http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/17/us/in-jfk-file-hidden-illness-pain-and-pills.html?pagewanted=all
As president, he was famous for having a bad back, and since his death, biographers have pieced together details of other illnesses, including persistent digestive problems and Addison's disease, a life-threatening lack of adrenal function.
But newly disclosed medical files covering the last eight years of Kennedy's life, including X-rays and prescription records, show that he took painkillers, antianxiety agents, stimulants and sleeping pills, as well as hormones to keep him alive, with extra doses in times of stress.
At times the president took as many as eight medications a day, says the historian, Robert Dallek.
By the time of the missile crisis, Kennedy was taking antispasmodics to control colitis; antibiotics for a urinary tract infection; and increased amounts of hydrocortisone and testosterone, along with salt tablets, to control his adrenal insufficiency and boost his energy.
The president had so much pain from three fractured vertebrae from osteoporosis that he could not put a sock or shoe on his left foot unaided, the records reveal. He sometimes reported waking before dawn with severe abdominal cramps.
For much of his life, Kennedy also suffered from severe and potentially dangerous bouts of diarrhea, which doctors suspected might have been from ulcerative colitis. Repeated examinations did not confirm that. Their ultimate diagnosis was spastic colitis, which today would be described as irritable bowel syndrome.
Kennedy took antidiarrheal drugs like Lomotil for relief, and he lost so much weight and strength from his ailments that he received the male hormone, testosterone, to build up his muscles. He also had high blood cholesterol, often in the range of 300, once at 410, which is twice the level now considered desirable.