For decades it was a medical mystery. For many years it wasn’t even believed to exist. It all started back in the Kuwaiti desert over 30 years ago.
Operation Desert Storm was a cakewalk militarily but had devastating long-term effects for many veterans.
Militarily, the first Gulf War was pretty much a cakewalk. After pummeling Iraqi forces with bombs for over a month, Coalition forces took just 4 days to destroy the Iraqi army.
While the Coalition troops suffered relatively few deaths (378 compared to tens of thousands of Iraqi military personnel), the costs of invasion were high, with over a third of the U.S. veterans (250,000) as well as the U.K. and other vets suffering from a long-term chronic fatigue syndrome-like illness called Gulf War Syndrome (or Gulf War Illness) that produced symptoms like fatigue, muscle pain, cognitive problems, insomnia, rashes, and diarrhea. Nancy Klimas has said that, symptomatically, the two diseases cannot be told apart.
One U.K. vet told The Guardian:
“I was very fit and healthy when I was deployed for the Gulf War. I ran to work every morning and led the military fitness training. I was also into motocross and used to play rugby. Now, after 30 years of suffering from ‘Gulf war syndrome’, I still struggle to breathe and just a month ago I had to have an injection in my spine to block the pain from my damaged nerves.”
Various causes have been put forth, the most prominent of which is that the soldiers were exposed to a unique blend of toxic elements (nerve agent pills, uranium, multiple simultaneous vaccinations including anthrax and botulinum), pesticides, oil and gas fumes, high-powered microwaves) which, in combination with the heat and stress of battle, overwhelmed the soldiers’ systems.
Sarin (red) blocks the activity of acetylcholinesterase (yellow) in the neuromuscular junction.
Now a study, “Evaluation of a Gene-Environment Interaction of PON1 and Low-Level Nerve Agent Exposure with Gulf War Illness: A Prevalence Case-Control Study Drawn from the U.S. Military Health Survey’s National Population Sample“, appears to have nailed down the cause – a surprisingly simple one.
An overload of toxins or multiple, simultaneous vaccinations, or other possibilities, didn’t appear to play a role. It was the exposure to sarin gas that occurred after coalition airplanes blew up chemical storage tanks. Sarin is an organophosphate that was originally developed as a pesticide. It blocks the degradation of acetylcholine in the neuromuscular synapses – thus allowing acetylcholine to build up and causing the muscle to stay in a contracted, unresponsive state. Short-term exposure can cause the muscles moving the lungs to stop operating, causing death by asphyxiation.
Interestingly, the same system appears to be affected in ME/CFS but in the opposite direction. David Systrom effectively uses pyridostigmine bromide, or Mestinon, to increase acetylcholine levels – thus potentially improving neuromuscular functioning, enhancing muscle contractions during exercise, dilating the blood vessels, slowing the heart rate, enhancing neuroplasticity, boosting motivation, etc.
Iraq used sarin and a range of chemical weapons (mustard gas and others) during the Iraq-Iran war, against the Kurds, and even against its own population immediately following the Gulf War. It’s has been outlawed since 1997 (7 years after the Gulf War).
The Gist
- Militarily speaking, the first Gulf War was a cakewalk. Battlefield casualties were low and the Coalition forces quickly destroyed the Iraqi army.
- The aftermath, though, was very different. A higher percentage of troops (@ 1/3rd, 250,000) suffered long-term health problems. Symptomatically, they were virtually identical to ME/CFS.
- It was generally thought that a witch’s brew of toxins and stress (vaccinations, nerve agent pills, and nerve agents, uranium, oil field smoke, pesticides, heat) overwhelmed the soldiers’ systems.
- A recent study that incorporated genetic polymorphisms, enzyme testing, and soldier’s reports has definitively, however, pinpointed exposure to sarin gas that was released when Coalition airplane destroyed chemical storage tanks, as the main culprit.
- It turned out that soldiers with genetic alterations to the enzyme that breaks down sarin were highly susceptible to coming down with GWI. They also had low levels of the enzyme. Thus did sarin pluck out those vulnerable to it and leave them with lifelong health problems.
- The study showed that mysterious ME/CFS-like diseases like GWI that were once dismissed as psychological have a biological basis that can be found if the research is being pursued rigorously.
- With the advent of long COVID – and the resources that it has received – that opportunity is present. The same general approach exists – identify the trigger – find the genetic or other vulnerability present – and validate it. ME/CFS seems trickier as many infections can trigger it but it’s possible it’s being caused by one or just a few pathways.
- For instance, Mady Hornig recently co-authored a paper proposing that one pathophysiology problem links all post-infectious illnesses. She identifed three main possible pathways – the persistence (in some form) of a virus, an autoimmune pathway, and a gut-brain pathway. None have been studied rigorously enough to ME/CFS to provide an answer but long COVID is receiving the funding needed to adequately assess each of these pathways – and ultimately provide a template for understanding ME/CFS as well.
- Herpesvirus reactivation is an example. The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) has been constantly studied in ME/CFS but in small studies that have yielded little certainty. A very large study, though, recently identified EBV as the cause of multiple sclerosis. Large long COVID studies should give us definitive answers about the role this virus plays – answers that could apply to ME/CFS.
- SImilar projections can be made about the role that autoantibodies, persistent viruses or bits of viruses, the role the gut plays, etc. in long COVID. These answers should eventually inform ME/CFS.
- The key to the GWI findings was dogged research and the commitment of enough funding to do the study that revealed what appears to be the definitive cause of this mysterious ME/CFS-like illness. The same was true for M.S. and the same should be true for long COVID and ultimately ME/CFS.
“As far back as 1995, when we first defined Gulf War illness, the evidence was pointing toward nerve agent exposure, but it has taken many years to build an irrefutable case. Quite simply, our findings prove that Gulf War illness was caused by sarin, which was released when we bombed Iraqi chemical weapons storage and production facilities.”
Of course, ME/CFS, FM, and long COVID are not GWI. How the culprit was uncovered, though, may give us clues to how the causes of these diseases may be found. One might argue that GWI is simpler – and it probably is – relative to ME/CFS and FM, but Gulf War Illness was never simple. Multiple factors were thought to play a role, and teasing them apart has taken decades. For one, it was always difficult to tell who was exposed to what. Several similarities to ME/CFS can be seen.
There was the early denial. Like ME/CFS, early studies greatly underestimated the prevalence of GWI. Five years after the war, an article in a prestigious journal found no evidence of GWI. According to Wikipedia, it took 15 years for a study to demonstrate that GWI was widespread.
Psychological interpretations held things up as well. Citing “recall bias” for years researchers questioned whether the soldiers who said they’d heard the chemical warnings go off actually had. They suggested that “recall bias” had caused those who became ill to “remember” incorrectly that they’d heard the alarms. In fact, earlier studies suggesting that sarin was the culprit had been dismissed by those who argued that recall bias was in play. Recall bias was actually a huge problem hanging over the field.
Slam Dunk
Haley achieved a trifecta. He showed that soldiers who stated they’d heard the alarms were the ones exposed to sarin, that those soldiers with genetic polymorphisms in the PONI gene that made them less able to break down sarin were most likely to have GWI, and that they had lower levels of the enzyme that breaks down sarin as well.
With regard to the PONI genes, three different forms of the gene can be found. The QQ form has the ability to break down sarin. That ability is blunted in the QR form, and disappears in people who carry the RR form.
Soldiers didn’t need to have the QR or RR forms of the gene to come down with GWI – some with the fully functional form (QQ) did; at the right level, sarin can overwhelm anyone. Soldiers with the less effective forms of the gene, though, were 4-8 times more likely to come down with GWI. They also had low enzyme levels.
With that, the exposure was related to a genetic alteration that produced a biological hole – it left some of the soldiers particularly vulnerable when exposed to toxins like sarin. The psychological interpretation – that recall bias made it difficult to understand what was going on in GWI – proved to be a chimera.
The authors did leave open the possibility that some Gulf War Illnesses were caused by other factors but concluded that sarin gas exposure was responsible for the vast majority of GWI cases.
Implications for ME/CFS, FM, and Long COVID
What implications might the GWI breakthrough have for diseases like ME/CFS, FM, and long COVID, which have similar symptom presentations? It tells us that these diseases which, with the exception of long COVID, have long been dismissed, are real and that a biological foundation for them can be found. It tells us that inherited genetic susceptibilities can, at times, go a long way to explaining why someone comes down with these diseases. It also demonstrates how an exposure – whether to a toxin or a pathogen – can pluck out one segment of the population and really hammer it.
Since we know the trigger in long COVID, one would hope that the immune hole that allows it to take hold will be fairly quickly identified. Researchers will look for a genetic polymorphism – a small change in a gene or genes – or an epigenetic alteration – or some other factor that produced the vulnerability. If they find a genetic predisposition, they’ll look to see if that predisposition translates to reduced levels of an enzyme, protein, etc.
ME/CFS, of course, will be more difficult to understand than GWI and long COVID. A wide variety of pathogens known to trigger an ME/CFS-like state (Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV), HHV-6, herpes simplex virus, Giardia, Coxsackie B virus, Ross River virus, Coxiella burnetii, the SARS coronaviruses, Borrelia, post-dengue fever, post-West Nile virus, etc.) have been associated with an ME/CFS-like state. Each may do damage in different ways.
In a recent review paper ,Mady Hornig and others proposed three main hypotheses that could explain what’s happening in post-infectious disease states. Here are two of them.
Disentangling that mess would be difficult, but t’s also possible that the immune system goes off the rails in similar ways. While these infections tend to initially produce symptoms unique to each infection (loss of taste/smell in COVID-19), they eventually resolve into similar fatigue, exertion, sleep, and cognitively challenged states. That suggests a similar process may be underway in all of them.
Bruce Patterson, for instance, has reported that the immune signatures in long COVID, post-treatment Lyme Disease, post-vaccination syndrome, and ME/CFS are variations of a theme. They are different but contain core similarities. Patterson is evolving similar but different treatments for each. He’s doing that using the same “precision medicine” approach that is used in cancer; ie. he’s measuring individual immune factors in each patient and using them to inform his treatments. That approach has never been employed in ME/CFS.
Mady Hornig also believes core similarities may be present in all these post-infectious states. She recently co-authored a paper, “Unexplained post-acute infection syndromes“, that proposes that a “unifying pathophysiology” exists in them. The list of possible causes, it should be noted, is not infinite. She lists three main possibilities – all of which well-funded studies should be able to track down:
- a never-ending immune activation triggered by the persistence of the virus or pieces of the virus in the tissues.
- autoimmune/inflammatory processes attacking the body. These potentially include attacks on the G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) being studied in ME/CFS.
- alterations in the gut microbiome trigger long-term changes in the gut-brain axis.
Herpesvirus reactivations, of course, come into play. While the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) has received a regular stream of research in ME/CFS, it’s never received the kind of resources needed to determine what role it might play. Multiple sclerosis (M.S.) has received those resources – and the results were remarkable. It now appears that EBV is the cause of multiple sclerosis.
The recent multiple sclerosis finding will surely trigger more research into finding ways to control the pathogen – EBV – most associated with ME/CFS over time.
That multiple sclerosis finding opens up a new world of research dedicated to understanding exactly how EBV causes M.S. That includes, just as in GWI, what vulnerabilities to EBV were present in people with M.S. It also includes finding new treatments that could halt or reverse the damage.
That, in turn, is potentially good news for two conditions – ME/CFS and long COVID – that have been associated with EBV reactivation. At one time, the NIH actually refused to accept any applications for pathogen research in ME/CFS. In a recent review article, though, Stephen Deeks of NIH’s RECOVER long COVID initiative paid special attention to the possibility that EBV reactivation is either contributing to or causing long COVID.
Deeks is already thinking about treatment possibilities (post-infection therapeutic vaccinations, antiviral drugs, monoclonal antibodies, and immunomodulatory) all of which have either been considered but rarely attempted in ME/CFS. The ME/CFS field has been light years away from getting the funding needed to do adequate trials of any of these. (The NIH, in fact, refuses to fund clinical trials for ME/CFS, under its ME/CFS program initiative). If evidence points in their direction, however, they will certainly be tried in long COVID.
The key thing is that, for the first time, substantial resources are being put into unraveling a post-infectious illness (long COVID). The large-scale studies that were essential to the GWI breakthrough – but have never been done in ME/CFS or fibromyalgia – should be done in long COVID. Key hypotheses are being generated and will be tested in large enough studies to determine if they are accurate. Genetic analyses will be done. (DecodeME is coming at a good time.) The pertinent levels of the enzymes, proteins, immune cells, etc. will be analyzed. Eventually, we should get there.
When we do, the long-COVID findings should, in turn, not only provide a template for studying the other post-infectious states but should spark renewed energy in deciphering them.
It will take time but its possible that the cause of the most mysterious and prominent post-toxin disease state (GWI) could be followed by the unraveling of these mysterious post-infectious disease states as well.
Thanks Cort as ever. A Patterson question: have ME folks done his tests and treatments? Hard to find info on this. I called them and they told me they treated hundreds of ME patients. But if there was success surely we would hear. Any info welcome. Thank you
Much more coming on Patterson. Solve ME just sponsored a meeting where he gave an update. Things seem to be going quite well and yes, he seems confident about his take on ME/CFS. No treatment trials yet though.
Did SolveME post the update from Patterson on their YouTube yet? Would love to watch it.
Not yet. I will have a blog on this. Seemed quite promising, actually.
Am I the only one here, Nacy K. Do the test that the GWP[Golf War Patients] have13.000 conection,(to much to handle, normal people 10.500 and the severe patients CFS: 3500 conections.
So why are we talking those together.. .
CFS is a condition we don’t know a think. No clue and you are all doing a tea’s partys. With GWP and normals. We should stop spinning.
Basic facts we are totaly handicapped but perfectly allright.
We just have to lie down for 2-5 years and addres all ascpect of our being from the star of the condition.
I did that, I was lucky to self diagnosed myself in 50 days, I was on a CFS scale on a 20% for 1 year than I improved to 30% where I stay ~144 days today on 27.5.2022 I am on 99.6%.
On monday I will reach “virtual 100%” I just keeping pushing and joking about this condion and its moving.
For me was not the headaches, PEM, POST, sour thourt, no sleep, braing, fog, golden fish memory, drops of energy at 11:30 every day, but the fect I lose the people I loved, I stiil do, but I can’t get it,
how no help came.
I am one of the people who took the cytokine panel and received treatment based on my specific elevated cytokines levels. Dr Patterson stated the specific cytokine elevations, most notably TNF alpha and IL-6, were indicative of ongoing macrophage engagement and prescribed his protocol that focuses on those cytokines. Unfortunately the treatment – Maraviroc, fluvoximine and pravastatin – produced no improvement to either the elevated cytokines and symptoms. He stated some with ME/CFS did show improvement with treatment while others didn’t. A blood lab test was then ordered to look for EBV in DNA, which was negative, so I can rule it out as the instigator. I have tested high for enterovirus when a comprehensive viral panel was ordered by Dr Chia. His treatment for enterovirus is the antiviral lamividine, which unfortunately did not bring improvement in symptoms either. Dr Chia’s research is focused on the cause of ME/CFS as enterovirus as he sees microscopically the virus in tissue. He has biopsied intestinal tissue of some with intestinal symptoms and found it there. Through research on cadavers he has found it in other tissue. Back to Dr. Patterson – he and a ME/CFS specialist are following 50 ME/CFS patients who are receiving his treatment based on their specific cytokine elevations. His AI is bringing insights into inflammation and researchers seem to be very interested in this new method of evaluation in painting a picture verified by inflammatory factors. His collaborations and informal studies of those with ME/CFS receiving his treatment is likely to produce at least some insight.
PS. I have had ME/CFS symptoms for 7 years which began following a flu in early September, which is consistent with an enterovirus as many are prevalent in late summer. Like many, I saw many specialists who didn’t recognize the symptoms or didn’t accept ME/CFS as an actual condition. Following the initial severe stage I was able to pull out of it to a moderate level that waxed and waned but ironically it was the visit to Dr Chia 3 years ago that left me from moderate-tipping-to severe to the housebound severe where I remain. Prior to the flight from Seattle to SoCal I had recently pulled out of a severe relapse but the trip was the straw that broke the camel’s back. As all of us with ME/CFS, having a test that would confirm diagnosis would be invaluable to prevent, where possible, the devastating impact overexertion. I see Dr Patterson’s work confirming inflammation as a factor in PASC that will hopefully be recognized as a component that builds a stronger bridge between research and treatment.
I had a similar experience to yours. I got ME after a flu–in my case, over 20 years ago. About 5 years ago, I started seeing Dr. Chia. I tested high for an enterovirus. He had me try Equilibrant; a few antivirals, like Lamivudine; gamma globulin infusions. Nothing has worked. i’m currently just starting to try Abilify. I’m wondering if Dr. Chia’s hypothesis about an enterovirus being the culprit is taken seriously by other researchers. He seems adamant that it’s the cause of ME, but I’m not sure if his theory has gained traction. By the way, where is Dr. Patterson located?
How long were you on the treatment (maraviroc, statin, fluvoxamine)? Perhaps in people with ME/CFS, sick for a long time, treatment needs to be much longer, like 12 months.
Initially for Long Covid, Patterson said patients would only need 4 weeks of treatment. Then with more patients/time, he is now recommending it can take 12 weeks of treatment. Anecdotally, some patients needed to be on treatment for 4+ weeks before they saw ANY change in symptoms.
hey Helene, i saw Patterson back at the start of 2022 and began treatment with him based on two positive findings on the cytokine panel
my two positives were (added with notes from him during our meeting)
IL-10 – compensatory. Not ‘bad’. This is trying to shut off an elevated immune response
TNF-Alpha – marker of macrophage activation. Common in me/cfs. Doesn’t make patients feel well. Maraviroc brings this down without immunosuppressant
tried 33 days of selzentry (300mg x2 a day) and 10mg pravastatin and my retested cytokine panel was positive with:
High CCL4 (MIP-1beta)
High CCL5 (RANTES)
High VEGF
he then suggested retesting cytokines after taking:
Prednisone 5mg PO daily x 30 days
Pravastatin 10mg PO daily x 30 days
Fluvoxamine 25mg PO daily to 50mg
i didn’t go forward with this plan yet because my second cytokine panel did not match what he expected to happen – my results surprised him. i’m still open to trying this plan though
I just don’t think antivirals are valid for this disease. I think it’s triggered most of the time by viruses, but is not perpetuated by a virus.
I’ve been suffering from all kinds of issues for years. I served in iraq. I thought I was going nuts because I was just being lit up by certain environmental conditions while no one else felt what I was feeling. I had covid and have had long term effects. Started having vertigo episodes. This is interesting that my long covid could be an effect of my probable exposure to toxics in Iraq. Am I interpreting this correctly? Thanks.
“a never-ending immune activation triggered by the persistence of the virus or PIECES of the virus in the tissues.” MY EBV , VCA IGG is and has been between 600 & 750 (pos >21.99) but it’s due to a past infection per the labs. I haven’t had mono and don’t ever remember having a fever and rash except as a child with Chk pox / measles. So how could I have that high of a IGG 50 years later? I think the PIECES of virus is the answer! Now to convince our immune systems that the threat is over! I also have high titers to HHV6 and Parvo. (All acquired in the military I assume). None were a problem until I got Lyme/ Anaplasma which progressed to ME/CFS and now MCAS. Thanks to an outstanding acupuncturist, herbs, supplements and a little help from others like Cort and Dr Marty Ross, I am slowly making progress on all 3 but it’s been a long road and breakthroughs like this are needed to prevent the loss of way too many years of way to many peoples’ lives! So glad there is hope for help soon!
You and I have very very similar situations. My viral load is pretty much identical to yours and my ME / CFS symptoms have raged for 17 years. I did some work with Dr Peterson & Dr. Nancy Klimas’ clinic but no real results as yet. I am working on the Root Cause Protocol now as discovered and written by Morley Robbins. Praying for great results with the new studies coming our way.
I have the same thing with EBV and CMV. It used to be discussed in the CFS community and I was treated by a Dr with antivirals for years, with no improvement.
I think something happened to me around adolescence. I developed tachycardia, muscle contractions and couldn’t breathe when exercising. I played sports and just toughed it out.
When I turned 30 in 1991, I was exposed to a whole can of something by an attacker. I assumed it was mace—a plain white bottle with a red spray top. There were no other injuries, but my face folded up like a bulldog’s. I had my eyes irrigated at the ER. This is the exposure that threw me into the major ME/CFS state. I worry that my case might be too unique to find my cure. According to lab results, I had childhood exposures such as parvovirus AND EBV, though I never had major symptoms of EBV in my childhood.
It’s been 30 years since that attack and I’ve only gotten worse. My CPET test has me at completely disabled—to the point that sitting up is a problem. LDN and micellized B vitamins are my best treatments so far.
My reaction to this article is both hopefulness and devastation. I doubt a lot of people got ME/CFS from mace. How would they find my cure? They claim mace isn’t even harmful to humans.
Thanks for all the good work you do, Cort!
I imagine you are not alone in having an unusual onset Barbara. It may be that your system bounced into a similar kind of stress state that you see with an infection or an injury. Ron Tompkins felt there was quite an overlap between sepsis, for instance, and ME/CFS.
In fact, I was going to point out that it may very not be necessary to identify the trigger. Nancy Klimas has come up with a treatment plan for GWI without knowing what the trigger was.
Knowing what the trigger is helps but is not necessary. (I don’t know what my trigger was.)
Thanks Cort and Emily!
I empathize. I have two children with moderate/severe me/cfs, but no known trigger, no previous EBV or herpesvirus or Lyme or basically anything. They were healthy kids and then they weren’t.
Thanks, Cort. You’re a treasure.
Some very hopeful ideas! Lots of scientists with new research on the horizon.
Can’t wait for new details from Patterson and many others!
Well done again, Cort!!
Very interesting read. Thank you
I don’t have any EBV, but I also may have “pieces” of childhood measles and chicken pox (I am so old they didn’t have the vaccines when I was a kid!). I always tired more easily than my peers all my life, had some PEM-like episodes in my 60s, had a bad flu four years ago and never got my strength back, then suddenly developed ME 2 1/2 years ago. Was my post-flu weakness a kind of Long Flu?
I accept sarin gas as a possible further trigger to GWI. However that doesn’t explain why 21% of the soldiers who remained on the ships far out at sea for the entire Gulf War still developed GWI? i.e. those soldiers weren’t deployed into Iraqi at all, so were nowhere near sarin gas, yet they came down with the same disease.
It’s true that there was significantly higher incidence of GWI in “forward-deployed GWI units than those in non-deployed units; 42% of those who entered Iraq and Kuwait are ill, as compared with 31% who served on land in support areas, and 21% who served on ships”. (source in link below*)
One of many possibilities at the time that these soldiers had in common was they ALL had multiple powerful vaccinations against biological weapons. Although that was often dismissed without giving us any adequate rationale.
I myself hypothesized that because there was a higher incidence of GWI in those that were deployed into the warzone on land, was due to several reasons, i.e. they had chemical exposure, plus notably much more stress, physically, mentally and emotionally (as a warzone is an extremely high stress place fighting for your life). but they too also had those powerful vaccinations.
It’s known that a powerful immune hit of any sort, combined with chemical exposure and stress can tip some people’s immune systems into a ME/CFS like state. And for others it maybe less.
Another thing that I question is the amount of young people who developed ME/CFS recently after going on foreign travel. The general hypothesis is it’s thought to have occured from an infection in a foreign country. Yet many claim they never felt an actual infection. Most just slowly deteriorated over time. The one thing many of these people had in common was multiple pre-departure vaccines for some pretty nasty diseases, all taken in close proximity to each other, if not all doses. on the same day. i.e too many big immune hits too close together.
I still think multiple powerful vaccinations are a big reason for this strange GWI phenomenon and maybe some causes of ME/CFS, that it warrants investigation.
I personally am still pro-vaccination but in doses that fit the patient. I’m also pro-investigation of those that have problems afterwards.
However the medical community will hide from any discussion about it, and those that do question the issue get ostracised. Interesting to see Dr Paterson talked about ‘post vaccine illness’ and I see he too has been slammed.
I also wonder those that developed what they think is ME/CFS from vaccination, may in fact have more of a GWI like illness. It would be good if Dr Nancy Klimis looked it to see if their immune systems react more similar to GWI, she already has shown she can measure the difference between the two diseases.
*Article NIH: Gulf War Syndrome Revisited 2003
PMC
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1319210/
Hi Brendan, I firmly believe that my illness was caused by the flu vaccine. I became ill two days after having it. I had had the vaccine in other years and been ok but wondered if it was when they added in something to protect from the bird flu that year. The covid vaccines have all left me worse off to the point where I have decided that I will not have any more having got significantly worse after my booster before Christmas. I am not anti vaccine but do believe that it has somehow thrown my body into an autoimmune state and I am now extremely ill.
The first stages of my CFS began after going to SE Asia in my early 20s. I had the multiple vaccinations you describe, plus I came down with something when I was there.
I think there’s something in the idea of multiple vaccinations being part of the trigger for CFS and GWI. At the very least, I’m pretty confident it’s an immune assault – whether vaccinations, or viruses, or a combination – that trigger the illness.
There has been irrefutable evidence that veterans suffering from GWS have symptoms consistent with mitochondrial toxicity as also seen in Fluoroquinolone Toxicity, the veterans were given the Fluoroquinolone antibiotic Ciprofloxacin during their tour. I have Severe ME/CFS triggered by the same antibiotic & also diagnosis of Fluoroquinolone Associated Disability. These antibiotics have caused people worldwide to suffer from the serious disabling side effects of these which includes Mitochondrial Toxicity and Oxidative stress, Musculoskeletal Damage/Collagen Disorder, Neurotoxicity/Peripheral Neuropathy/Autonomic Neuropathy /Small Fibre Neuropathy and Neuropsychiatric Adverse Effects.
https://www.quintoxsupport.co.uk/gulf-war-syndrome-and-the-link-to-e
Isn’t there a lot of mold on ships?
That could have combined with all the vaccines to add insult to injury.
Agreed that sarin gas is NOT the only cause. I was in Saudi and Kuwait 1 year after the ground war ended. And I have GWS as well. There was absolutely no sarin gas while I was there. In addition, another military member (Army) never went to the Gulf War (got all the shots, issued equipment, ready to go, ground war ended, he didn’t go), and he got GWS, along with his family members. So sarin gas is NOT the one-size-fits-all cause of GWS. The theory that still makes the most sense is the damn vaccines.
The authors left open the possibility that other factors contributed to GWI for some people but were pretty clear that their contribution in the grand scheme of things was relatively small. I’m sure some people reacted to the vaccines – we’ve seen that with the coronavirus vaccines. I’d be shocked if some people didn’t get sick from the 700 oil well fires in the region! We should keep in mind that some people are always coming down with an ME/CFS like illness for whatever reason as well.
It was the tight fit of the veterans with the genetic alteration, their remembrance of the alarms going off, and their low enzyme levels that made sarin case so convincing. It’s more a one-size fits most than a one-size fits all thing.
Interesting that his family members got GWS as well. Hope they check him and his family carefully, as something in complex labs might show up.
Thanks Brendan, what you say makes a lot of sense. When I was assessed for a diagnosis of ME/CFS back in 2005 by the British National Health Service, one of the questions they asked was whether I had had a Tetanus vaccination in the previous six months. This from an organisation that didn’t believe ME/CFS was a physical illness at the time! As it happened, I had had a tetanus jab about four months before I had my first ME crash. I’d been feeling tired during that time and then I had a mystery virus which set off the ME. I think vaccinations might perhaps start off a process of immune dysfunction which can then trigger ME after an infection or after exposure to chemical toxins in people who aren’t well set up genetically to process them. I’ve also had a worsening of ME symptoms since the Covid vaccinations and didn’t feel I was well enough to have the booster.
My father caught was left with severe lung problems after a passing flu virus in 1965. His docs said it was not asthma nor emphysema. It baffled them. My father drowned in his own lung secretions in hospital in 1967 at age 45. At age 30, I contracted/developed CFS/Fibromyalgia (not being sure of the trigger). This researchers’ supposition that the deregulated homeostasis (of GWS and possibly CFS/Fibro) affects those with a genetic predisposition, seems validated by my father’s experience, followed by my own. I wish they could pinpoint which genes may be responsible, if the number is limited. Personally, I hypothesize that if ANY body system (eg. immune system, gut, hormones, nervous system, circulatory system) becomes deregulated beyond a threshold, It will undoubtedly deregulate all of the other systems I listed (and likely more – since biochemistry is so complex and interactive). After this occurs, each of the deregulated systems can become primary (or problems in themselves) in the new homeostasis (that includes our symptoms), in that each imbalanced system will keep the others deregulated – preventing a return to a symptom-free homeostasis (aka health). This could explain why addressing any one problem (or system or abnormal biochemical) never helps. In this scenario, the genetic blueprint would determine the severity of the threshold (or point of no return). Just food for thought.
If stress and toxic elements play a role it is likely that the cocktail of toxic products we eat and breathe every day create an ideal environment for the development of viruses and ME/Cfs in people with a very sensitive immune system. A difficult hypothesis to accept because it would call in question our way of life and many financial interests. Thank you Cort.
cort johnson, all informations on this document are false about gulf war illness. all studies made on GWI are voluntary false. WHY ? because the cause of this iatrogenous illness is a not allowed adjuvant used in the antvrax vaccine. the SQUALENE who can triggered this terrible illness and lethal only on young men. (13 to 58 y.o): observed in flu h1n1 program in winter 2009 with pandemrix Gsk boosted with SQUALENE AS03 on EUROPEAN people.more 6000 civilians fall sick with GWI and not MECFS just 10 days after received the jab. i am one of those civilian who fall sick. ALL scientists and researcher where been in touch of this information and none of them trying to reproduce this disease on lab animals ! THEY are not allowed to work on squalene vaccination side effect. i m an activist since 12 years with many Gwi soldiers of the GW1 working to obtain the truth . remember that 30% of those sick soldiers were not been deployed staying at more 300 kms of the threatre battle! the logical cause of the GWI is before the battle. more for the proove: existing 6000 civilians with GWI in europa after received a squalene vaccine . also , mecfs is absolutly not the same illness , proove was lade in 2016 with the excelent work of beatrice golomb Us san josé. california. lipidic abnormality in mecfs vs gwi : conclusion its not the same illness. you can obtain more information if you call me or from Uk asso J4V ( asso of uk soldiers of Gw1 working for the truth : squalene adjuvant in vax program )
Interesting article ! While sarin gas poisoning most likely caused GWI in many ….the “ witches brew “ of toxins they were exposed most likely caused these symptoms in many others. Since my ticket to the ME/CFS community was through Fluroquinolone toxicity rather than post viral ,I wonder if these soldiers also received Cipro as a preventative measure against bio- weapons. It’s the drug of choice for Anthrax prevention/treatment for example. By itself, this could explain the symptoms not to mention everything else. The mitochondria can only handle so much insult.!!!!!!!!!
A war that should never have happened. But that’s politics. I am not convinced of a breakthrough in this syndrome.
I wonder if this might be another problem RoundUp has created. I used to live near the plant where it was made.
To the best of my knowledge there was no Sarin Gas at Lake Tahoe.
Nothing to do with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
I do realize people would rather bicker themselves to death than come back to Tahoe and ask what happened.
So there you go.
Bicker on!
I’m curious about the use of pyridostigmine bromide to treat the symptoms because my understanding is that for years it was suspected that this medication, combined with exposure to organophosphate pesticides during the war, actually triggered the Guld War Syndrome symptoms, including MCS. Does anyone know more about that aspect of this research? I did not see the fact that the military was given this drug as an “anti-nerve agent” before exposure to Sarin gas and other organophosphates mentioned. Thanks.
The study indicated that sarin gas was the main cause of GWI. It did this in part by finding that the soldiers exposed to the gas were the ones that got sick. Other soldiers who were given pyridostigmine bromide and the other factors who were not exposed to the gas did not. Therefore pyridostigmine did not cause the problem.
The cause of the 30% epidemic levels of sickness are vaccines. It has been recently proven that it was not possible for any other exposure to travel through the desert avoiding 32+ nations whilst dating 5 nations and then up through the Persian gulf to affect the same handful of nations and avoid 7 nations crew on the ships. Also the non deployed that were thousands of miles away ONLY exposed to the experimental vaccine regime subjected to those same 5 nations
I don’t know the details but I’m pretty sure the author of the study would disagree with you. He’s published dozens of study on GWI – https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?sort=date&term=Haley%20RW&cauthor_id=35543525&page=2
Question: Does Klimas claim to cure GWI, or just treat it? Is anybody credible suggesting a cure is possible? What about CRISPR? Or would CRISPR not work after the onset of the illness? Thanks for any insight.
HOW DO I FIND OUT MY VIRAL LOAD? I have had SEID for about 10 years. I has cost me my job and my marriage. I did have the 2-day CPET test given by Workwell Foundation, and it confirmed my CFS (although I prefer to call it SEID). I have B.S.E. in bioengineering and a Ph.D. in chemical engineering. So I am somewhat able to understand technical papers. But the deterioration of my short-term memory is bad and getting worse. I see all these comments about viral load, and I would like to know how I can get such a test, and the cost. ALSO, I plan to move to somewhere with lower cost of living as soon as my divorce is final (currently live in San Diego). If there’s someplace that could increase my access to ME/CFS testing and potential treatments, I would dearly love to know about it!! Thank you.
Thanks Cort, this is great information. I have to go back and add this to the things I was really heavily exposed to in my old landscape contracting business and the little garden supply I ran. I was heavily exposed to concentrated Dursban which is an organophosphate and no longer legal. I never considered this along with my old Lymes positive test. It has been 13 years for me and at a decent level right now. thanks again
To understand why Sarin is a very likely trigger of GWI we need to understand how the neuro-immune system interacts.
I have long thought that ME and FM have similar underlying bio-chemical causes but both requiring psychological/neurological stress.
In GWI you probably have two major risk factors: Sarin and stress of war (anxiety).
Sarin is a neurotoxin originally developed as a pesticide. Along with other organophosphates such as glyphosate it interferes with critical calcium channels in the body, particularly in the central nervous system.
War (and other trauma) are stressful. Stress usually means neurological/psychological stress but also means cyto-chemical stress, particularly on signaling sensors and mitochondria, such stressors can be toxins, pathogens or in the case of the nervous system: anxiety (interpret anxiety as chronic over stimulation of the sympathetic neural pathways via fear or hyper-vigilance). (Note anxiety is NOT depression).
ME/CFS is not one disease but a cluster (syndrome) of symptoms defined by similar but variant patterns.
We know ME involves mitochondrial dysfunction in most cases.
We see the similarity of Long covid to M.E. and we know that EBV, to a lesser degree other pathogens is implicated as a pre-cursor in some cases.
We know that many people report ME or FM or MCS as following toxic exposure.
We see the extensive overlap of fibromylagia and ME (and environmental intolerance disease – M.C.S) as well as other “syndromes” such as I.B.S., migraine, hypotension and POTS and possibly EDS and Lyme. These are symptoms of ME/FM but are also syndromes in their own right without a diagnosis of ME or FM.
The presence of neurotoxins (and there are many including some pesticides), psychological/neurological stress together cause a high level of activity in many nerve ion channels. The immune system is designed to recognize persistent threats by identifying foreign protein and protein abberations (auto-immune system), such as an over-active TRP signaling channel. These TRPs are protein structures involved in signaling and ion transfer.
TRP channels do not have a typical voltage sensor, but instead can sense a variety of other stimuli including pressure/temperature, shear stress, mechanical stretch, oxidative stress, lipid environment alterations, hypertrophic signals, and inflammation products
In fibromyalgia these TRP’s have been identified as a problem in FM. This level of identification is very fundamental. IGg antibodies are produced which are attacking the pain sensors (nociceptors). The IGg antibodies are epigenetically coded. (remember that the human genetic system can produce over 10,000000000000 antibodies). Such research is now being done to identify the auto-immune signature of ME (at least in some). However these sensors, such as TRPM8, can be “master” TRPs influencing other TRPs in the system. For example a common problem in FM is low back pain. Bothe TRPM8 and TRPV4 acting in concert are the strongest suspects. In addition the TRP is not just in one part of the system, eg peripheral nerves but can also be found in DRG (dorsal root ganglia). These ganglia are signal modulating but when are deranged (ie their calcium transfer is affected) you will have poor modulation or tolerance to signals. Hence eg. people with FM have high heat sensitivity, light sensitivity, aural sensitivity, altered taste and, of course, low pain threshold. With poor modulation, a pain signal into the spine increases the expansion of dorsal horn receptive fields making FM develop over time. That is, people with FM become more sensitive to pain, they develop Sensitization.
The problem of poor modulation does not stop with pain, these TRPs (the same ones that are in the nervous system) occur in other systems, particularly in the vascular system and in the gut causing other signal processing problems, such as information processing (brain fog), and ibs. It becomes more complex when sleep is disturbed because restful deep sleep is missing.
In addition many toxins have been shown to damage TRPs (mostly TRPM8) and G-protein coupled receptors, not just in the nervous system but in other systems as well. We know that Sarin and similar toxins cause the “calcium plateau” in the brain, I explain this below.
I suspect that the neuro toxicity of sarin has caused damage to these TRPs but does so in combination with genetic and neurological stressors. The sarin keeps the ligand gated channels open and constantly allows Na+ into the neuron. When the sarin is present, even in small concentrations, Ca+ transfer is reduced by the constant Na+ transfer. This could lead to significant malfunction of both Na+ TRPs and Ca+ TRPs.
Combine this with anxiety of war and you have conditions which may activate auto-immune changes and the production of IGg or other immunoglobulins, which in turn result in protein damage to the channel. If this is epi-genetically coded, then the genetic system will continue to produce the anti-bodies. In the studies on FM Andersson et al transfered the IGg immunoglobulins from FM sufferers to mice which resulted in mice in pain. This did not happen tranferring IGg anti-bodies from “controls”. The mice regained normality because their epi-genetics had not changed, so no production of the anti-bodies by the system.
Flares in the symptoms can then also be caused by further life stress “exposures”, other toxic exposure normally detected or modulated by the TRPs. You would also expect rise and fall of symptom severity due to “exposures” and due to the normal production frequency of immunoglobulins. They are not produced in full concentration continuously but continually. This is a known issue in all auto-immune diseases.
Could a virus trigger ME? Yes
Could a bacterium trigger ME? Yes
Could a toxin trigger ME? Yes
Could life-stress trigger ME? Yes
Combine them and you have a big YES!
Timothy, I also developed ME/CFS after being exposed to Dursban used for flea control in our home in the early 1980’s. I was running a home office at the time. My symptoms have been identical to GW syndrome.
Dursban was widely used in the Gulf. One of our scientists told me that it is an organophosphate with a chlorinated structure. This means it has the persistence of chlorinated chemicals like chlordane and DDT with the potential adverse effects of an OP pesticide. According to our scientist, there is also always the possibility of dioxin contamination whenever you make a chlorinated chemical. Dioxin is one of the most persistent poisons known. Persistent chemicals can be stored in body fat.
Our scientist was responsible for getting Dursban removed from the indoor market in the early 2000’s when she published a series of cases of babies born with similar birth defects after their mothers had been exposed to Dursban during pregnancy.
For all those who developed ME/CFS after a flu-like illness. Pesticide poisoning can cause a symptom pattern similar to the flu.
A while back, I spent some time reading the literature on Gulf War Illness.
The Veteran Affairs website now uses the term Gulf War Ilnesses – in the plural – and are linked to deployment to Southwest Asia.
From their site:
“What’s included in the Southwest Asia theater of military operations?
Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia
The neutral zone between Iraq and Saudi Arabia
Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.)
Oman
The Gulf of Aden and the Gulf of Oman
The waters of the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Sea, and the Red Sea
The airspace above these locations”
There is also Gulf War Illnesses linked to Afghanistan service.
How does this fit with sarin exposure then? What was the cause in all other locations? What do they all have in common?
What is the percentage that got sick – is the famous 30% or so? I’m curious.
Another way to think of this is to look at the survivors of the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin attacks in Japan. Does it look like GWI?
And how about peoples of the countries listed?
Were there locals exposed to what the soldiers were exposed to… brghs, even more injured sick people. This is a grim subject.
Sarin was used in Syria too. Do they have something like GWI there too?
Thirteen years after the event the following were major symptoms still being reported and treated (in order of prevalence):
Vision difficulties
Depressed mood
Memory problems
Fatigue
Tiredness
muscle stiffness
Headache
Diarrhia
sudden palpitations
Abdominal pain
Of course some of these symptoms are typical of post traumatic stress disorder.
While there are some symptoms that are the same they are not typical of GWI. I suspect that this is because the main effect of the sarin was on the cholinergic system and mostly low level TRP effects are not the main problem. The event did not involve chronic stress. The stress came after the event. I think that is a major difference for the stress risk factor. So maybe the sarin in the GWI has to be accompanied with chronic stress to trigger GWI. There may also be a significant genetic difference. However, Japan does have a significant ME population – so I don’t know if genetics is a major difference.
Err… to be a functioning member of Japanese society seems to come with a good share of daily stresses. Social mores and rules, hierarchy. Starts early. Overworked students, housewives and workers – karoshi, death from overwork, etc.
Fatigue supplements are a thing… B1 mostly.
South Korea might be even stricter. What’s the chronic fatigue and ailments status there?
Murakami interviewed survivors, a few years after. I don’t know of studies/writings on the effects on their health almost 30 years later.
What about GWI in the local populations of Southwestern Asia?
I don’t buy the genetics. I think it’s all the insults coming from the environment.
For ME/CFS, more than one initial trigger is known. So it seems plausible to me that more than one chemical agent, incl. vaccinations, may be responsible for initial onset of GWI, e.g. via causing a strong immune reaction by the body.
I suppose that many of the known ME/CFS triggers have in common that they cause immune activity, and that this various immune activity may trigger a common ME/CFS pathomechanism.
In that regard, I quite like the recent hypothesis/review paper by Renz-Polster et al. because it’s as far as I know the first “umbrella” hypothesis that unifies the broad range of biomedical findings, various known triggers and existing theories into one model.
Pon1 also breaks down pyridostigmine. So, how does altered pon1 “prove” sarin caused gulf war illness?
Because people with the PON1 polymorphism, the low enzyme levels and who were exposed to sarin – were the ones who came down with GWI. People with those things who were not exposed to Sarin generally did not.
I emailed Wessely about this sarin gas theory and he said he was not convinced by it and went on to say there is no evidence that British forces were exposed to sarin gas and that hardly anyone in science refers to GWI nowadays.
I want in on this b******* diagnosis. I tell you what, I specialize in CBR in the United States Navy. Let’s start with this; when was the USS John f Kennedy exposed to sarin gas? This is complete b*******, a third of the military has these symptoms and issues and yeah so like a couple of bombs screw everybody up. Give me a break man. You’re a Yes Man all day long and I’m about to croak so I don’t give a f*** if you like this or not. I’ve been in pain almost my entire life after the Gulf war. My cartilage is disintegrating and has been since I was in my twenties. Movie list of things that I have and I was Navy by the way, so Sarin gas isn’t f****** cutting it. I have diabetes, fibromyalgia, degenerative joint disease, electrical shocks in my body and sometimes it even feels like parts of my body are on fire, I’m always tired, and I have all kinds of other issues in my head which basically make me look like a failure in life. My entire body is like totally screwed and the VA Auto gave me disability and then drove me to social security administration and they Auto gave me disability. You have to figure something else out because there’s no way in hell that you’re Sarin theory holds water when Boots on the ground isn’t a constant. You’d have to be an idiot not to focus on the experimental vaccines such as the nerve agent pill the anthrax injection and guinea pig experiments the government decided to put the military through with no choice what so ever. And don’t try to f****** throw b******* at me, I’m Navy not dumb f****** patriotic grunt. Let me see that peer reviewed report Yes Man. I threw that f****** white b******* nerve agent bill over my shoulder when they tried to feed that s*** to me in the hangar Bay and was told by my f****** Chief to pick that s*** up and swallow it or f****** go to Captain’s mast. I should have went to kept this fast because that Chief was so f****** dumb that he probably couldn’t have outsmarted one of the dumbest sperm I’ve ever ejected. Like I told you I was a CBR specialist chemical biological and radiological warfare. The army culture NBC or something of that nature. The second that dumb s*** came out of my chiefs mouth that this was going to protect us against nerve agent, I knew that was the biggest f****** lie I’ve ever been told. I can get into detail about how nerve agent affects your system, but it’s almost pointless since you’re going to f****** lie anyway. I’d be shocked if the statement isn’t deleted the second it f****** goes through. You f****** c**** f***** up a third of our military with this s*** and haven’t been made liable at all. I love my country, I just don’t love you and the people you conspired with when you made this article. I was fine with you guys playing the propaganda machine or simply being quiet about it, but when you come out with b******* like this that doesn’t make any f****** sense at all, you can go f*** yourself. Give a f*** if I’m anonymous you want my email contact me m*********** you want my address contact me m***********, you sure you all the s***, all the f****** pain all the f****** looks I get a f****** Walmart trying to walk dragging my f****** leg around because my spine is disintegrated far outweighs any repercussions you can offer.
Well – you’re going to be disappointed because your comment is getting published; i.e. Health Rising is not part of some vast conspiracy. We have no stake in what is or is not reported to be the cause of GWI. We’re just trying to report the facts as best we can.
Nor am I anything close to being an expert on GWI. I reported on the findings of a large and apparently well-conducted study by a long-term and respected GWI researcher – who believes the study indicates the cause of GWI for the majority of vets who have it.
He did not rule out other causes – so it’s possible you did get it another way. (I did update the blog to note that). The study results suggest, though, that exposure to gas caused the vast majority of cases. Studies also indicate that low-level sarin gas exposure can cause a multitude of problems.
I’m sorry about your spinal and multiple other health matters. While I can’t imagine what having a deteriorating spine is like, I’ve dealt with ME/cFS and FM for over 40 years so I intimately know what it is like to have a chronic illness condition that’s been neglected.
I sincerely wish you good luck with managing your health as best you can.
I heard the alarms and had the blotches on my helmet and arm tape
I googled my symptoms one day after leaving work early and arriving home feeling worn out and sick. What made me fall out of my chair was my symptoms of nearly 20 years which are getting worse were the result of Gulf War illness. The reason i almost fell out of my chair was I`ve never been to the Gulf or actually been to War or been injected with any kind of weird vaccine to protect me from anything worse than Tetanus.
I have however a history with spraying Organophosphate Insecticides including Parathion, when in my late teens and early twenties when i did 3 spraying season working on an Orchard.This was back in the early eighties, I`m 56 now. I have been under the care of a specialist for the last 10 years and have pretty much tried it all. Best results to cut through the Brain Fog and Fatigue has been co enzyme Q10 and for the joint discomfort and pain with almost no side effects is (PEA) Palmatoylethanolamide. I also take the prescribed Biologic drug Cosentyx which means i can go to work, mostly. The Q10 and the PEA are both over the counter which seems weird considering all the usefulness the prescription meds have been with side effects and lack of effectiveness.
The link between my symptoms and those exposed also to strong Organophosphate chemicals has taken me by surprise. I thought I`d just been dealt a black hand by fate and that was it. Of course that is it, knowing the cause isn`t going to let me sleep better or help my friends dig their garden without having to take the next week off to recover or to keep my workmates from asking why i need to take more time off etc etc. But it`s nice to know my (till now) bad genetics aren`t going to my kids and perhaps the links to all these godforsaken ailments gets better understood and maybe even cured.
Unfortunately, research funding is controlled. Ask yourself how many cures special interest comes up with for any diseases? People haven’t a clue how this special interest controls research journals nor how funding isn’t approved for therapies being used at private clinics which insurance won’t pay for it. 87% of science is never published. We know healing requires various approaches, yet research never studies more than one treatment. We have brilliant researchers who don’t represent special interest and they won’t be funded. Special interest controls university research. I have read thousands of research papers and found almost everyone with promising results ends with needs more research, yet no more funding. Not one natural treatment is approved by three letter agencies. One needs to research Rockefeller medicine and they will see how the system was designed.
I got cfs/me after experimental vaccines in the gulf. Many of us navy were 500 miles off the coast and not near land or took the meds or were exposed to nerve gas. My symptoms began within 24 hours after these shots. Research Dr Garth Nicolson and his credentials which exceed 99% of researchers. Research his name plus the terms weaponized mycoplasma. His science validated weaponized pathogens very difficult to test for, plus he verified in 4 independent labs. The blowback from his work was horrific and lives were ended. Read project day lily his book. He had nothing to gain and paid a severe price for helping many vets. He was awarded a honors seal team member after many cured soon after the gulf. A agency rigged test after he testified many times to Congress to discredit his findings.