US Politics
Trump speaks out about his health – and the doctor’s advice he’s ignoring
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President Donald Trump has pushed back on concerns about his health in a new wide-ranging interview where he talked about his medications, sleep schedule, habits – and why he ignores some doctor’s advice.
Questions about the 79-year-old president’s wellbeing have come after he was photographed with bruised hands – and then with makeup to cover them up – and swollen ankles.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said last month that the bruising came from “frequent handshaking.”
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But Trump told The Wall Street Journal, in an interview published Thursday, that the bruising comes from taking a higher dose of aspirin than doctors recommend, and that he has done so for years.
“I’m a little superstitious,” he said. “They say aspirin is good for thinning out the blood, and I don’t want thick blood pouring through my heart. I want nice, thin blood pouring through my heart. Does that make sense?”
The president also said that he applies makeup to his hand after he gets “whacked again by someone” and that “I have makeup that’s, you know, easy to put on, takes about 10 seconds.”
Trump is the oldest person to assume the presidency, a job that’s 24/7 and has countless stressors. But the president’s doctor, Navy Capt. Sean Barbabella, said that he is in “exceptional health and perfectly suited to execute his duties as Commander in Chief.”
Barbabella also said Trump takes aspirin for “cardiac prevention.” But the president takes 325 milligrams daily instead of the common low dose of 81 milligrams.
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“They’d rather have me take the smaller one,” he said. “I take the larger one, but I’ve done it for years, and what it does do is it causes bruising.”
The president has also been filmed with his eyes shut during Cabinet meetings and in the Oval Office. Trump said he doesn’t sleep a lot, and usually calls and texts aides at 2 a.m. or later.
“I’ve never been a big sleeper,” he said. And he pushed back on the allegation he dozes off.
“I’ll just close. It’s very relaxing to,” he said of his eyes. “Sometimes they’ll take a picture of me blinking, blinking, and they’ll catch me with the blink.”
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Trump is also known to have a diet, heavy in fast food like burgers and French fries. He also does not exercise much outside of golf. “To walk on a treadmill or run on a treadmill for hours and hours like some people do, that’s not for me,” he said.
In addition to aspirin, Trump’s doctor reported in April that he takes rosuvastatin and ezetimibe for cholesterol, and mometasone cream for a skin condition.
Trump has also given differing statements on what medical scans he has received. In October, he said that he received an MRI at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
But it turned out he received a CT scan. An MRI takes more time and is better for reviewing soft tissues.
Trump told the Journal that he regretted undergoing advanced screening because it put his health under additional scrutiny.
“In retrospect, it’s too bad I took it because it gave them a little ammunition,” he said. “I would have been a lot better off if they didn’t, because the fact that I took it said, ‘Oh gee, is something wrong?’ Well, nothing’s wrong.”
Trump’s swollen ankles also caused concern this year. The White House later said that the bruising on his hand and swollen ankles shared a common root: chronic venous insufficiency, wherein leg veins become damaged.
Trump said he briefly tried wearing compression socks for the condition but stopped because “I didn’t like them.”
