Trump details aspirin habit, defends health
US President Donald Trump said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that he has been taking daily doses of aspirin above the medically recommended dose for years, citing habit and superstition.
Trump also defended his energy and health, explaining that he had a CT scan, not an MRI scan, during the October examination, details of which he and the White House delayed releasing.
Trump said in the interview that he regretted having advanced imaging performed on his heart and abdomen during an October visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center because it raised public questions about his health.
He had “advanced imaging” as a preventive screening for men his age, his doctor said in a memo the White House released in December.
Trump initially described it as an MRI but said he didn’t know what part of his body it scanned.
A CT scan is a faster form of diagnostic imaging than an MRI but provides less detail about tissue differences.
Trump took the exam in October because he planned to meet people who work there at Walter Reed, the president’s physician, Navy Capt. Sean Barbabella, said in a statement released by the White House on Thursday.
Trump had already undergone an annual physical exam in April.
“President Trump agreed to meet with staff and service members at Walter Reed Medical Hospital in October. To make the most of his time in the hospital, we recommended that the President undergo another routine physical evaluation to ensure his continued optimal health,” Barbabella said.
Barbabella said he asked the president to get a CT scan or MRI scan “to definitively rule out cardiovascular issues,” and that the results were “completely normal and revealed absolutely no abnormalities.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that the president’s doctors and the White House “have always maintained that the president received advanced imaging” but that “additional details about the imaging were released by the president himself” because he “had nothing to hide.”
“Looking back, it was too bad I took it because it gave them some ammunition,” Trump told The Wall Street Journal.
“I would have been a lot better off if they hadn’t done that because when I got it I was like, ‘Wow, is something wrong?’ he said. Anyway, there’s no problem.”
Trump said using aspirin made him more prone to bruises, injuries he sometimes tried to hide cosmetically, raising questions about his health.
“I’m a little superstitious,” the 79-year-old actor said.
“They say aspirin is good for thinning the blood, and I don’t want thick blood flowing into my heart,” Trump told the newspaper.
“I want nice, thin blood to flow into my heart. Does that make sense?”
Stating that his health is “excellent”, Trump also rejected accusations that he fell asleep in recent White House meetings. The videos showed him struggling to stay alert.
“Sometimes they take a picture of me winking, winking, and they catch me winking,” Trump said.
with AP
