# What is wrong with Jerry Lewis? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 2, 2002, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-jerry-lewis/126719 "2002-09-02T21:31:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2002, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-jerry-lewis/126719/1 "2002-09-02T21:31:42Z")
I mean today, Labor Day, not in general. I’m not a fan of the Muscular Dystrophy Telethon, but as I was flipping channels I saw Jerry and someone was offering prayers for his health. He looks like he’s put on a lot of weight recently or is it the result of treatment for an illness? Anyone know? ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2002, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-jerry-lewis/126719/2 "2002-09-02T21:42:47Z")
He looks like Jerry the Hutt. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2002, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-jerry-lewis/126719/3 "2002-09-02T21:43:47Z")
He’s 187 years old, for cryin out loud. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2002, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-jerry-lewis/126719/4 "2002-09-02T22:05:03Z")
They’re saying it’s a side effect of steroids he’s taking for something with his lungs. I left the TV on as I was napping and woke up to his bloated face – scared the shit out of me. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2002, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-jerry-lewis/126719/5 "2002-09-02T22:08:55Z")
He called in to a local newscast I was watching. I heard him say he’s getting some kind of electrical spinal stimulation for pain relief. I wasn’t paying close attention, so I don’t know exactly what the cause of the pain is. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2002, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-jerry-lewis/126719/6 "2002-09-02T22:11:49Z")
I saw him on _Larry King Live_ a couple days ago. Ye gods, he’s fat. ---
**Author:** ![tarragon918](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d26b3c/32.png) [@tarragon918](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tarragon918)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-jerry-lewis/126719/7 "2002-09-03T01:32:36Z")
It’s the effect of Prednisone, a steroid he’s taking to treat his lung disorder. He says that he’s feeling better than he’s felt in years, as he’s also had this electrical stimulator to ease his back pain. He has gained 50+ lbs, though, from taking the steroid, and he does not look like Jerry Lewis, at least to me. ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-jerry-lewis/126719/8 "2002-09-03T03:33:36Z")
My Dad takes that and he has been losing weight. Of course, he hardly eats anymore. ---
**Author:** ![ttuerff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@ttuerff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ttuerff)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-jerry-lewis/126719/9 "2002-09-03T05:22:28Z")
True, he no longer looks like Jerry Lewis. He now looks like Claude Akins. And he’s still about as FUNNY as Claude Akins. TT ---
**Author:** ![elf6c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@elf6c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elf6c)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-jerry-lewis/126719/10 "2002-09-03T13:06:34Z")
[Hulk] Grrrr! Cheap Viewers No Give Enough! Jerry Lewis Mad! Jerry Lewis Smash! [/Hulk] 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-jerry-lewis/126719/11 "2002-09-03T14:01:19Z")
He has to cut salt out of his diet. Doctors _never tell you_ that cortisone and prednisone make you retain water—my mother went on it years ago and also blew up like a balloon. She finally found a doctor who warned her to cut her salt intake and to take (a small, safe amount of!) diaretics, and she went right back to her normal weight and appearance. Somenone should call the telethon and tell Jerry _that!_ ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-jerry-lewis/126719/12 "2002-09-03T14:13:47Z")
My cat’s on prednisone – cats tend not to be tremendously affected by the side-effects of steroids, but he still puffed up like a balloon. (Looks like a furry keg with stripes.) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Mermaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@The\_Mermaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Mermaid)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-jerry-lewis/126719/13 "2002-09-03T14:32:40Z")
I had a similar experience when I was on steroids for about 6 months. I saw some pics and I did not recognize myself. I was even in a bit of heart failure from all the fluid weight gain–at least 30 pounds or so. I had 3+ pitting edema in my lower legs and feet. That means when you took your finger and pressed it into my shin a dent 1/4 inch deep would stay in there for at least 1/2 hour. Mylegs were so heavy it was like walking through water all the time. Starting a diuretic helped a lot but finally being able to stop the steroids got rid of 20 pounds nearly overnight . I felt so much better then. But even with all that in mind, Jerry looks like he weighs at least 350-400 pounds. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Elvis_Rojo)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-jerry-lewis/126719/14 "2002-09-03T16:02:38Z")
And here I was thinking steroids increased your MUSCLE mass, not just mass in general. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-jerry-lewis/126719/15 "2002-09-03T22:34:53Z")
One of my pugs is on prednisone because she is highly allergic and it keeps her from scratching herself constantly. But criminy! She looks like a miniature Ted Kennedy in the form of a pug. ---
**Author:** ![Peta\_Tzunami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b487fb/32.png) [@Peta\_Tzunami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peta_Tzunami)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2002, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-jerry-lewis/126719/16 "2002-09-04T00:57:39Z")
Jerry Lewis is 76 years old. He did his first (16-hour) MDA telethon in 1951 before they had much more than a name and a list of symptoms and victims… I don’t know what the steroids are treating…like most of his generation he smoked for years before the surgeon general warnings became so strong, perhaps he’s suffering from As far as treatments to his back, I know that he injured his back a long time ago (March 20 in the mid-60s). It was something he’d done a thousand times, a pratfall-flip onto a piano, but it went wrong and he hid the end of a microphone cable when he landed. The ill-fated landing took a chip out of his spinal cord, an injury which quickly generated a fibrous scar tissue pinching or compressing a nerve causing him constant and excruciating pain (according to his book some side-effects of the nerve problem included numbness in his fingers, irregular bowels, impaired visions and at time impotence). Surgery, while considered, was not a viable option and for a long time he was addicted to Percodan. He eventually overcame the addiction after nearly dying because the painkillers had hidden a nearly fatal bleeding ulcer. I would imagine that is what the electric spinal stimulation is treating. Hmmm, nothing funny there imho. ---
**Author:** ![Peta\_Tzunami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b487fb/32.png) [@Peta\_Tzunami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peta_Tzunami)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2002, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-jerry-lewis/126719/17 "2002-09-04T01:06:10Z")
Whoops. That is, of course, meant to read: “suffering from lung cancer.” Guess I couldn’t bring myself to type it. ---
**Author:** ![Peta\_Tzunami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b487fb/32.png) [@Peta\_Tzunami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peta_Tzunami)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2002, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-jerry-lewis/126719/18 "2002-09-04T02:14:01Z")
A little digging on the net has yielded the answers. Jerry is suffering from pulmonary fibrosis. > [@](#): > > Pulmonary fibrosis is a condition in which scarring occurs in the lungs. It can be caused by an infection (such as tuberculosis or pneumonia) or injury or by breathing certain materials, such as asbestos. Pulmonary fibrosis makes the lungs less elastic and can lead to breathing difficulties. Some sources indicate he may have developed the disorder as a result of a serious bout with viril meningitis he contracted while in Australia in 1999 and complicated (or perhaps responsible for) a later case of pneumonia. [An article in the Las Vegas Sun](http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/archives/2002/feb/22/513078227.html?) from February details his illness and treatments.