Howard Hughes had RSD
 

For those old enough to remember his name, check this out, from the Journal of Practical Pain Management:

In 1946, at the age of 41, Hughes solo-tested an experimental reconnaissance plane known as the XF-11. Shortly after take-off from the Santa Monica, California airport he crashed. He miraculously survived the crash and was immediately hospitalized at Good Samaritan Hospital in downtown Los Angeles. His injuries were numerous and included multiple fractures and third degree burns (see Table 2). He required three chest drainings, since he recurrently bled into his left chest cavity. Four skin grafts were required to close a large third degree burn extending from his shoulder to hip. He remained at Good Samaritan Hospital for about 5 weeks between July 7 and August 11, 1946. Hughes was given morphine while hospitalized and was discharged on codeine. A detailed list of Hughes’ injuries are listed in Table 2 to emphasize that essentially no one can survive these injuries without developing intractable pain.

* * *

Hughes suffered several neuropathies and had allodynia which presents as severe pain to the touch. He would possibly today be given the diagnosis of Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy or Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome. At times, his pain was reported to be so severe that a simple touch or the touching of bedclothes produced pain. His renowned refusal to brush his teeth, cut his toe and finger nails, or wear shoes may have been related to the fact that these actions may have caused increased pain. His multiple facial fractures probably produced a neuropathy of his jaws and face. At this time, it is not possible to correlate his pain and its treatment to any impact on his renowned, lifelong eccentricity and obsessive-compulsive traits or to his failure to brush teeth, cut nails, or exercise.

Practical PAIN MANAGEMENT, July/August 2007
http://pain-topics.org/pdf/HowardHughesPseudoaddict.pdf

Mike

Hi,
 

I thought this was interesting. Thanks for posting it.

I can remember the news media saying he kept to himself, didn't go clean, and ate his food straight out of cans. I am thinking that the info. you gave explains it.

If he was in such horrible pain then he had to have been dealing with major depression with it and also from the meds he most likely was taking.

Too bad they didn't put 2 and 2 together when he was alive. I believe the media is so busy wanting to feed off of these people that they don't even care what the underlying cause of their problems are.

Thanks for the info.

Ada

Mike,
Thanks for that---it sure does explain much of his behaviour.
Cheers Tayla:hug:

We had discussed this a month or so on my forum and I also found this topic to be very interesting. He self-medicated himself for years, and while it's true that he was never diagnosed with RSD/CRPS, all his symptoms point to it, as sadly, we know the symptoms all too well.



I think it's true that the media puts a bad spin on things like this and it looks as though it's been the same way for many years. It's sensationalism, plain and simple. If a person in the media had a family member living with what we do, they might begin to realize how much disservice they do to us, or what the consequences are to us (as chronic pain patients), then maybe things would change... although I don't foresee it happening any time soon.