In Reply to: JFK, medication, the Cuban Missile Crisis: posted by BluBlood on June 01, 2025 at 14:57:10
My concern is not just the steroids but the barbiturates and methadone.
From the Guardian,
That Kennedy suffered from Addison's disease, a life-threatening adrenal deficiency, was known, and his back pain was evident during his presidency: in 1961 he had to be lifted in a cherry-picker on to his plane because he could not climb the stairs. But Professor Dallek's study, in the latest edition of the Atlantic Monthly, reveals for the first time that Kennedy was taking up to eight medications a day.
During the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, he was on anti-spasmodic drugs to treat his colitis, on hydrocortisone and testosterone supplements, and antibiotics to treat a urinary tract infection, the files show.
Stimulants, barbiturates, methadone and thyroid hormones also helped Kennedy to maintain an energetic exterior, despite being in so much pain that he could not put a sock on to his left foot by himself.
His previously known ailments have often been attributed to his naval service in the second world war, but Prof Dallek believes the root of his problems was the steroids prescribed in his youth for intestinal ailments.