Gulf War Syndrome Symptoms Linked To Sickness Response

As many of you know by now, I have written several blogs on sickness behavior which includes in-depth discussions about it and how it relates to environmental illnesses. This new study suggests and as the article says GWS is related to some of the effects of sickness behavior.

The author writes "Unlike normal pain, chronic pain does not subside after an injury has healed. The latest research based on the principles of psychoneuroimmunology (the study of the connections between the mind, brain and immune system) shows that chronic pain results from ongoing pathological interactions between the brain and immune system. When we are ill the immune system releases chemicals called 'cytokines' which tell the brain to trigger the 'sickness response', that familiar feeling everyone experiences when coming down with the flu, for example. This response forces us to rest and allow the body to use all available energy to fight the infection. Symptoms associated with the sickness response include painful joints and muscles, profound fatigue, headache, and sensitivity to light and sound - all very similar to the symptoms suffered chronically by veterans suffering from Gulf War Syndrome."

HEIRS Blogs: Just a few of them there are more just click on the links after this list.

• Sickness behaviour pushed too far - the basis of the syndrome seen in severe protozoal, bacterial and viral diseases and post-trauma  


• Neuroinflammation,Diabetes and GSK-3b in Environmental Illnesses


• Sleepiness in CFS and Fibromyalgia May Be a Form of Narcolepsy!


• Chemical Sensitivity and Th2 Autoimmune Disease: The Loss of Treg Cells As Referee!


• How Changes in Neurons May Lead to Altered Cortisol in CFS/ME & Sickness Syndrome.


• Infection/Endotoxin in Chronic Fatigue, Fibromyalgia and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity.


• Inflammatory Proteins and IL-10 in Obesity and Pathogenic Exposure: Implications for Sickness Syndrome and Fatigue!

If you would like to read more about sickness behavior, you can access my blog by clicking here.... and here as I call it both sickness behavior and sickness syndrome depending on when I write.

Further Reading in the library: Sickness behavior

HEIRS H&H

Resource: Immune cells of the brain linked to Gulf War Syndrome symptoms . The Environmental Illness Resource. Retrieved on 3/5/10.
http://bit.ly/9tjv1H