Veterans’ at a high risk for MS?

October 6th, 2008 · No Comments

I saw this come through the google: Veterans’ MS study awaits Bush sign-off

The Veterans Benefits Improvement Act of 2008, now awaiting President Bush’s signature, contains a provision to determine whether veterans of the Persian Gulf War in 1991 and of post-9/11 wars are at increased risk for multiple sclerosis.

Senate Bill 3023 passed the House last month and was sent to the White House last Thursday. If passed, a wide ranging, comprehensive study of veterans of Desert Storm, and of those in current conflicts, would be conducted to examine incidents of multiple sclerosis and other neurological disorders. A final version would be due New Year’s Eve, 2012.

The multiple sclerosis provision is especially significant to Desert Storm veterans, who seem to suffer disproportionately from a variety of neurological illnesses linked in part to exposure to various toxins during their service.

It will be very interesting to follow this. I think we can all agree that there is more than one cause of MS so it will be cool to see if we can find another one.

It would also be nice to know the stats of MS folks living in the US. I know they always say 400,000 but those are old. It worries me that we are sitting on an epidemic. It seems like everyone knows someone with MS. I was training for a volunteer gig that I started on Sunday and one of the trainees daughter has MS. We had a good chat about that. She felt like they were stuck to living in Seattle because of her daughter, a grown woman. It is interesting the effects MS has on families.

There was a thread on a community were someone was using MS as their excuse for being kind of crazy. The thread changed into this massive post where it was decided that MS is the new internet excuse. A disease people attach themselves to as a way to get attention? Not sure… It would be interesting to meet these people. It’s not as exciting as it seems. I wonder… if I was going to pick my own internet disease… what would it be? I’ll have to think of a good one and get back to you.

Anyway… work has been pretty stressful and I have been dead tired. Tom keeps asking why I am tired which of course makes me nervous. I think I am tired because he refuses to drive and so I have to take him to his man game on Saturday mornings at 8am. Lazy Bastard. If I wanted to do something at 8am on a Saturday, I would have a 160 pound whining toddler… but when it’s his activity, it’s ok. MEN!