The secret pain and illnesses of JFK

I thought this would be interesting to alot of people. A lot is known about JFK, his assassination and life especially by jfk buffs all over the world. I have to wonder how many know his secret pains and illnesses he had to endure, so i decided to have a little look around.

According to an independent presidential historian with a medical consultant Kennedy suffered from more ailments, was in far greater pain and was taking many more medications than the public knew at the time or biographers have since described. He was famous for having back trouble, and even since his death various biographers have brought together information on his other medical problems including digestive issues he also had Addison’s disease, coupled with an apparent life- threatening lack of adrenal functions. However newly disclosed medical files which cover the last 8 years of the presidents life show he took a vast array of painkillers, anti anxiety agents, stimulants and sleeping pills as well as hormones to keep him alive and to help with stress, sometimes taking up to 8 different types of medication a day. All of this according to x-rays and prescription records uncovered by historian Robert Dallek, a committee of three longtime Kennedy family associates, who for decades refused all requests to look at the records, granted Mr. Dallek's, in part because of his ''tremendous reputation,'' said one of them, Theodore C. Sorensen, who was the president's special counsel.

Robert Dallek has wrote a biography of his own called: An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963, and was apparently allowed to examine the records over two days in the company of a physician, Jeffrey A. Kelman, and to make notes but not photocopies. The findings of trawling through these various documents were shared with The Atlantic and the new York times. According to Dallek Kennedy went to great lengths to conceal his pain and his medical issues, and seems to inspire great awe on dallek’s part, it has to be said that even though Kennedy appeared to be suffering greatly and he complained regularly of feeling groggy, this did not seem to deter him from the job at hand notably through detailed transcripts in 1962 during the Cuban missile crisis in taped conversations – they appear to show him as very much being in control and very lucid. Kennedy was said to be taking antispasmodics to control colitis; antibiotics for a urinary tract infection; and increased amounts of hydrocortisone and testosterone, along with salt tablets, to control his adrenal insufficiency and boost his energy.

The records apparently show that Kennedy was hospitalized for back and intestinal ailments in New York and Boston on nine previously undisclosed occasions from 1955 to 1957, when he was a senator from Massachusetts, campaigning unsuccessfully for the 1956 Democratic vice-presidential nomination -- and quietly planning his 1960 presidential bid.


Sources for above:

www.theatlantic.com... - Pulling Back the curtain – an interview with Robert dallek

www.nytimes.com... - AN UNFINISHED LIFE

www.nytimes.com... - Robert Dallek Article Collection.

hnn.us... - Dallek and Kennedy: The Media Reaction

Your posts are lenghty but informative.
This was very intriguing. I did not knew that. Thanks!

I knew it. Jack was in so much pain he couldn't even pick up his kids.

He suffered immensely.

I think in the past I have read JFK had Crohn's disease, diagnosed as a young teenager. His father had experimental steroid drugs given to Jack, which led to collapse of his spine, and his lifelong back problems. Also I have read he was given last rites several times in the 1950s. Amazing that he tried to enlist in the US Army in WWII and was rejected, then was successful in enlisting in the US Navy. So many of our current crop of politicians are Chicken Hawks, they want war, war, war, but not for themselves or for their children.