Hillary Clinton’s Health: What The Lastest Batch Of Emails Has Revealed

Hillary Clinton’s health has been a very hot topic of conversation and speculation in recent weeks, and a few of the emails found within the latest batch of 15,000 released by Wikileaks poses more questions about the former first lady’s well-being.

According to The Political Insider, one set of emails reveals that Clinton asked one of her personal aides to research Provigil, also known by the generic name of modafinil, a drug that has been used for conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, which she is rumored to have, Alzheimer’s, Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and narcolepsy.

Specifically, the drug has been used to counter the sleepiness that can come with Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and MS, as described in the actual email.

Provigil is a class IV controlled substance, which means it’s regulated by the U.S. government for its addictive potential. Other drugs under class IV include anti-anxiety medications like Xanax and Librium, as well as drugs to help you sleep, like Ambien.

Unlike benzodiazepines and hypnotics, which are central nervous system depressants, Provigil is not used to help people relax or sleep, but rather it does the opposite by helping to keep you awake.

This raises a question. Was Hillary Clinton’s health really on the decline when this email was exchanged, or did she just need help staying awake?

According to Drugs.com, the primary use for Provigil is to keep from feeling sleepy.

“Provigil (modafinil) is a medication that promotes wakefulness. It is thought to work by altering the natural chemicals (neurotransmitters) in the brain.”

The advantages of Provigil over other stimulants like Ritalin or Adderall are that its potential for abuse is lower, as the ADHD medications are class II controlled substances (the lower the class number the higher the risk), there’s less chance of unwanted side effects and Provigil lacks a “rebound effect,” which means a person isn’t likely to crash after the chemical has petered down in the bloodstream.

In the revealing email, Jake Sullivan, the person who Clinton asked to research the drug, mentioned that it had some kind of connection to the military.

“So I was wrong that it was invented by the military, but right about military use of/interest in it.”

Just what was the military using Provigil for, and what does that have to do with Hillary Clinton’s health?

ABC News reported of the drug’s use by the military back in 2007, and according to the article, specialists within the medical field expressed interest in it because they had been (and likely still are) trying to find a way to improve, and ultimately perfect, the human being as a weapon of war.

They spoke with Jonathan D. Moreno, a professor from the University of Pennsylvania with special knowledge of using Provigil as a performance enhancement drug.

“‘The human being is the weakest instrument of warfare,’ he said. ‘[Soldiers] must eat, sleep, discern friend from foe and heal when wounded … The first state to build superior fighters will make an enormous leap in the arms race.'”

The Air Force Office of Scientific Research and Cephalon, the company that makes Provigil, conducted experiments to see how humans responded to the drug.

“Scientists treated 16 healthy subjects, depriving them of sleep for 28 hours and then expecting them to sleep from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. for four days and stay awake through the night. Those on modafinil did far better on cognitive tests than those on a sugar pill. Some could stay awake for more than 90 hours, according to Moreno.”

It’s easy to see how being able to stay awake for 90 hours could be beneficial to military personnel involved in active duty, but as Clinton was Secretary of State at the time, we know she wasn’t involved in physical combat, nor has she ever been.

Another interesting piece of information in relation to Hillary Clinton’s health that has surfaced from this latest group of emails is that Phillippe Reines, who worked for Hillary during her time as Secretary of State, contacted Roger Goodell, commissioner of the NFL, regarding Clinton’s “cracked head,” The Daily Caller reports.

Hillary’s “cracked head” is in reference to the time in late 2012 when she fainted from dehydration and hit her head, which resulted in a whole heap of problems, the worst of which was a blood clot in her brain.

Clinton's State Dept advisors contacted NFL chief to ask for help over her "cracked head" https://t.co/onChZV8gjS pic.twitter.com/4zOEFLzyCp

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) August 23, 2016

Reines also wrote that he “reached out” to Bill Frist. According to Frist’s website, billfrist.com, he’s a former U.S. senator and a “nationally-acclaimed heart and lung transplant surgeon.”

“Clinton thanked Reines for the ‘outreach’ but noted that she is ‘ok in the doctor department for now. [sic]’

“Reines apologized and clarified that he didn’t reach out ‘medically,’ and ‘wouldn’t ever do that.’

“Reines further explained that the outreach was part of his ‘ongoing efforts to undermine the John Boltons and Laura Ingraham’s of the world who are belittling your health. [sic]'”

The fact that Reines made it known that he didn’t contact Goodell and Frist for medical reasons suggests that he didn’t do it out of concern for Hillary Clinton’s health, but out of concern for the rumors surrounding her health. This is further solidified by his comment that expressed his desire to sabotage people like John Bolton and Laura Ingraham for making her health their business in order to exploit it.

If the then Secretary of State’s health was good, why would she and her staff feel threatened by outsiders questioning it? Moreover, if she doesn’t have anything to hide, why didn’t she release these emails to the FBI in the first place?

What do you think? Is this all just a bunch of conspiracy theory nonsense, or is Hillary Clinton’s health worth taking a closer look at?

[Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images]