Re: Fw: Mysterious Syndromes Studied

[Guest guest]

This article is full of misinformation. The causes of these conditions are

understood and it is the chemical companies that would have you believe what

is in this article. This is the same as the folks that decided that Gulf

War Syndrome was due to stress. Follow the money and see who benefits from

the coverup. .

----- Original Message -----

From: Patty <faussettdp@...>

< >

Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2001 4:59 PM

Subject: Fw: Mysterious Syndromes Studied

> From: ilena rose <ilena@...>

> Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2001 12:01 PM

> Subject: Mysterious Syndromes Studied

>

>

> > http://www.latimes.com/health/men/menswire/20010204/tCB00V0675.html

> >

> > Sunday, February 4, 2001 Mysterious Syndromes Studied

> >

> > By LINDA A. JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer

> >

> > PISCATAWAY, N.J.--People desperate for explanations of mysterious

> > health problems from chronic fatigue syndrome to multiple chemical

> > sensitivity shouldn't blame the nearest toxic dump or exposure to

> > chemicals, experts say.

> > Numerous illnesses for which doctors can find no cause -or even

> > conclude it's all in the patient's head -probably are caused by multiple

> > physical, psychological and social factors interacting in complex ways

not

> > yet understood, scientists said at a recent conference at Rutgers

> > University.

> > " Everybody (at the meeting) seems to agree that psychosocial

factors

> > are very important for how people feel, for how they experience an

> > illness, " said conference organizer Dr. Kipen, a professor of

> > occupational health at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New

> > Jersey's Wood Medical School. " But most physicians in the

> > wider community don't agree. "

> > About 100 physicians, psychiatrists, chemical experts,

> epidemiologists

> > and other researchers participated in discussions on the role

> environmental

> > factors play in medically unexplained symptoms. That's an issue of great

> > interest in New Jersey, a state full of Superfund sites (113), chemical

> > plants, clogged highways, an unexplained autism cluster in Brick

Township

> > and abnormally high cancer rates among children in Toms River.

> > When pain, nausea or other troublesome symptoms send patients to a

> > doctor, Kipen noted, anywhere from 30 percent to 70 percent of those

cases

> > cannot be explained by any known disease.

> > That's according to numerous studies of patients with what

conference

> > participants called " Multiple Unexplained Symptom Syndromes. " While they

> > are poorly understood, most at least get names: chronic fatigue,

irritable

> > bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia, Gulf War Syndrome, Lyme disease, sick

> > building syndrome, multiple chemical sensitivity, sensitivity to the

> > gasoline additive MTBE, or connective tissue disorder, as in women with

> > silicone breast implants.

> > The most common symptoms, at least in patients ill enough to seek

> > medical help, include headaches, fatigue, trouble concentrating or

> > remembering things, nausea, unusual chest pain, shortness of breath,

> > trouble sleeping and musculoskeletal pain.

> > " We're seeing overlap of symptoms " from one syndrome to another,

said

> > Dr. Kreutzer of the California Department of Health Services.

> > Another puzzle, he said, is that " We're all exposed to low levels

of

> > chemicals, but we really don't see (multiple chemical sensitivity) in

most

> > people. "

> > The symptoms often seem worst in patients paying the most attention

> to

> > them, those living unstimulating, somewhat isolated lives, noted Anne

> > Spurgeon of the University of Birmingham in England.

> > New syndromes crop up periodically, and some appear to have

> > predecessors. For instance, some people working on computers or in

> > slaughterhouses today develop repetitive strain injury, whose

forerunners

> > include telegraphist's cramp, Spurgeon said.

> > She is researching a " new " illness causing fatigue and memory

> problems

> > among U.K. sheep farmers, who by law each year must dip sheep in a toxic

> > chemical to kill parasites.

> > Despite the complexities of such syndromes, researchers hope to

> > understand them better.

> > Dr. Natelson and colleague Gudrun Lange of UMDNJ's New

> Jersey

> > Medical School, for example, are testing two hypotheses on what causes

> > chronic fatigue syndrome.

> > One involves previous findings that patients with CFS who have no

> > psychiatric problems have abnormalities in the structure of their

brains;

> > the other concerns preliminary data that CFS patients have something

wrong

> > with their hearts or blood vessels.

> > Kipen said the conference helped participants decide where future

> > research should go so that " we should be able to design better

treatments

> > and prevention. "

> > The conference was sponsored by government agencies, the petroleum

> > industry and the 15 -year-old Environmental and Occupational Health

> > Sciences Institute in Piscataway, which is jointly run by Wood

> > Medical School and Rutgers University.

> > The environmental institute brings together experts from different

> > fields in programs focused on understanding how environmental factors

> > affect human health, treating people harmed by environmental agents,

> trying

> > to prevent risks to human health and the environment, and providing

> > scientific information to policy makers.

> >

> > - - -

> > On the Net:

> > Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute:

> > http://www.eohsi.rutgers.edu

> > Copyright 2000 Los Angeles Times

> >

> >

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