Eastern Medicine Helps Chronic Pain for Gulf War Veteran, Others

Written by Anthony Hardie, 91outcomes

(91outcomes.blogspot.com) -- A Seattle Post-Intelligencer article today describes the Seattle VA's efforts to incorporate Eastern medicine treatments in the management of chronic widespread pain, a common unexplained symptom among veterans of the 1991 Gulf War left ill by their military service.

Veterans of the current Iraq and Afghanistan Wars with pain, PTSD, and anxiety are also helped by the treatment, which incorporate Buddhist meditation, deep breathing exercises, and a technique called "mindfulness."

While the treatments don't eliminate the source of pain or anxiety, they help to lessen the effects and have been shown to improve the quality of life in those who use them regularly.

Urban Dharma has published a free eBook on Mindfulness that provides a step-by-step guide to Insight meditation, practiced in Asia for centuries.

Until there are effective treatments to eliminate the source of chronic widespread pain in ill Gulf War veterans, experiments with Eastern medicine are showing promise in making it a little easier to live with the lasting effects of the 1991 Gulf War's toxic soup.