Good news for AOM (Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine). The Department of Defense made a 1.2 million dollar research grant to the New England School of Acupuncture to study Gulf War Illness (GWI).
GWI is a syndrome that includes symptoms such as fatigue, musculoskeletal pain, sleep and mood disorders, and difficulty with concentration. GWI may include PTSD (post-traumatic stress syndrome), depression, anxiety disorders, digestive disorders, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, and several psychiatric disturbances.
Approximately 100,000 veterans of the first Gulf War (Operation Desert Shield/Storm) have been diagnosed with GWI. The official cause of GWI is unknown but officials consider the following as causal factors: vaccine exposure, chemical weapon exposure, pesticide exposure, smoke, stress related to combat and deployment.
More and more money is being put toward research of Acupuncture and it’s diverse benefits. There are many many health needs that the increased research will be able to help.
