{"id":751,"date":"2017-06-18T07:47:00","date_gmt":"2017-06-18T07:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drmirkin.com\/2017\/06\/18\/roger-moores-many-medical-problems\/"},"modified":"2019-10-09T21:56:03","modified_gmt":"2019-10-09T21:56:03","slug":"roger-moores-many-medical-problems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/?p=751","title":{"rendered":"Roger Moore&#8217;s Many Medical Problems"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"width: 132px; height: 175px; float: left;\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/FamousDeaths\/rogermoore2.jpg\" alt=\"Roger Moore\" \/>Roger Moore was an English film and television star who was most famous for having played secret agent James Bond in seven films from 1973 to 1985. \u00a0In 1991, he was named a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for his work helping underprivileged children. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2003. \u00a0He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2007 and in 2008, the French government appointed him a Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">He died on May 23, 2017 at age 89, after many years of medical problems and unhealthful lifestyle habits. \u00a0I do not have access to his medical records, but he wrote extensively about his health and various diseases in four autobiographical books, including <em>My Word is My Bond <\/em>(2008) and <em>One Lucky Bastard<\/em> (2014).<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><strong>Childhood Illnesses<\/strong><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">Moore was brought up in the early 1930s before antibiotics and legislated childhood immunizations, so \u00a0many of the medical treatments he received as a child would not be done today. \u00a0 He had measles, mumps and chicken pox, as did most children in the pre-vaccine years. \u00a0In 1932, at age five, he developed pneumonia in both lungs and was too sick to be moved to a hospital. \u00a0Since antibiotics were not yet available, he was treated with thick creams and wraps that were applied to his chest. \u00a0All they did was burn his skin. \u00a0The doctor told his parents that he would have a death certificate with him when he returned in the morning, but that night the high fever dropped and Moore recovered. \u00a0He later said that his father sold his motorbike in order to pay the medical bills.<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">At that time many infections were treated with surgery so he had his tonsils, adenoids and <a href=\"https:\/\/drmirkin.com\/morehealth\/your-appendix-is-useful-after-all.html\">appendix<\/a>\u00a0removed. \u00a0Now we know that these tissues serve a useful purpose in helping to kill invading germs. The appendix helps your intestines to recover their normal bacterial flora \u00a0after you have had an infection or take antibiotics.<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">He had not been circumcised as an infant, so when he complained (at age eight) that his penis was sore, the doctors treated the infection by removing his foreskin. \u00a0He was also a childhood sexual abuse victim but did not tell his mother about it until he was sixteen years old because he was ashamed that it happened to him.<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><\/div>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jUYIoqd8TL0?ecver=2\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><strong>A Lifelong Weight Problem<\/strong><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">Moore was 6&#8217;2&#8243; but was a chubby teenager and had to watch his weight all his life. \u00a0By his thirties he \u00a0gained a lot of weight because he regularly ate bacon rolls for breakfast, steak-and-kidney pie for lunch, and lots of buns at tea time. \u00a0To help control his weight, he asked his doctor for an appetite suppressant and was given amphetamines which gave him extra energy. \u00a0He soon realized that he had become addicted to them and needed to stop taking them. We now know that constant use of amphetamines can increase risk for heart disease and high blood pressure. \u00a0He got up at 6AM each day and did calisthenics at his home, but he hurt his back and had to stop his exercise program. \u00a0At various times in his life, he tried tennis, walking, golf and swimming. \u00a0In his later years he was unable to fit into any of the clothing he kept from his James Bond days.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><strong>Smoking<\/strong><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">Moore was a heavy smoker until he began filming <em>The Persuaders<\/em> in 1971. \u00a0He asked his co-star, Tony Curtis, for an ashtray. \u00a0Curtis responded by handing him a horrible picture of a lung that was destroyed by smoking. \u00a0Moore related, &#8220;It turned my stomach and I decided it was time to stop smoking cigarettes.&#8221; \u00a0However, he continued to smoke cigars for several more years.<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><strong>Kidney Stones<\/strong><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">He suffered through three major bouts of extremely painful <a href=\"https:\/\/drmirkin.com\/morehealth\/preventing-kidney-stones-2016.html\">kidney stones<\/a>. \u00a0In 1961, at age 34, he was filming <em>Gold Of The Seven Saints<\/em> in the desert and had to have stones removed surgically. \u00a0He suffered two more severe attacks of kidney stones while filming other movies. Evidently the kidney stones were made up of primarily oxalates, so his doctors told him to avoid oxalates in fruits and vegetables such as strawberries, spinach and chocolate. \u00a0As a result, he restricted fruits and vegetables and ate more meat and bakery products that made him gain even more weight, which increased his chances of forming plaques in his arteries and suffering heart damage.<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><strong>Warts<\/strong><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">Moore recounts having a wart removed from the inside of his nose, diagnosed by a doctor who was treating Moore&#8217;s son on a boat off Portofino. \u00a0Warts are usually caused by a virus called HPV, often acquired from close contact with another infected person<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><\/div>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CxwdlWwuEPE?ecver=2\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><strong>Arsenic Poisoning<\/strong><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">When he was filming <em>Gold<\/em> in mines in Johannesburg in South Africa, his nipples started to hurt and turned a dark-gray color. \u00a0Doctors diagnosed the problem as exposure to large doses of arsenic in the water in the mines.<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><strong>Shingles<\/strong><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">In his 1977 film, <em>The Spy Who Loved Me<\/em>, you can see that one side of Moore&#8217;s face is puffy and that the eye is swollen shut. \u00a0During the filming of the movie he developed a sudden, very painful attack of shingles , which is chicken pox the second time around. \u00a0A child with chicken pox will have spots and blisters all over the body. \u00a0After a week his immunity drives the virus from the bloodstream, but can remain dormant in nerve roots for the rest his life. The virus can escape many years later and cause painful blisters on the skin over the affected nerve, usually on just one side of the body. \u00a0<em>The Spy Who Loved Me<\/em> crew had to keep on shooting scenes, so in some of the scenes the camera took no direct pictures of his face and the pictures were shot over his shoulder.<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><strong>Skin Cancer<\/strong><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">Many movie stars try to keep a constant tan because they think it enhances their appearance on camera. \u00a0 Moore&#8217;s &#8220;cosmetic surgeon&#8221; gave him a tanning machine which he used in addition to the time he spent on the beach in direct sunlight. \u00a0As a result, he had to have many skin cancers surgically removed from his face and the rest of his sun-exposed body.<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><\/div>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/yeBqf6bYZak?ecver=2\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><strong>Prostate Cancer<\/strong><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">Moore got regular prostate checkups and in 1993, when he was in his sixties, his doctor came to his front door and actually cried when he told him that he had prostate cancer. His doctor did not want to tell him this over the phone. \u00a0After having radical prostate surgery, Moore recalled having to wear a hose attached to a plastic bag because he lost all control of his bladder.<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><strong>Slow Heart Rate\u00a0<\/strong><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">In 2003, at age 78, he collapsed while dancing in a show on Broadway. \u00a0He suddenly couldn&#8217;t get enough air into his lungs, was unable to speak, and then hit his head on the stage floor. \u00a0The audience thought it was part of the act until they learned that paramedics had taken him to a hospital. \u00a0He was diagnosed with bradycardia, a heart rate that was so slow\u00a0that his heart couldn&#8217;t pump enough blood to his brain. \u00a0Many athletes have resting heart rates below 50, but some people can pass out when their heart rates drop below 50 beats a minute. \u00a0 He was told that he could die at any time and that he should have a heart pacemaker inserted immediately.<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><strong>Pneumonia<\/strong><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">In 2013, Moore contracted a very serious case of pneumonia. \u00a0Antibiotics did not help him for a very long time because of his previous smoking that had destroyed the cilia that clear filth from the air that you breathe. \u00a0Every time you breathe in air, you also take in filth and pollen with it. Then your bronchial tubes secrete mucous, \u00a0and the cilia, the little hairs lining your bronchial tubes, sweep the filth and mucus up to your mouth and you swallow the filth and mucous with your saliva. \u00a0Smoking destroys the cilia, so the mucous remains in your bronchial tubes to block your airways and can smother you to death. \u00a0He was so sick that he couldn&#8217;t move and had to learn how to walk again after his illness. \u00a0 The high fever caused him to lose most of his famous hair.<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><strong>Diabetes<\/strong><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">Also in 2013, Moore was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. \u00a0Most cases of diabetes that start in later life are caused by an unhealthful lifestyle, not just faulty genes. \u00a0Moore smoked, drank excessively, repeatedly lost and gained weight, did not have a sustained exercise program and ate lots of meat, sugared foods and sugar-added drinks. \u00a0He had to give up drinking alcohol and eating sugar and taking sugared drinks. \u00a0 He started drinking artificially sweetened sodas instead, but that may not have been a good idea. \u00a0Recent studies have shown that <a href=\"https:\/\/drmirkin.com\/nutrition\/artificial-sweeteners-linked-to-higher-blood-sugar-levels.html\">artificial sweeteners can make you hungry<\/a>, causing you to eat more food and gain weight. Any weight gain can raise blood sugar levels in diabetics even higher.<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><strong>Cause of Death<\/strong><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">His obituaries state that he died of cancer, but did not state the type. \u00a0 He had prostate cancer surgery 24 years before his death, but prostate cancer is usually such a slow-growing tumor that it is common for it to take that long for the cancer to spread through the body. \u00a0Moore was quoted many times saying, &#8220;There is nothing glamorous about death.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><\/div>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ok2ms1yhNNc?ecver=2\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\"><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Roger_Moore\">Sir Roger George Moore\u00a0<\/a><\/div>\n<div id=\"cke_pastebin\">October 14, 1927 \u2013 May 23, 2017<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Roger Moore was an English film and television star who was most famous for having played secret agent James Bond in seven films from 1973 to 1985.  In 1991, he was named a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for his work helping underprivileged children. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2003.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7602,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-histories-and-mysteries"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}