Has it ever been determined what was wrong with JFK's health?

by elverloho

I'm up to the last book in Robert Caro's biography of LBJ and he devotes many pages to JFK's long history of strange health problems and how nobody seems to have figured out what was wrong with him. Do we know now? Any good guesses?

Boatus

I've not got the book OP is referring to but in med school but JFK is given as a famous example of Addison's disease. Maybe OP could list a few of the signs and symptoms in particular he's interested in from the book? That way myself and others might be able to distinguish if there's other things, not attributable to the Addison's!

Just to save OP some work common features are:

  • Low blood pressure (and therefore fainting)
  • Hyperpigmentation (a constant tan)
  • Prone to thyroiditis (particularly Hashimoto's thyroiditis which in this case is called Schmidt syndrome)

In an 'Addisonian Crisis' (when it gets really bad) the symptoms are what was mentioned before and also includes:

  • Vomiting and diarrhoea
  • Pain in the legs
  • Lethargy
  • Slurred speech
  • Convulsions
  • Fever
GTbulldog

With growing technology and discoveries certainly prevalent in the medical field, many doctors now believe that he had something larger than Addison's Disease, known as "autoimmune polyendocrine syndrome type 2," or APS 2, which can lead to the aforementioned Addison's Disease, as well as hypothyroidism, which can cause joint/muscle pain, and glandular issues. These conditions point easily to the weight/muscle loss, back problems (which were exacerbated on PT-109), and dizzy spells (1952 Senate race, day before the election). Countless stories abound of his medical issues, and it's safe to say that JFK was a sick man all throughout his life, not just the later years of his short life (scarlet fever in 1921, etc...).

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CptBuck

As a related question, just how often was JFK meeting with and receiving injections from "Dr. Feelgood"? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Jacobson

Were the visits routine?

jxj24

The proximal health problem appeared to be some form of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), probably ulcerative colitis. There were stories of how, as a child, and later as an adolescent, he was a "nervous" child who never could seem to gain weight, leaving him somewhat sickly. The therapy at that time was heavy use of steroids such as prednisone, which is a potent anti-inflammatory that would damp the irritation in the gut, allowing the patient to absorb nutrients and resorb water.

Unfortunately, long-term use of high doses of these drugs have a couple of major side effects. They suppress adrenal function, and they cause severe loss of bone density, which can lead to serious metabolic problems and skeletal problems. This is why steroid therapy is no longer used as anything beyond a short-term, acute treatment, reducing the inflammation so other medications can hopefully achieve and maintain remission.

These are exactly the problems that plagued Kennedy throughout his life, resulting in even greater medical mismanagement of his condition with painkillers and mood-altering drugs to allow him to function through the worst of the disease and secondary (and tertiary) conditions.

The only source I can currently recall for your reading pleasure is "Dr. Zebra", a physician who has made a study of (among other things) the hidden history of presidential health. This is admittedly an unusual source for this subreddit, but I feel it is valid as he works from available history and fits the facts to scientifically defensible medical knowledge.