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The Irritable Heart: The Medical Mystery of the Gulf War
The Irritable Heart The Medical Mystery of the Gulf War Author:Jeff Wheelwright If oil, smoke, and nerve gas didn't cause Gulf War Syndrome, what did? Following the 1991 Persian Gulf war, thousands of U.S. military veterans developed illnesses that medical science was unable to understand. Ten years later many veterans still suffer, and the investigation has become bitterly polarized. Through five compelling case histories,... more » science writer Jeff Wheelwright unravels the mystery of a real illness consisting of physical symptoms magnified and aggravated by psychological distress. His inquiry cuts through the web of epidemiological evidence, showing that oil, smoke, and nerve gas are unlikely culprits. Gulf War Syndrome bears an eerie resemblance to equally puzzling illnesses in the civilian population: chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, and multiple chemical sensitivity. Much of the blame for the impasse in understanding all of these conditions rests with modern medicine, which insists on dealing with body and mind separately. With profound insight, and profound compassion for so much unexplained suffering, the author takes the subject of chronic illness far beyond the medical aftermath of a desert war.« less