Symptoms Leading to MG?
 

Hello to all. After Desert Storm, a Gulf War Registry was begun. I was contacted by Department of Defense and was asked to report for a comprehensive physical. That was in the mid-90's. Results of the physical included muscle pain, shortness of breath and a diagnosis of sleep apnea. I wonder if any of those symptoms could have been precursors to the outright MG I was positively diagnosed with in November of 2006. I am currently taking Mestinon. Interesting that in the Gulf War, it was called Pyridostigmine Bromide. They issued the medicine to us to take in case of nerve gas attack. Same medicine, only in much lower doses in the Gulf, only 30 mg. I have received letters from Department of Defense over the years stating my unit was in the area of a large nerve gas explosion in Iraq in March of 1991. My neurologist has given me a written letter that states that exposure to organophosphates (high powered pesticides) has definitely been linked as a cause of MG. Have any of you heard of that? I thought this was interesting as the report just released nationally about ten days ago states that a combination of exposures to organophosphates, nerve gas and PB (Mestinon) were factors in defining Gulf War illnesses.

Hi GI,
wow this is certainly interesting stuff. Cant say I've heard of this.
I have wondered however if exposure to chemicals when I worked in a vineyard and orchard prior to me getting MG had any bearing on me getting it (I did take precautions, ie masks, protective clothing)
Havn't run this past my neuro tho, as he would probably think I was a bit "odd"!!

My neurologist was emphatic in stating in person as well as in writing that exposure to organophosphates has been definitely linked to MG...

Now we just have to work out why we got MG, and like in my case, people who were more careless with chemicals didn't??
My Dad is a Korean Vet and I often wonder if he was exposed to anything that may have been passed on to me(not that I blame him in any way, I'm intrigued) I'm going to visit him today and if hes having a good day, may run it by him.

Department of Defense Statistic
 

Department of Defense has an assistance line for health matters relating to the Gulf War. I contacted them yesterday and asked them for a rough estimate of how many MG cases are being reported to them from Gulf War veterans. The lady told me it's about one case of MG reported for every 100 that have contacted them. That is tremendously high when compared to occurrence rates in the regular population. It certainly looks like something that needs a lot more study! It is interesting that the Veterans Administration has named MG a presumptive condition. In other words, they are assuming in many cases that military service in the Gulf is linked to MG. That could help a lot of veterans with medical assistance or disability compensation.

This is interesting, I wonder if anyone doing research into MG is aware of such high instances in Gulf war veterans.