My husband is a USMC Gulf War veteran. He thankfully, did not suffer with extreme illness and symptoms of Gulf War Syndrome, but he does have some minor symptoms.
Here is the problem - our 15 yr old daughter was the first child we conceived after his return in 1991. Her older sister was born 2 weeks after his return home and she is symptom free. Mariah however has had odd things going on since birth. She has had yeast infections in her diaper rash (EVERY time she had a rash), she has had chronic UTI's since age 3 (12-15 urinary tract infections per year to the point she no longer has pain with them). When she was an infant, I would find her with a ring of sweat around her head & body in her crib - in the winter. It reminded me of night sweats. Her siblings never had anything like this - all are very healthy.
Okay - so this year she has been having severe lower abdominal pain. They know it's in her GI tract, near her appendix. She has been in constant pain since May 5th, 2008. It is at a 9 or 10 out of 10 on a pain scale. She is taking 1500 mgs of vicodin a day, along with other pain meds for intestinal cramping. She is seeing a pediatric gastroenterologist at a leading children's hospital and just had full series of biopsies of her entire GI tract and enzyme check - food allergy, appendicitis, Meckels diverticulitis and all these other conditions have been ruled out - it's not Crohn's, colitis, gastritis, etc... no ulcers. He can't find anything wrong.
We're wondering if it's not something related to Gulf War Syndrome - who do I contact if it is? My husband chose to enlist, my daughter did not ask for this. I can't even begin to describe what it's like to see her in this much pain. She is a jazz musician, an athlete, gorgeous and brilliant - she doesn't deserve this. If you can suggest anything, please help us help her!
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