The Irritable Heart: The Medical Mystery of the Gulf War
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by Jeff Wheelwright
In The Irritable Heart Jeff Wheelwright profiles five ailing veterans, unraveling the health mystery through their intimate and fascinating case histories. He describes the veterans' experiences, beginning with their deployment to the Gulf and tracking them through their return, their mysterious suffering, and their struggles to find the reasons for their illnesses.
Drawing on his experiences as a reporter in the Gulf in 1991, he reviews the toxic substances in the environment, such as oil smoke and nerve gas, that many believe to be the cause of the conditions. Wheelwright demonstrates why such scenarios are unlikely. Rather, he shows that the gulf war illnesses belong in the company of chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, and multiple chemical sensitivity -- symptom complexes that are increasing in America and evading a biomedical explanation. Although these contemporary illnesses are unrelated to war, Wheelwright points out that the gulf war ills have their own precedents in military history as far back as a Civil War malady known as "irritable heart."
Doubters have dismissed the veterans' conditions as a psychological fabrication -- "It's all in their heads." Wheelwright maintains that gulf war syndrome is a real illness, involving both the body and the mind.
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Editor reviews
Jeff Wheelwright, himself a reporter sent to the Gulf, covers the politics and the media's part in the war as well as reviewing possible factors present in the environment that have been suggested as a cause for veterans illnesses. He describes in detail how Gulf War Syndrome came to be linked intimately with CFS, MCS and Fibromyalgia and argues that a new view of biology and health are needed before any of these conditions can be adequately explained. With this in mind there is discussion of the emerging branch of medicine known as psychoneuroimmunology.
The author investigates all leads with regards to what may have caused veteran's illnesses but he does remain skeptical that chemical exposures and other environmental factors might have triggered Gulf War syndrome.
In conclusion, this is a compassionate exploration of how many veterans were affected by the war and left with unexplained health problems collectively known as Gulf War syndrome.
| Overall rating | 7.4 | |
| Content | 8.0 | |
| Ease of reading | 6.0 | |
| Value for money | 7.0 | |
| How much did this book help you? | 8.0 | |
| Would you recommend? | 8.0 |
Comprehensive investigation of Gulf War Syndrome
If you want a thorough review of the current medical thinking regarding Gulf War Syndrome as well as absorbing personal accounts of the war itself and what followed for many thousands of veterans, here is a good place to start.
Jeff Wheelwright, himself a reporter sent to the Gulf, covers the politics and the media's part in the war as well as reviewing possible factors present in the environment that have been suggested as a cause for veterans illnesses. He describes in detail how Gulf War Syndrome came to be linked intimately with CFS, MCS and Fibromyalgia and argues that a new view of biology and health are needed before any of these conditions can be adequately explained. With this in mind there is discussion of the emerging branch of medicine known as psychoneuroimmunology.
The author investigates all leads with regards to what may have caused veteran's illnesses but he does remain skeptical that chemical exposures and other environmental factors might have triggered Gulf War syndrome.
In conclusion, this is a compassionate exploration of how many veterans were affected by the war and left with unexplained health problems collectively known as Gulf War syndrome.
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