work due to my illness.I also have chronic headaches,joint pain ,irrtable bowel syndrom,carple tunnle on both wrist,gerd,sinus problems,fainting spells with dizzyiness,Tempeture that does not regulate,extreme fitiuge doing the slitest work,sleep not being able too or sleeping all the time.I was never over in the gulf I was stationed at home.I was with the carrier USS JOHN F KENNEDY.I did rercieve shots and one in particular that would make me have high grade fever and make me blow this green stuff from my nose and have joint pain for three days and then it would go away.I recieved this shot every six months and was never told what it was for and I never asked due to the fact that they knew what they were doing.Kinda of stupid of me ,but live and learn.Well I hope that this helped some.I would post another sight for you to look up but it is not allowed here so good luck and I will try to help if you need it.
Mark A
USN
I am just trying to get a feel for how many Navy personnel where affected by this. The problem I hate is my symptoms seem to be getting worse, and I have been unable to get any real cooperation from the V.A. Other than the old words that all my symtoms are not connected.The only thing that seems to work for the pain that they have given me is a strong muscle relaxer, which has the unfortunate side effect of knocking me out for 10-12 hours at a time.I am trying to see if enough Navy personnel are affected to try and organize in some way to draw (news and government)attention to the problem that not all GWS suffers were in the desert.
One other thing in common now that u mention it. After getting out of the Navy, I also seem vulnerable to the flu for the past few years (but colds I dont seem to have any reaction to)
Wes
What I have learned from the va is that they are not out to help you or connect this illness to the service.They would rather have you die off from the face of the earth then to connect this to the service.There are way to many of us who are dealing with this illness who need help,me being one of them.I have no proof that all my illness occured due to my time in the service.I have been of all my meds except for darvecet which I use for pain. My liver is also not that good as well.So meds could make my liver even worse.This illness progresses at a slow rate and can even hit us all at one time.It has taken well over ten years for my illness to get where it is now.I have no more options left I have no job ,no medical insurance and I can not recieve medicade due to the fact that the va can take care of my illness.It is catch twenty two and it stinks.
Mark A
I understand what you and all of us are going through, however keep in mind that only a small percentage of the population is aware of this. The main point is the V.A. would have a hell of a time calling us liers. For example say if 12,000 Navy Vets all went to the news (any news agency)on the same day with the same complaint (news agency love a good story and mutliple vets on the same day with the same illness being lied to is a very very juicy new story). It would kind of make it very hard for the V.A., DOD, or any other agency to say we dont exist. Another thing I have started doing is taking pictures of the rash and other symptoms of the illness that are visible they may not be admitable in court of law, but it will convince the public (who really decides by common opinion what is going to happen in this regards). We dont have to convince each other what is going on. We have to convince the majority of the people in the U.S. what is going and then let the landslide begin. But first we have to have some outsideway(outside of the V.A.) that is of getting a count (for our own information to use in the news and a group dedicated to help each and every one of us. When I say this what I mean is a group that gets results not some group that asks for money and does nothing.)
I don't know about your but I am still fairly young and don't want to live the rest of my life with this thing just becasue someone somewhere doesn't want us to exist or be acknowledged. The more this gets in the news the more people will come forward to acknowledge what they know and then life will become very hard for anyone trying to supress the truth of what is going on.
One thing I have been trying to do is prove in the public's mind there is a problem. We have to prove to the public it exists not the V.A. or DOD. Some independent scientist have already tried to do this by themselves and failed. Remember the old sayings "United we stand. Divided we fall" or if you will "Divide and conqueror" either one applies to this situation and what is going on.
[This message has been edited by wes0007 (edited 01-06-2003).]
I was a Marine for 12 years and actually served in the Gulf twice, both times aboard ship (or on an anchored barge). I was there in 1988 during the re-flagging operations for 6 months and then again aboard the USS Tripoli during Desert Shiel/Storm.
I think I started getting sick about 4 or 5 yaers ago. I have never experienced any hair loss (other than normal) or intestinal problems but I have had progressively worsening joint pain and problems. It seemed to start with my knees and has spread to my wrists and other joints. I have this strange popping in my joints...and I mean all of my joints. My knees, elbows, shoulders, hips, ankles and even fingers. The joint will get stiff and then when I go to move it will "pop."
My knees are especially bad and cause a lot of almost constant pain. My hands and wrists are very painful too. I have been "diagnosed" with osteoarthritis in my knees and carpal tunnel in my wrists but no one can explain the popping or other joint stuff.
I am beggining to get a little afraid. I feel like I am only about 65% of what I used to be physically and I am only 38 years old. I wonder (fearfully) what I am going to be like in 30 years. Will I even be able to walk??
Is joint pain and problem something that other people are experiencing?
You are not the only one like this alot of us are like that.What stinks about this whole deal is that this illness progresses and gets worse in time.Do not be fearfull and just hang in there.
Mark A
USN
One other thing that I should note medically about my case is I have a rare blood disorder (gentic). I was dignosed with the disorder by the Navy in bootcamp (reason is that if I am given anit-Malaria shots or certain other drugs it can cause me to go into a coma). Now that I think about it I wonder if somekind of immunization I recieved might have caused my symptoms.
I was wondering if any of you were diagnosed with any kind of blood disorders or rare traits? It might piece together why we are being affected while other guys are healthy. My conditions is call G6PD (abbrv for Glucose 6 Phosphate defiency) but the symptoms from it are yellowing of the skin and other problems not neurological problems like I am experiencing now. I am finally getting into the neurolgy departement at the V.A. but my appt is to far away I am trying to get it moved up.
I was in the Marine Corp for 4 years, 88-92. When Saddam rolled into Kuwait my unit was staged and ready to go to Norway for a while, then gunny called for formation and inspection of our cold weather gear and proceeded to tell us to return the equipment to supply and check out some hot weather gear that we were going to Kuwait...Well we all kind of looked around at each other curiously and were trying to figure out where that was. Never the less, we made the switch and were inspected again and just a few days later we were on the USS Guam LPH-9 and we departed on the 19th of August for the Gulf. I remember sailing by Rota, Spain on the 5th of September as that was going to be mail call for us except the mail hadn't got there yet. Anyway we kept moving and spent the night waiting to fit thru the Suez Canal and got to experience that traverse in mid-day. Continuing on from there after regroup we whirled around to Oman and got lifted off the ship for some surf and sand and some fine sleeping weather under the stars for about 24 hours, some kind of a "mock assault" where pretty much all I can recall was that when we took a stroll on the beach the sand was nearly knee-deep! What a pain that was!!! Swiftly moving on from there and up into the Gulf where we got to pull grid squares (for god only knows how long) and departing ship (imagine...marines on the ground) on the 19th of November. We quickly kissed the earth and realized that we were in Al-Jubayl where we were able to setup and begin operating. We hung there until the "Air War" started and recalling correctly, just before that day was when we all got our anthrax injection, pretreatment nerve agent tablets, and self-injecting vial of liquid valuim to be used in conjuction with the atropine and 2pam-Chloride. Upon getting the anthrax we all signed a piece of paper admitting that we were all going to agree to be called crazy, malingering bums. It was pointed out to me by my A-Gunner that there on that document, we were really agreeing not to tell anybody about the injection we were about to get, and if we did we would be subject to a host of penalties. Oh my god, have you ever noticed how threat works in a war zone? Anyway as orders came down we were moved up to Al-Mishaab for a while and got to experience some pretty cool sh.. immediately receiving fire from the Iraqi's. They were launching FROG missiles at us and they pretty well made it clear that they didn't want us there and that went on for close to 3 weeks. During that time was when Sadaam decided that he wanted Ras Al-Khafji and a cluster-f... was born. Needless to say he really did own a part of Saudi Arabia for about a day. More orders came down and west we went...don't know how far as we were pretty much out there by ourselves. We know it as a place named Lonesome Dove. Our next move was to occupy Kuwait City upon commencement of the ground war and for us that wasn't necessary since resistance just sort of melted.
Anyway I at that time don't recall anyone getting ill or seeming ill although we certainly were exposed to EVERYTHING! I can recall wanting to be left alone so I could just sleep for days, something that could account for GWS. I was diagnosed with PTSD for the first time, not long after I got out of the Corp (1993) and had a few good years when in 1997 I began to experience knee-buckling pain in my right hip. I tried as best as possible to continue work in getting along with the pain and did for a few years when the pain became continuous in 2000 and in 2002 was finally diagnosed with Avascular Necrosis of the Hips. Which means that they are dying and will soon need to be replaced...which I have elected to not have done at such a young age as it is only troublesome continually on those two joints. I am entirely disabled and was awarded SSDI just last December at the age of 39. Something has invaded my body I feel since not one of my siblings are experiencing this nor have any of my predecessors.
You need team members? I don't have anything else to do...I am ready, willing and able to travel! Let me know...
I have been fortunate so far my legs still work as does most of the rest of my body. It is my hope that if we can find enough veterans (using web boards and other agencies as obviously the V.A. and the government won't be much help)we can use the tie in factor of Gulf War to make a big stir in the media and to educate the average American about what is going on.
The old saying "the squeaky wheel gets the grease" applies here. The more people that know about this thing being real and not some minor 5 min news report the better our chances of getting treated or finding a treatment.
In my case I have found two other members in this forum that align with me on my physical ailments. In understanding Avascular Necrosis it is possible to assume that this disease has been generated by several causes. Many of which are Auto-immune afflictions. Note on the issue of Squalene...the adjuvant used to pump up the capability of Anthrax, it is known to cause Arthralgia, Rheumatiod Arthritis and a few other things that are not for me immediately recollectable.
Strength in Numbers, and yes it is true that the squeaky wheel does get the grease...as a Navy Unit Commendation recipient (which is the unit equivalent of an individual Silver Star)I find it unbeleivable that so many of my commrades all have issues of such likeness and we are being given rediculous titles now by our subordinates? Truly amazing...Also, I still have a good friend in the Corp and he is now a Warrant Officer and he experiences the same joint pain and vulgar sounds as many of us.
I am glad I found this site just for that reason. It was hard trying to find any Saliors or Marnies that had similar symptoms as mine until this site. I also have been doing resarch and trying to gather what physical proof I can about my illness as it seems to be getting worse. (I tend to think like a scientist in that I want to exhaust all possible causes, information, and details before making any conclusions, but so far the evidence weighs heavily on it being desert storm related)
[This message has been edited by wes0007 (edited 01-17-2003).]
Boy does this all sound familiar!. i was on a carrier in the gulf right before desert storm, and then i worked as a corpsman/medical lab tech at the naval hospital and i was fully prepped for saudi deployment but stayed behind after a coin toss at the last minute.
i probably was pretty well vaccinated. i had to call my duty station whenever i left home for more than 2 hours at a time and check in so i don't think there where any more shots or pills to be had here in the U.S.
unfortunately i have no idea what shots or pills i was given. my job was to take blood samples and not give vaccines and at the time nobody really worried about vaccines other than pregnant women.
i just lumped my not feeling well until about 4 years ago. finally an active duty chief i was working with part time convinced me i should go to the VA for help.
they found i had hypothyroidism,hypertension,poor heart rate regulation, sleep apnea,bilateral chondromalcia patella, bulged discs in my back, bi- lateral sciatica, and even had me on heart failure pills for awhile but they decided i didn't have heart failure and they really never did figure that out.
my symptoms come and go and change really often.
my VA appointments are 6 to 8 months apart sometimes so each time i have different symptoms that are more of a priority when i see my va dr. theres only time to address my worst symptoms, so i end up going home with no answers to older problems.
i have pain pretty much 24/7 mostly knees and back but often i ache all over like a flu ache where my ribs all ache and even my skin aches.
sleep apnea can cause alot of health problems all by itself so the va is trying to cure me of that to no avail so far. cpap just makes me feel less rested, tried all kinds of masks and nasal steroids.
so far the best medicine has been codiene, and "filtered drinking water" bottled water can even run me down some so a have a good filter on our well water and that has helped alot.
maybe i'd be having problems anyhow but nobody in my family has had these problems. my folks are many times healthier than me and they don't eat right or excercise. they have to help me remember things to the point the roles are pretty much reversed to where i feel like the senior citizen.
if anyone wants to email me directly i'd be happy to swap notes to see if theres some common threads. i'm from a small rural town in the midwest so it could just be all those vaccines and regular enviromental toxins from shipboard living or just good old california smog i guess, but so many gwi symptoms fit my puzzle that i have to keep wondering and watching the lateset gulf vets health news
i kinda wonder about experimental hiv vaccines myself, seeing how we did so many hiv tests at sea.
a big ship at sea on a west pac would make for a good controlled experiment just like a floating petri dish with the same enviroment for everyone. same food air and water and most of all vaccines for everyone for 6 to 9 months.
ya never know sometimes until decades latter like project shad and others. time will tell i guess. we should all stay as active as possible and open minded and do what makes us feel best and eat what makes us able to function best and listen to our bodies best we can.
having somebody tell you what makes "you" feel best is really agravating!. and that "we're all getting old" comment is grounds for a punch in the nose haha..
when a handicapped 78 year landlord with a muscle desease, can out-work a healthy looking 44 year old theres something obviously wrong.
when the va sends you to thier shrink and you bounce out with a clean bill of health and compliments and your blood tests are negative or don't make sense but are not real bad, the va tries different pills and physical therapy until they give up.
then again we may not live that long for them to have time to give up too.
hang in there guys n gals. try and stay active when you can and eat what ever works best to get you active.
sitting around just gives you time to think about your symptoms and all the things not getting done. distraction therapy can help alot. keeping your brain busy might over-run some of those pain signals coming in. turn off the tv once in awhile and crank your stereo to whatever you listened to when you were young and wreckless and do some house cleaning. sometimes a lil audio stimulation can overide the pain and transient negative thoughts that hold you back without you realizing it.
i'm suprised more vets that did time on a ship aren't ill. on a carrier the water was always having jet fuel in it or ecoli. everyone is effected differently i guess. "genetic shuffling" is really random as to how the body reacts to a foriegn substance or condition.
hope this forum subject grows in numbers so we can maybe learn something from others experiences.
Originally posted by oldb4mytime: Boy does this all sound familiar!. i was on a carrier in the gulf right before desert storm, and then i worked as a corpsman/medical lab tech at the naval hospital and i was fully prepped for saudi deployment but stayed behind after a coin toss at the last minute.
i probably was pretty well vaccinated. i had to call my duty station whenever i left home for more than 2 hours at a time and check in so i don't think there where any more shots or pills to be had here in the U.S.
unfortunately i have no idea what shots or pills i was given. my job was to take blood samples and not give vaccines and at the time nobody really worried about vaccines other than pregnant women.
i just lumped my not feeling well until about 4 years ago. finally an active duty chief i was working with part time convinced me i should go to the VA for help.
they found i had hypothyroidism,hypertension,poor heart rate regulation, sleep apnea,bilateral chondromalcia patella, bulged discs in my back, bi- lateral sciatica, and even had me on heart failure pills for awhile but they decided i didn't have heart failure and they really never did figure that out.
my symptoms come and go and change really often.
my VA appointments are 6 to 8 months apart sometimes so each time i have different symptoms that are more of a priority when i see my va dr. theres only time to address my worst symptoms, so i end up going home with no answers to older problems.
i have pain pretty much 24/7 mostly knees and back but often i ache all over like a flu ache where my ribs all ache and even my skin aches.
sleep apnea can cause alot of health problems all by itself so the va is trying to cure me of that to no avail so far. cpap just makes me feel less rested, tried all kinds of masks and nasal steroids.
so far the best medicine has been codiene, and "filtered drinking water" bottled water can even run me down some so a have a good filter on our well water and that has helped alot.
maybe i'd be having problems anyhow but nobody in my family has had these problems. my folks are many times healthier than me and they don't eat right or excercise. they have to help me remember things to the point the roles are pretty much reversed to where i feel like the senior citizen.
if anyone wants to email me directly i'd be happy to swap notes to see if theres some common threads. i'm from a small rural town in the midwest so it could just be all those vaccines and regular enviromental toxins from shipboard living or just good old california smog i guess, but so many gwi symptoms fit my puzzle that i have to keep wondering and watching the lateset gulf vets health news
i kinda wonder about experimental hiv vaccines myself, seeing how we did so many hiv tests at sea.
a big ship at sea on a west pac would make for a good controlled experiment just like a floating petri dish with the same enviroment for everyone. same food air and water and most of all vaccines for everyone for 6 to 9 months.
ya never know sometimes until decades latter like project shad and others. time will tell i guess. we should all stay as active as possible and open minded and do what makes us feel best and eat what makes us able to function best and listen to our bodies best we can.
having somebody tell you what makes "you" feel best is really agravating!. and that "we're all getting old" comment is grounds for a punch in the nose haha..
when a handicapped 78 year landlord with a muscle desease, can out-work a healthy looking 44 year old theres something obviously wrong.
when the va sends you to thier shrink and you bounce out with a clean bill of health and compliments and your blood tests are negative or don't make sense but are not real bad, the va tries different pills and physical therapy until they give up.
then again we may not live that long for them to have time to give up too.
hang in there guys n gals. try and stay active when you can and eat what ever works best to get you active.
sitting around just gives you time to think about your symptoms and all the things not getting done. distraction therapy can help alot. keeping your brain busy might over-run some of those pain signals coming in. turn off the tv once in awhile and crank your stereo to whatever you listened to when you were young and wreckless and do some house cleaning. sometimes a lil audio stimulation can overide the pain and transient negative thoughts that hold you back without you realizing it.
i'm suprised more vets that did time on a ship aren't ill. on a carrier the water was always having jet fuel in it or ecoli. everyone is effected differently i guess. "genetic shuffling" is really random as to how the body reacts to a foriegn substance or condition.
hope this forum subject grows in numbers so we can maybe learn something from others experiences.
I have worked with jet fuel for 10 years while in the Airforce. I first got the dermititus when I was 19. When I got out they gave me a 0 percent. 8 years later I came back and they give me 10%. In 93 I was in the UAE we had a fuel spill that we had to clean up. Within a year after leaving I showed the first signs of apnea. In 2000 I finaly got to the point I was loosing muscle control at night and swimming in bed. I am tired all the time, bad rashes and painful spots in the muscles of my leggs, I have or had a number of the symptoms mentioned for the syndrom. Is the Va giving you compensation for the apnea? I have my registry appt. tomorrow. Later, tired and itchy.
hi there, hmmmm muscle control huh? i'm having trouble with just one leg. driving a stick shift i can put the clutch in no problem, but i have lost some control when it comes to smoothly releasing the clutch. my leg comes back up jerky. i noticed also that now i can't balance on that leg. i do/did stretches where i'd balance on one foot and pull the other foot up and forward by reaching back, but the last couple months, i just can't balance on that leg, so some muscle or muscles aren't getting the impluse to contract or relax i guess.
when i started getting worse 2 years ago i had tingling in my feet and hands and when i tried to shave my hand would go numb and the shaver would just about fall out of my hand after just a few passes.
i had to do a lil at a time.
and i'd be sitting and relaxing and suddenly get the urge to gag and dry cough. it would come on with no warning and only last a few minutes and pass as fast as it came.
most annoying longest lasting symptom that never goes away is a high pressure feeling when i bend over a lil it feels like i'm completely upside down pressure wise. it feels as though blood rushes to my head more than it should and doesn't return like it should. the same feeling you'd get if you were hanging up side down is what i feel the instant i lean over or bend down. i had an mri showing cerebelar herniation of 7.5mm but the va didn't think anything of that as being a problem.
yes i'd think jet fuel in drinking water would probably not "do a body good" on the aircraft carrier water lines passed through fuel tanks and waste water tanks and you could see a petroleum rainbow in a stainless steel water fountain as the water swirled around the drain or as it sat in a glass.
you'd think it was hopefully something else but it would even smell like fuel. on the worst days it even felt slipery. we all drank a ton of soda when the water got really bad. sometimes taking a shower would make your skin tingle and burn. so you'd end up showering in another departments shower.
could be you add aviation fuel and marine diesel in with all the vaccines and stress and jet exhaust fumes ect and a body from the midwest or rural area just starts shorting out.
i found drinking water run thru a medical grade filter really helps me out. i'm on codiene and morphine for pain pretty much 24/7 and that raises hell with the digestive system and liver so this ain't much fun.
gotta go, nice to hear from ya.
[This message has been edited by oldb4mytime (edited 02-19-2003).]
oh ooops no i'm not getting compensation for apnea. i probably should go for that. i'm trying to tough it out and not go whining for compensation for every lil thing, but i do have documentation that i had poor sleep back then.
i was so zapped during the day i would stop at red lights and then just drive on thru as if they were stop signs. 8 hours sleep and i'd be nodding off by 10am even back then while in the navy.
ya know it takes a certain amount of energy and focused attention to file for compensation i dunno if i have the fight left anymore some days.
let me know how your claim goes. seems like if you have black and white documentation in your health record the va will help out without much resistance. sometimes i read about guys way way worse than i and they have to get a lawyer so i might be just lucky. i'm 50% service conected for blood pressure and knees. knees may have been just from a motorcycle accident in 90 while active duty. hard to say if its from the wreck or not but i had great documentation of that. it took two tries for my knees and i think over a year maybe 2 years to get it. the high blood pressure was also very well documented and that i got right away without hassle. i think the quality of documentation and the time line of when it started is the key to a faster claim approval. my fellow corpsman were top notch back then. the main one was on the presidents staff after he left the carrier, so i had really good documentation on my side.
[This message has been edited by oldb4mytime (edited 02-19-2003).]
Originally posted by oldb4mytime: oh ooops no i'm not getting compensation for apnea. i probably should go for that. i'm trying to tough it out and not go whining for compensation for every lil thing, but i do have documentation that i had poor sleep back then.
i was so zapped during the day i would stop at red lights and then just drive on thru as if they were stop signs. 8 hours sleep and i'd be nodding off by 10am even back then while in the navy.
ya know it takes a certain amount of energy and focused attention to file for compensation i dunno if i have the fight left anymore some days.
let me know how your claim goes. seems like if you have black and white documentation in your health record the va will help out without much resistance. sometimes i read about guys way way worse than i and they have to get a lawyer so i might be just lucky. i'm 50% service conected for blood pressure and knees. knees may have been just from a motorcycle accident in 90 while active duty. hard to say if its from the wreck or not but i had great documentation of that. it took two tries for my knees and i think over a year maybe 2 years to get it. the high blood pressure was also very well documented and that i got right away without hassle. i think the quality of documentation and the time line of when it started is the key to a faster claim approval. my fellow corpsman were top notch back then. the main one was on the presidents staff after he left the carrier, so i had really good documentation on my side.
[This message has been edited by oldb4mytime (edited 02-19-2003).]
Had my appt. today. It appears I have Fibromyalga, etc. We'll see how it goes from there.
Jhch6
How long did it take them to come up with the dx of fibromyalagia?It took them five years for them to say that I had Fibro.I had also put in a claim for Undignosable illness and all of a sudden I was DX with Fibro.On top of that they did not even check the tender points .He just looked at me and said you have fibro.So you can see how this has got to me.To this day I still do not believe that I have fibro nor will I ever believe I have fibro.Now I have been getting infections through out my body but my blood checks out normal.Every three to four weeks i have been taking anti biotics for some type of infection that does not want to go away.I just do not understand what is happening.
Mark A
I have been trying to get to see neurologist. Currently I have a appointment to see Pyschologist ( I scheduled the appt so as to be admitted to a chronic pain support group that runs at the VA I am attending.
Sort of a catch 22 having to see a Pyschologist to get into a chronic pain support group if you ask me)on Feb 27, but I may need to change that date as I have a friend who needs me in court possibly on that date. The bad thing is I am still getting the killer headaches, same type of pain in my body on inside my skull. I have had on occassion at night muscle spasms with my legs kicking or twiching but so far it has not turned into anything major. The best thing that works for me for when the pain is unbearable is a 10mg muscle relaxer,however, it has the unfortunate side effect of putting me to sleep for 10-12 hours at a time plus lately I have been developing an immunity to it. I have yet to put in for service connected the scientist or practical side of me keeps hoping for a diagnosis or cure, plus just yet I dont want to cry wolf and give the VA another case to disprove that this thing exists. On a positive side note some of the people at the VA do care you just have to keep wading throught the system until u find the new doctors who havent been "syncronized " with the rest of the government. If you havnt checked it out look at my post about government website on this forum (I posted with permission from moderator 1 to make sure it did not viloate this boards standards). I have found that site has lots of usefull information where the VA is putting it's research money into. As well as which VA centers are doing what kind of research.
Any U.S. Navy Veterans (ship stationed)having problems? 
