Agent Orange Depleted Uranium
I was on the Presidential advisory committee that examined Gulf War Syndrome at the end of the Gulf War. I did not believe that the kind of monitoring and surveillance of our soldiers and civilian contractors in that war was adequate to detecting much less explaining the syndrome that some exhibited. Not much has been done to rectify the inadequate epidemiology and health monitoring present in that conflict in the current Iraqi conflict. That is what makes this inevitable report from Iraq so very disturbing.- Art Caplan
contribute a comment
Comments have been closed for this post.
comments
OK, I am not a medical person, but no one else has commented on this so I will:
"It takes at least 10 minutes and a large glass of orange juice to wash down all the pills -- morphine, methadone, a muscle relaxant, an antidepressant, a stool softener. Viagra for sexual dysfunction. Valium for his nerves."
This is how the article starts and if it's an attempt to make me feel bad for this fellow having to take all this stuff it's not working.
A muscle relaxant AND Valium? I had Valium a few years ago when I had a muscle spasm in my neck. It worked beautifully. The guy must be loose as a goose.
The stool softener is likely necessary because of the morphine. Opium drugs cause constipation, do they not? The muscle relaxant and Valium are probably not helping.
Likewise, the ED (and how sick is he if he will cry about choking down a pill to deal with that) could easily be due to several of his other drugs; the antidepressant, for instance.
And speaking of that, an antidepressant AND Valium "for his nerves"?
And what's the methadone for? Is it to treat an addiction? Morphine is addictive. Valium is addictive. How smart is it to be on both methadone and morphine?
I wonder if the guy's medications could be cut way back. Maybe with some physical therapy and some counseling instead he'd be much better off.
- by Laura(southernxyl) on Aug 15, 2006 at 11:41 AM | link
The previous post has a lot of questions and maybe if the writer did go to medical school they might be answered. I don't know medicine either, but when someone tells me they are suffering, I tend to listen and try to understand.
The damage caused by DU is a story that must be understood by everyone, not just those damaged by it. It must be stopped because it, if what I am learning about it is true, it will have lasting effects that will only add to the hatred of the U.S. and other countries that use it in weapons, but will continue to damage those in the countries where it has been used.
Am working with some others and we are trying to help discover the truth. Understanding DU is important and it will not be stopped until the truth is known by more people and they act to stop its use and the death, illness and deformities that it causes. Or maybe it is harmless - except for the military damage it does. If there is enough evidence that it does significant damage beyond the military uses, then we must work to stop it's use.
- by RogerMc on Aug 16, 2006 at 11:21 PM | link
I don't deny that he's suffering. I question whether DU is causing his problems. Maybe it's just a very poorly-written article, but I don't find it persuasive. For instance, blood in his urine is mentioned. This is a very serious symptom. Where is the urologist or kidney specialist among his constellation of doctors?
- by Laura(southernxyl) on Aug 20, 2006 at 8:36 PM | link