Gulf War Syndrome

If Jimmy looked over my shoulder while I clicked through the links from Googling the phrase "Gulf War Syndrome," he'd call the resulting sites "anti-Jimmytist."

Someone has paid Google to top the search results on the phrase "Gulf War Syndrome" with Web sites arguing that the phenomenon doesn't exist.

Jimmy would want me to set the record straight on this issue, given how badly he suffered the symptoms of this particular syndrome.

I bet the people publishing these anti-Gulf-War-Syndrome sites have something to do with the insurance industry and related entities who'd rather not have to pay veterans additional medical benefits because of what they were exposed to out there?

That said, Answers.com does a nice job of explaining the syndrome.

So does Wikipedia, at least the two paragraphs copied and pasted below:

Gulf War syndrome (GWS) or Gulf War illness (GWI) is the name given to an illness with symptoms including increases in the rate of immune system disorders and birth defects, reported by combat veterans of the 1991 Persian Gulf War. It has not always been clear whether these symptoms were related to Gulf War service. New research indicates that war veterans who have developed numerous health complaints have areas of the brain that are measurably smaller than those of healthier vets.[1]

Symptoms attributed to this syndrome have been wide-ranging, including chronic fatigue, loss of muscle control, headaches, dizziness and loss of balance, memory problems, muscle and joint pain, indigestion, skin problems, and shortness of breath. U.S. Gulf War veterans have experienced mortality rates exceeding those of U.S. Vietnam veterans [2]. Brain cancer deaths, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease) and fibromyalgia are now recognized by the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments as potentially connected to service during the Gulf War. [3]

Jimmy suffered from genuine insomnia, strange aches and fear of loud noises. These things are still felt today by my brother-in-law who was in the Gulf War the same time as Jimmy. They'd talked on the phone about where to find drug trials for post-traumatic stress disorder among Gulf War veterans. These symptoms were and are very real.