Initial Medication Hampered Mental Process, President Says

President Bush, in a discussion of his continuing treatment for a hyperactive thyroid, reported Wednesday some initial “slowing down of the mental process” because of medication taken to correct the disorder.

In an interview, he discussed the outlook for a rapid recovery from his recently diagnosed condition.

Aware that he had prompted concern Monday evening by appearing tired and hoarse at a news conference with German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, Bush disclosed that he had kept his answers brief because he wanted more time to think through each reply.

“I think more carefully about that because I think there is, I think the doctors will tell you there is a slowing down in some ways when you’re on a high medicine, what this kind of medicine does, slowing down of the mental process, but the dose has been reduced, so now you can see I’m just as sharp as a tack here,” Bush said.

The 66-year-old President, who also revealed that his stomach has been acting up because of the “pretty powerful medicine,” is being given three drops of iodine a day. He also is taking baby aspirin and Coumadin to prevent blood clots and Procainamide and Digoxin to regulate his heartbeat.

Cutbacks in his schedule, Bush said, though “less than perhaps the doctors” want, as well as initial forays back into “breaking a sweat,” have made him optimistic.

Bush again said he has been assured that he soon can return to a full exercise regimen and revealed he has received a good deal of mail urging him to stop jogging.

“We get more mail saying, ‘don’t run,’ ‘don’t jog,’ ‘you’re too old to jog.’ We get cables from . . . outside of this country saying you know, ‘please give up jogging’ . . . but doctors will tell you that jogging doesn’t hurt,” he said.