After the beginning of June, references to Bush's atrial fibrillation and thyroid crisis become
exceedingly rare, a tribute to the power of the Brown Brothers, Harriman/Skull and Bonenetworks. On September 5, Burton Lee announced that he had halted Bush's daily doses ofs (^)
procainamide and digoxin shortly after the middle of August. But Bush continued to take daily
doses of coumadin to prevent blood clots, medication to replace lost thyroid hormore production,
and aspirin every other day, also to prevent blood clots. This announcement came at the end of
Bush's 29 day vacation in Kennebunkportovercome weight loss and fatigue associated with the thyroid condition, called Graves' disease, and. The White House spin was that Bush "appears to have (^)
treatment for it." [fn 37] Then, in mid-September, Bush underwent a two-hour medical examination
designed to provide a "medical stamp of approval" for Bush's health as he prepared to run for re-
election in 1992. "I gotta prove I'm well," said Bush as he went in for the checkup. According to Dr.
Burman, "the president has been restored to his normal vigorous state of good heall tests had showed Bush's heart functions to be normal; he also claimed that there had been noalth." Lee said that
recurrence of atrial fibrillation after May. Bush had commented in August that the only thing that
could keep him from running for a second term would be a health problem. He now described his
own condition as "100 percent. Perfect bill of health." [fn 38] And that, as far as the regime was
concerned, was that.
Despite the claims of Dr. Lee that political considerations played no role in his treatment, it is clear
that all statements by White House physicians about Bush's physical and mental health must be
regarded with the greatest skepticism; such pronouncements are likely to be as reliable as the
censored war bulletins of Operation Desert Storm. Was there still a problem with Bush's health,including his mental health? The answer is an emphatic yes, a yes buttressed by the observation of (^)
continued paroxysms of obsessive rage on the part of Bush, who has not calmed down at all. Bush
remains on an emotional roller-coaster, complete with the snap decisions so typical of the
hyperthyroid personality. In short, Bush's thyroid and mental disorders have the most devastating
implications for his ability to govern.
The first question regards the nature and even the name of Bush's malady. According to a leading
Baltimore psychiatrist who could not be described as politically hostile to Bush, it is clear that the
man in the White House is suffering from the full-fledged symptoms of Basedow's disease. The
difference between Graves' disease and Basedow's is more than a technical quibble: the termGraves' disease as used in the English-speaking world is misleading in that it plays down the (^)
symptoms of mental disturbance which are more explicitly associated with Basedow's disease.
According to this specialist, it is pointless to test the water in the White House, the Naval
Observatory, Kennebunkport, and Camp David, since it is well established that Basedow's disease
is emotionally triggered. An emotional upheaval, psychic shock, or other mental trauma stimulatesthe master endocrine gland of the body, the pituitary gland, into an overproduction of its hormone,
which in turn provokes an overactivity of the thyroid, speeding up overall metabolism and further
exacerbating the nervous and emotional crisis. This pattern of overstimulation of the mind, the
pituitary, the thyroid, the mind, and so forth becomes a vicious, self-feeding cycle, which can be life
threatening if it is not effectively treated.
According to this Baltimore expert, the fact that Bush has experienced a pattern of atrial fibrillation
is cause for concern not so much because of what it portends for Bush's heart, but rather because it
shows that Bush's case of Basedow's disease is already well advanced, with a significant excess of
thyroid hormone. The overproduccontrol through the administration of ration of thyroid hormone can theoretically be broughtdioactive iodine, but this does not mean that the disease under (^)
itself is easy to treat or to bring under control with any finality. Precisely because Basedow's disease
is emotionally triggered, a sudden increase in emotional stress can result in a renewal of erratic
behavior.