IGX

I work with veterans who spent time in areas where chemical attack was believed to be a threat. All of them were required to take pyridostigmine bromide tablets, commonly referred to as "PB" tablets. All of them have symptoms collectivelly referred to as "Gulf War Syndrome". All are getting jerked around by the VA.
PB is a "cholinesterase inhibitor which prevents the breakdown of acetylcholine by allowing more acetylcholing eo accumulate." (http://www.mestinon.com).
one of the symptoms of GWS is irritable bowel syndrome. All of my coworkers with GWS have it. One of them began treatment for his IBS with dicyclomine. "Dicyclomine is an anticholinergic drug, a medication that reduced the effect of acetylcholine" (http//www.druglib.com/activeingredient/dicyclomine/) His symptoms cleared up within a day.
Part of his GWS includes elevated blood pressure. His blood pressure normalized within a day of taking dicyclomine.
He has started experimenting on himself by skipping the dicyclomine for different lengths of time to learn how long the effects last. So far the blood pressure issues return almost immediately, other effects more slowly.
No one at the VA other than his GI specialist wants to hear about his success in treating his symptoms.
The takeaway from this for the short term is that dicyclomine seems to fix a large part of GWS symptoms.
Tell your fellow sufferers.

Is this based on Physics?

I was primarily at the port of Al Jubail. We took three different tablets in January 1991. One of which may be
the drug you mentioned, but I am definitely not sure of it.

I've lost touch with the 100+ men I served with then. I do not have those symptoms you mentioned.
I have some health issues, but I'm 60 years of age ( was 38 during Desert Storm/Shield).

Certain areas, particularly in the desert may have been hit with chemical agents and your clients may have
been exposed. I tend to believe that would be the most likely cause of their problems rather than the drugs
the Military gave the troops.

I do not have an exhaustive medical history in these folks. Speaking to them I've learned that a significant fraction, perhaps half, of their symptoms are of some kind of auto-immune disorder. Much of there other symptoms match well with the described effects of excess acetylcholine. the noted improvements from use of an acetylcholine inhibitor (dicyclomine) is suggestive that the fault lies in the use of acetylcholine promoters (PB).
At least one of these gents heard the chem agent horns go off frequently during his time in the sandbox. There's some speculation that this might be part of the problem. I do not care to state affirmitively that one or the other is the sole cause of the issue. Anecdotally, dicyclomine improves a lot of this fellows' sypmtoms. His peers are greatly interested in trying this. I'll follow up if any one expresses interest.
And since this is the free speech forum, I have no doubt that some arrogant prick in officer's uniform would inflict upon pain of dishonorable discharge an inappropriate course of a powerful neurological drug as a preventive measure in the absence of any overt need for it.
I"ll return , when I have time, to view the quality of shit slinging headed my way

I was part of the psych team that evaluated vets for GWS. The psychiatrist in charge told us in no uncertain terms that GWS did not exist and that was the official Big Green Machine stance. We were told they wanted more money and our job was to give a sympathetic ear to their complaints and send them on their way. Quite a education in how the Army treats its vets. Glad to hear some are finally getting some relief.

This intrigues me greatly. I would be more inclined, just on a theoretical / mechanistic basis, to look at the agents, instead of the pyridostigmine, just because certain cholinergic toxins are known to bind irreversibly to the Ach receptors in the absence of 2-PAM treatment. But that is amateur-level speculation, as I am not a neurobiologist.

Seems like a very simple study to set up, and one that you could ethically use a placebo vs. the bentyl - no known, proven, effective treatment for GWS. Would not cost a lot, as bentyl is cheap compared to a lot of meds. You could even set it up as a randomized cross-over trial, to minimize bias and variance. 30 days on treatment a, record # of symptom free days. 30 days wash out on no meds, same outcome measure. 30 days on treatment b, same outcome measure.

I don't have access to a pool of GWS patients, nor is this my particular arena of research. But if this fellow's GI doc is interested (I assume he's in the VA and has a ready pool of patients), I could probably help with study design and stats.

Chessman- Yeah, and my guy is now on a mission to spread the word. I was in but never deployed overseas during the beginning, there but for the grace of god, etc.
Judobrian, I'll pass the word back. Given that his GI (gastro intestinal) doc is a VA employee I wonder if the administration would approve of any study. I'll let you know what I hear back.