Teddy R. was a bit on the chunky side when he left office. His weight loss routine consisted of going on a laborious, several month-long, life-threatening trip in an uncharted area of the South American jungle! :eek:
you can see he didn’t - interviews from 20 years ago show him able to speak like a normal adult.
one without dementia - now? he can only speak normally when he sticks to a script.
Same here. I don’t recall being measured for my height at my annual physical. Definitely weighed, though.
Sorry, I’m not convinced by any arguments about his health. I don’t see any reason for the doctor to falsify records and just because Trump is lazy and eats crap doesn’t mean he is not in excellent health. The most important risk factor for disease is genetics. I know healthy active 40 year olds who eat right, exercise daily and drop dead of a heart attack or die from cancer. OTOH, I have patients who don’t take care of themselves at all who live to be 100. Trump has a few things going for him. He doesn’t smoke or drink and his blood pressure and sugar are excellent. I have no problem believing that he is in excellent health for a man his age.
The parts I have trouble believing:
That he lasted very long on the treadmill considering how little he exercises (although he certainly could be above average for someone his age)
That he scored a perfect 30/30 on his mental status testing
That a doctor would state that he expects him to remain healthy through this term and the next (7 years is a long time at his age when the risk of disease increases dramatically; this statement screams “Trump wrote it”).
I have no trouble believing that he got lucky in the gene pool lottery and have no reason to doubt the data in the report.
In fact, every time I think to myself that being President would serve Trump right seeing as how his predecessors aged dramatically in the job, I have to remind myself that this was because they felt the burden and responsibility of the office, which Trump does not. He doesn’t feel the stress so it doesn’t affect his health.
Regarding the vitamin D statements:
Again, there are no good studies showing that supplementing vitamin D improves length or quality of life. Sure, some diseases are associated with lower levels but correlation /= causation.
We don’t even know what a normal level really is. Some studies show that African American women have markedly lower vitamin D levels than those of other ethnicities cite yet their bone densities tend to be higher. Is this level “normal” for them? Do we supplement regardless? Here is an actual summary from a peer-reviewed journal, albeit from 2009, that gives a good summary of the data. I am not saying not to check and treat vitamin D deficiency, because it may turn out to be useful but I think that a lot of doctors have jumped on the vitamin D bandwagon because it is something they can “fix” easily. It reminds me of several years ago when antioxidants were all the rage and everybody was taking vitamin C and vitamin E supplements-until it turned out that high levels of vitamin E could increase the risk of hemorrhagic stroke cite and prostate cancer cite.
The takeaway-vitamin D is likely helpful in people with osteoporosis and may be helpful in other diseases but again it may prove to be harmful at higher doses also. There is no good medical evidence supporting routine testing or supplementation of vitamin D but it is probably not harmful to supplement to within what is currently considered the “normal” range.
Where’s the wide-form girth certificate?
Regarding my bolded above, so am I.
Of course he might, he’s TRUMP. “I have the best life span, believe me.”
Experiencing dry mouth over the years, NEVER has it caused me to slur my words. Experiencing people slurring their words over the years, NEVER was it because of dry mouth.
Yea, PBS, American Experience. A bunch of POTUS were not necessarily fit, but had thin frames. I am willing to bet JFK wasn’t as fit as he looked, with his illnesses and back probs. LBJ looked flabby. Reagan was a big man, but older and less active. Carter looked thin. Both Bushes looked thinnish. Trump is a fat ass. Good genes or not his heart will eventually fail him. If he lives thru his term he will age quickly afterwards. He won’t have the luxury of the former prez. who are alive now, to go quietly into his dotage.
It might not be dry mouth exactly that was the cause it could simply be the interaction between a decongestant and antihistamine, they can have side effects like slurred speech and mental confusion. Obviously we aren’t privy to the actual cause though but its not like there aren’t other possibilities.
He says he doesnt imbibe in alcohol. I wonder if this means no wine at dinner? Or just no drinks at the bar. Or tea-totaller for real?
(Er…diet coke, I mean)
I don’t speak for everyone, but I personally don’t care about Trump’s health (other than his neurological health). Trump has a long history of lying and gaslighting to protect his fragile ego, and a long history of making other people lie and gaslight to protect his ego (spicer trying to convince journalists that a million people showed up to Trump’s inauguration for example).
The issue isn’t Trump’s health, the issue is that as Americans yet another institution we used to be able to trust is now questionable.
But more than that, Ronny Jackson is a physician and an admiral. He also isn’t a political appointee. If an admiral was intimidated into falsifying medical reports, then he shouldn’t be an admiral. When does it end, what if Trump tries to intimidate a general into lying and saying North Korea just launched a missile at us.
At Trump’s age, about 75% of people suffer from hypertension.
Of the remaining 25%, I’d assume a lot have pre-hypertension. Trump doesn’t even have prehypertension.
Trump has a large waist (large waist is a good proxy for BMI to determine metabolic health), eats a poor diet, doesn’t exercise, has chronic anger issues, probably has no social support (narcissists tend to not have meaningful social relationships), and possibly has poor sleep issues.
Sure it is possible that someone with all those check marks against them is in the ~1/8 of 71 year olds who do not have hypertension and pre-hypertension. But things like this make some of us question the validity of the tests.
But again, I couldn’t care less about Trump’s physical health (other than his neurological health). I care that things have gotten so bad that we can’t trust anything anymore. I also care that a 2 star military officer may have let himself be intimidated into lying about something idiotic.
raises hand Some of us have life-long hypotension. Now that I’m old(*) I’m finally being told “your BP is normal, well, a bit low”, after decades of “OMG how are you standing you should be in the hospital!” I’m not allowed to give blood due to low BP, as their requirements are a bit more stringent than for the yearly checkups. In my case it’s definitely genetic, family history of ground-floor-level BP on both sides of the family.
(*) 50yo next March 
I am surprised that the TV shows I’ve seen (Trevor Noah and Colbert) only focus on the extra inch of growth. Neither of them have done like people upthread have and shown Trump standing next to people 6’3" or shorter.
The guy is at most 6’. The “medical” report is a joke.
It is entirely possible. Trump’s parents lived to 93 and 88, so he has decent genetics.
For me it is more that yet another institution that we used to be able to trust has now become questionable, and Trump is possibly intimidating military officers into lying on his behalf. If a high ranking military officer will lie on Trump’s behalf about his height, weight and health then what is to stop military officers from lying about national security threats?
I’d like to point out that 99 is not an ‘excellent’ fasting blood sugar. 80 would be an excellent fasting blood sugar; 99 is is only one point under the level where we consider it to be a problem - particularly since his cholesterol is high, he’s just shy of being obese (if you take his word about his height), and his waistline likely isn’t where it should be, either. I would consider him at high risk for developing problems like prediabetes and cardiovascular disease - if he doesn’t make some changes to his diet and activity level. Genetics help, but they only carry you so far - just like lifestyle only carries you so far if you don’t have good genetics. It goes both ways. And also, both his parents were much thinner than he is. We don’t know what their genetics were in relationship to how they would have functioned as overweight or obese, medically.
The fact that his blood sugar was exactly 1 point below pre-diabetes and his bodyweight is exactly 1 pound below obese (among many other things) make the results questionable.
Also, a fasting blood glucose of 99 probably isn’t bad for an obese 71 year old who has a terrible lifestyle (assuming the glucose readings are true).
Was thump’s a1c score posted anywhere? The doc said it was normal, but I’d like to know exactly what it was.
Even if you buy this bullshit that it is normal for a doctor to take your word as to your height and weight during a complete physical(instead of doing his job), you still have to contend with the facts that:
- The Doc didn’t find it strange that the Prez grew at least one inch since his last exam, and
- The Doc had the Prez standing right in front of him and couldn’t tell that he wasn’t 6’3" tall.
People look taller when you have a collapsible spine.
I agree. I thought going into it that we’d get an honest assessment from a trustworthy source. Instead, we got a lot of gushing and puffery and extremely questionable (if not obviously false) height and weight stats. So an admiral was willing to prostitute himself because like everybody else in this administration, integrity must be left at the door on entry.
Is it falsifying a medical report if the patient gives you highly questionable info that you have the immediate means/duty to verify, but you write down this info as fact in your report?
Last time I took a physical, there was no places to put “Reported Weight” or “Reported Height” on the report.