Nora Ephron: Is Bush medicated?

I think she may have hit the nail on the head.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nora-ephron/whats-eating-george-bush_b_9919.html

... At the time I wondered if Bush was on Paxil or Lexapro, drugs that several of my friends are taking and that seem to have turned them into strangely muted versions of themselves. I asked my friend Rita, who's a shrink, but Rita is very careful about committing on subjects of this sort. She did point out, though, that sometimes, when the President talks, his mouth has a strange sideways twitch, which is apparently common in people who are on antidepressants. Actually it might have been my husband who said this, I can't remember.

But I started thinking about all this again on Sunday. On the Chris Matthews Show, there was some old footage of the president from last year's presidential campaign. He was outdoors, talking to a group of people in hard hats; he was energetic, focused, confident, on top of the world. Now you could easily counter: of course he was, it was a lovely day, he was surrounded by supporters, things were going well. But the President we're seeing these days is a completely different man.

< snip >

The point is that it seems possible to me that when George Bush gave up alcohol in 1986, he dealt with the depression that often accompanies sobriety by becoming an obsessive exerciser. And that's what he's essentially done ever since. He's never held anything that could be confused with a job. Owning a basesball team is not a job. Even being governor of Texas takes only a couple of months a year, it turns out. So he was free to exercise.

But at some point this year, something happened and the exercise regimen stopped working. Bush started becoming depressed. My theory is that a certain amount of panic ensued, and more exercise was prescribed: hence, the afternoon on the bicycle in Maryland, and the reluctance to disturb an already disturbed, irritable man. (Interestingly, the incident happened just after the President returned from a four-day trip to Europe, which had not only required him to work several hours each day but undoubtedly interrupted his exercise routine.) Then came the vacation in August, the odd, sequestered vacation, a perfect time for the President's doctor to try medication, or change medication, or adjust medication. Then Katrina and the emergence in the fall of an unenergetic, irritable, muted, unfocussed President, the man you see today.

But, the increased irritability and overall sense that 'there's no one home upstairs' is quite alarming!

My daughter was diagnosed with Bi Polar (runs in my husband's family)about 5 years ago. In her case it seems, her meds have to be changed every year or so. They will work fine for a time, but then all of a sudden she will start having her panic attacks all over again and need to have her meds changed. She was on Paxil for about a year and a half. Her doctor switched her to Lexapro 6 months ago. For now, she is back on an even keel and doing fine.

From what her doctors have told her, this is common. She will have to be on meds and under doctor's care for the rest of her life. Her cousin, who is also Bi Polar, was also an alcoholic. That can be a symptom of the disease from what we were told. The disease can manifest itself in many different forms depending on the severity and the individual.

I don't know about Bush though. Is he Bi Polar? My husband's niece was diagnosed back in the late 80s after being in and out of many hospitals. Not much was known back then about it. It was not until she was admitted to a major NYC hospital that they began to suspect Bio Polar. In my daughter's case, given the family history (2 cousins, and possibly, grandfather) and more recent time period, she was diagnosed immediately. Somebody older, like Bush, would not have been diagnosed until much later in life.

without thinking of the consequences! LOL!!

Alcoholism, personality disorders, mood disorders, and yes childhood learning disabilities and possible ADHD. He is a complex clinical picture and the family has covered for him all his life and bought him an education and jobs, and carefully erased all of his rule violations and blunders.

about which I don't think the public, even the blogging public, has any reliable info about, I would bet they're pretty significant.

It is possible that his current dementia is related to his long time alcohol abuse (perhaps a korsakov's), or perhaps we are looking at a brand new illness. But yes it would all be carefully covered up I would think, like Reagan's Alzheimer's was.
I think that we will be seeing less and less of Bush in public. He had a hard time functioning on the SA trip. Was not able to stay up late and then come down to breakfast. And he left one country early etc. In the press conference I saw his affect was quite odd, and his coloring was bad.

A person who has never had the understanding of what a fourty hour work week is all about seems to resent it when his "job" actually takes him away from play time. He's like a five year old who wants to be at recess all day long and gets angry when the teacher says "it's now time to study". He may be called many kinds of "holics" but workaholic he will never be. :crazy:

Considering the size of his ego, arrogance, and absolute certainty that he's always right, it's fairly certain he would be very depressed by the uncontrolable fall in his poll numbers, the protesters where ever he goes, and the inability of his handlers to control protests in foreign countries.

There are obvious indications that he sure isn't happy! He's lost the spring in his step, and his swagger.

Maybe it's a good think if he's on meds. At least it might keep him from throwing things!

None of them have that jaw thing.

I'd guess bush's "coke jaw" is because of some other kind of drug.

n/t

He may be on antidep meds but these are not causing the jaw tick.

i've been on anti-depressants for years and i have none of those symptoms.

OK, I know that ALL of Bush's communication is nonverbal in one sense, but, seriously, did anyone look closely at the clips of Bush at the summit in Argentina? Watch him constantly tapping his finger on the table. The man is obviously uncomfortable and dying to get out of there. It borders on a panic attack.
Also look at his face compared to the face we saw a few years ago. I don't know if there's any truth to the National Enquirer report that Bush is drinking again, but he certainly has the face (not expression, but physical features) of a man who is consuming lots of alcohol. Seriously, take a close look.

to slow him down so he doesn't flap his jaws without thinking of the consequences. Pity no one has given him Ritalin. No, I change my mind, he'd be scary focused. We'd all be dead.

MUCH better than he is.

If he's medicated, it's something pretty sinister. Whatever it is, there's a huge difference between Bush of 2000 and Bush of now. It reminds me of the changes documented in Muhammed Ali over the years.

I was on Lexapro last year until I weaned myself off of it.

Decided it was better to feel depressed than to feel like a psycho.

Nasty little side-effects.

from when he was running for governor of Texas, the difference is astonishing. I saw some on a PBS show (Frontline?) a few months ago. He was sharp, focused and energetic, but not manic like he was on the 2004 campaign trail and not dopey like he seems today.

I left this out of my post. Astonishing isn't the word I would have used to describe the difference, though. More like horrifying. This should be the biggest clue to people that something, or likely, several, major things are very wrong with Bush.

Tardive dyskinesia is a neurological syndrome caused by the long-term use of neuroleptic drugs. Neuroleptic drugs are generally prescribed for psychiatric disorders, as well as for some gastrointestinal and neurological disorders.
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/tardive/tardive.htm

TD is characterized by coordinated, constant movements of the mouth, tongue, jaw, and cheeks. Jaw movements may be from side-to-side, or they may look like chewing motions. The tongue movements may be squirming or twisting (choreoathetoid). If trunk movements are present, they are typically in the form of rapid forward motions of the lower abdomen and hips (pelvic thrusting) or twisting or flicking movements of the arms and legs. The involuntary abnormal repeated movements of TD may also include lip smacking, cheek puffing, tongue thrusting, finger flicking, and trunk twisting.
http://www.wemove.org/td/td_sym.html

and he is drinking heavily, and Pickles is hiding it.

In one recent photo op she was verbally propping him him up. If you look at some of his recent pics he looks like a chronic alcoholic who is drunk. Tolerance is high so he is not falling down but he is toasted just the same. I know the look quite well.

Alcoholism takes years of recovery to get past years of screwed up thinking and living patterns.
Church and exercises can add to sobriety, but are not sobriety at all.
Also, honesty is vital.

I'd bet a years income he's found the edge of the wagon.
And is licking the disease around the edges with prescription drugs.

anything about Bush's mental health, really. Or his physical health. I would be very, very, very surprised if the people who so closely manage his image have allowed any kind of physician to actually get a look at what passes for his medical history, or to asses his complete physical health.

This Ephron thing is like the fifth or sixth speculative assessment I've seen published about what exactly may be wrong with Bush, or any one aspect of his health. Now, I don't mean to be entirely critical of speculation--as his citizens we're entitled to a certain amount of proof that the man with is finger on the button and who is CiC of our military is at least theoretically fit to serve. We have no such proof. (Longtime DU Bush gossip junkies are no doubt familiar with what I'm referring to: the extremely questionable reputation of his primary care physician in the WH, the fact that his annual physicals are basically done by committee and that a couple of obvious issues aren't "examined" at all, not to mention the fact that according whitehouse.gov, it appears that he did not have a physical in the year 2004--!) But, seriously, what disturbs me when people--anyone, medically credential or not--speculate about what one thing is wrong, is that it sends DUers in particular into a tizzy about whatever the newest critic is fixated on, while few mention the more disturbing problem: many things, both physical and mental, are obviously wrong with our "president" and in my opinion no one person can definitively say what they are. The facts about his health have likely been as obscured as everything else about this Administration.

You are so right about DU taking off after a possible diagnosis like hounds to a white stag (nonprovable existance). However, being a HUGE West Wing fan, I started corrolating this with the fictional fallout experienced by the Bartlett administration when his MS was revealed. Then I started to be one of those people you were warning us against...chasing after a flight of fancy. The only reason I think that maybe there really IS something REALLY wrong with GWB is because it is how faithfully West Wing has stayed true to real-life storylines and scenarios that raises my interest.......please take this with a shakerfull of salt. I just think it is a very interesting note. If anything is wrong with him,we will probably never know. But boy, sure was interesting to see what a well-liked president had to put up with in a fairly real-life scenario (considering the show's use of real political adivisors)
Just a strange train of thought, don't mind my wanderings.

Well, before I post my own personal "diagnosis" of what might be wrong with him, the point of my other post is not that DUers are stupid for following encouraging speculation about Bush's health, but that as you post--there's no proof of what is obviously VERY wrong with him. We should be alarmed about how much is being kept secret, and about how little could ever be uncovered even if credible experts bothered to look. So few here seem to "get" that the total lack of real, reliable, documented information about Bush's health is just as alarming as the rumor that it's...so much worse than antidepressants.

With the caveat that I don't have any formal medical training, here's what I think the major issues are: 1) Bush is a non-recovering addict who has never had any known therapeutic treatment for his addictions, (which were the result of an abusive upbringing by partners in a classic co-dependent alcoholic marriage). These addictions included the abuse of opiates and alcohol, which continued at least until at least his fortieth birthday and have likely resumed in earnest within the last year. 2) The psychological damage inflicted on him by his parents in early childhood resulted in his development of accurate egocentricity. 3) He is also a gay man with a family who demanded that he repress his sexual identity (at least publicly) and has suffered with varying degrees of self-hatred regarding this rejection, in addition to paranoia that the charade covering up his continued affairs with men will be discovered. 4) Possible adrenal disorder. 5) Possible stroke(s). 6) Possible colon, colo-rectal or rectal cancer with possible secondary mets, maybe acquired as the result of contracting an STD. 7) Unknown disease or diseases apart from the others I listed which neither the public nor we DUers know anything about due to the secrecy with which Bush's health is guarded and knowledge about it obfuscated. That's still the yuckiest thing to me.

I don't know what he's on, but it's not working any more. He's completely spazzed out. He's on something that makes him grind his teeth, and it's driving me crazy watching him.

Ever since I had sex with a male arctic bear, I've been bipolar.

we should remember a terrible moment in our history.
I'll just mention the name of the great Senator Tom Eagleton, and say let's not.

then there is something else seriously wrong with him and the American people have a right to know.

I think since he's a federal employee that he should be drug tested as soon as possible. They claim he took one when he first took office. I think it's time for some random testing in the WH at this point.

His personal stake was for 1.8%--which he borrowed from a Midland bank where he had been director.

....since his partners had upped Bush’s stake in the team from 1.8 to 11.8 percent, his cut from the proceeds of the sale was $14.9 million, a 25-fold return on his investment of $606,302.

www.angelfire.com/ok5/pearly/htmls/bush-sec5.html

Back when he was running for Governor, he impressed me as a half-bright fratboy type. His mental powers, such as they were, have gone far downhill since then.

As someone who knows him from his role as Governor of Texas, you'd be in a position to compare and contrast. Isn't it terrible?