After a lot of conjecture, the White House said that Donald Trump is getting treatment for a long-term illness.
After reports of the president’s legs bulging and his hands visibly swelling, this news came out. People on the internet were shocked by Trump’s actions.
According to Forbes, Karoline Leavitt, a spokesman for the White House, spoke to the press on Thursday and called chronic venous insufficiency a “benign and common” ailment that usually affects older persons.
Leavitt said that the president’s doctor wrote a note saying that the veins were damaged and not letting blood flow normally.
The diagnosis was made after images of Trump’s hands appearing to have bruises caused many to become more alarmed. According to Leavitt, that is consistent with mild soft tissue irritation brought on by frequent hand shaking and aspirin use, which is a component of a consistent cardiovascular preventative regimen.
The National Institutes of Health states that malfunctioning venous valves are typically the cause of chronic venous insufficiency.
Signs include swelling and pain in the legs, changes in skin color, itching, limb weight, and leg edema.
If not addressed, it might make life worse, make it harder to function, and even cause more serious problems like vein ulcers. The NIH said that over 150,000 new cases are found every year.
Trump, who is 79 years old, is the oldest person to ever run for president of the United States. He has often talked about health and aging in politics, especially during his 2024 reelection campaign.
Throughout the campaign, Trump regularly attacked Joe Biden’s mental and physical health, saying that he was “cognitive decline.”
The criticism got louder and louder until Biden finally dropped out of the contest in July because his own party put pressure on him. Kamala Harris took over as the Democratic torchbearer from him. After that, she lost to Trump in the general election.
Leavitt argued that Trump’s test results showed “normal cardiac structure and function, no signs of heart failure, renal impairment, or systemic illness,” even though others were worried about his health. She also said she had “no evidence” of more serious illnesses including “deep vein thrombosis or arterial disease.”
Leavitt wouldn’t say what kind of therapy Trump would have for the ailment when asked. Instead, she said it was up to her White House doctor. She said, “We’ll let the doctor handle that.”
It’s not against the law for U.S. presidents to keep their medical records private, but it’s common for them to make their annual physicals and health information public.
There have been headlines in the past about how open or closed Trump’s medical records are.
During his 2015 presidential campaign, his doctor Harold Bornstein famously said that he was the healthiest person ever elected to the presidency. Later, Bornstein admitted that Trump had written the rude note himself.