Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation for Pain Treatment in Gulf War Illness.

Gulf War Illness is a chronic and multisymptomatic disorder affecting returning military
veterans of the 1990-1991 Gulf war. Pain is a major complaint of Gulf War Illness patients
and is a leading cause of disability in veterans diagnosed with musculoskeletal ailments
including joint and muscle pain, muscle fatigue, difficulty with lifting objects, and
extremity paresthesia's. As a result, the target of the present study is the treatment of the
pain symptoms, as this is detectable across all Gulf War Illness case classification systems.

Transcranial Direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive and painless electrical
stimulation technique that has already demonstrated to improve pain symptoms in other patient
populations, e.g. fibromyalgia patients. To investigate whether we can improve pain symptoms
in GWI patients with pain complaints, we will compare behavioral (questionnaires) and
electrophysiological (Electroencephalography) measures before and immediately after 10
sessions of tDCS and on several follow up sessions after the last tDCS from 2 groups.

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Male and female US military veterans serving during the 1990-1991 Gulf War.

2. Men and women between the ages of 18 and 50 years old during service in the Gulf War
(born between 1940 and 1973).

3. English speakers.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Non-English speakers.

2. History of a neurological disorder, including dementia of any type, moderate to severe
traumatic brain injury (TBI), brain tumors, present or past drug abuse, stroke, blood
vessel abnormalities in the brain, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, or
multiple sclerosis. Traumatic brain injury will be screened by history.

3. No subjects will be enrolled who are cognitively or clinically incompetent to give
informed consent.

4. Subjects cannot be taking medications that include: amphetamines, L-dopa,
carbamazepine, sulpiride, pergolide, lorazepam, rivastigmine, dextromethorphan,
D-cycloserine, flunarizine, ropinirole,or citalopram.

5. Subjects with cardiac pacemakers, implanted medication pumps of any sort, or a history
of bad heart disease, a history of seizures and/or family members with a history of
seizures, and/or the presence of any metal objects in or near the head which cannot be
safely removed for the duration of this study.