Agent Orange/Dioxin related illnesses

Thank you for the information.  

Hello, I myself am also trying to understand agent orange and searching for answers. My dad served in Vietnam and mixed agent orange. I was born in 1982. At age 13 I fell very ill with digestive issues and by age 23 I had surgery for my GERD as treatments no longer worked. I had Nissen Laporscopic Surgery. I am now age 40 and diagnosed with more digestive issues. I now have IBS, diverticulosis, and a collapsed colon. The kicker with all this is our family had no medical issues with any digestive disorders. I am wondering if anyone else is going through what I am going through and I’m looking for closure.

Is your Dad active with VA? I'm a 77 year old Vet who has numerous AO issues and continue to struggle thru the VA claim process. I would suggest that you contact VA because there are thousands of children of Vietnam Vets with health issues. If your Dad mixed AO he must have serious health issues. I didn't even look to VA for mine until I had a heart attack at 70. Never connected the dots with disease until then. Thought VA was for war wounds only. I'n not fighting to service connect Hyperthyroidism to AO. They accept Hypo but not Hyper even though 3X the number of vets have Hyper that were exposed.

Hi @princesspopsicles and @gunnerdad, Welcome to Connect. Agent Orange issues have affected the lives of a lot of Vietnam veterans and some of their children. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund site has a lot of good information and videos on Agent Orange here:
--- https://www.vvmf.org/topics/Agent-Orange/, including these two articles you might find helpful:

--- The VVA Self-Help Guide to Service-Connected Disability Compensation For Exposure To Agent Orange for Veterans and Their Families: https://www.vvmf.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/AgentOrangeGuide.pdf
--- VVA Brochure: Has Your Child or Grandchild’s Health Been Affected by Your Military Service?: https://www.vvmf.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/AO-Checklist_3panel-FINAL.pdf

@princesspopsicles, I'm sure you are not alone with your questions on digestive issues. Have you looked through the Digestive Health Discussion Support Group to see if there may be some answers for questions you have? -- https://connect.mayoclinic.org/group/digestive-gastrointestinal-problems/

@gunnerdad, I'm sorry to hear you are struggling through the VA claim process. I'm wondering if this site might be helpful?
--- VA Disability Process - Applying for VA disability benefits is often complex and confusing. This guide outlines the challenges eligible individuals may encounter during their application process: https://veteransguide.org/va-disability/process/

Thanks @johnbishop for the reply.
VA makes it deliberately difficult as most government agencies seem to function in a delay and hope you go away mode. Part of my issue is age. Never sought out VA till I was 70 and have handled my claims by myself. Then only went to get my heart drugs and that started me to understanding my issues were not new in the AO exposed world. I'm currently trying to validate my Graves disease hyperthyroidism. They have accepted hypo which I am but due to the Graves treatment. There was a study at Buffalo University about ten years ago that found that exposed vets had 3x the number of cases of Graves than the non-exposed. Also of note that hypothyroidism was less prevalent in the exposed group. The AO study group was 23,939 and the nonexposed was 200,109 and yet the AO group had 3x the number of cases of Graves.
I've tried to contact the Doctors who did the study to update any addition studies if they exist and to hopefully get a nexus letter from them simply stating that based on their research it is as likely as not that my Graves was caused by exposure to AO. I was looking to Mayo Clinic for any information or help that might exist there.

My Dad served in 1968/1969 and while he has had a number of extremely serious health issues, he hasn't tied them to his exposure to A/O--until now. I am having hip replacement at 49 due to hip dysplasia that is nowhere in my family genetics on either side, but given it's a known condition due to exposure to A/O, that's what we're attributing it to. I'm filing my VA Form 21-0304 for this and my prior hip surgery (I will also have the other hip replaced next year) and that has prompted my Dad to explore his own claims.

We also lost my brother to heart disease at age 41 and are going to see if we can file a claim on his behalf posthumously.

We realize that getting any results from this effort will be difficult--possibly fruitless--but we simply cannot continue to endure these illnesses and conditions with an assumption that there's a very likely tie to this deadly toxin.

Is there a blood test that can be done to identify if either of us have the dioxin in our bloodstream?

I'm so incredibly proud of my Dad and his service--more than his two Purple Hearts and one Bronze Star can even begin to honor him and what he endured. I am taking on this fight to help honor him and help bring him some peace for something that he feels incredibly guilty about. Which, obviously, is beyond misguided. But we will fight.

Thank you in advance for your insights.

My uncle served in Vietnam and was exposed to Agent Orange.

He had a lifetime of health issues, mostly respiratory. He eventually developed leukemia, which proved fatal.

I know he fought for decades to get the government to admit to a cause, without much success.