Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. Trying To Get His Meds Right

By Chuck Sudo in News on Aug 10, 2012 4:15PM

The long strange trip of Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.’s medical leave of absence from Congress continues. Jackson’s wife, Chicago 7th Ward Ald. Sandi Jackson, said he’s feeling better every day but that doctors at the esteemed Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., are still searching for the “right combination of medications” to treat the congressman for depression.

Jackson was admitted to the Mayo Clinic in late July for treatment for his depression and undisclosed gastrointestinal issues. He had a duodenal switch procedure in 2004 that doctors believe may have some connection to his depression. Because food bypasses much of the stomach after the procedure, they have to take vitamin and mineral supplements. Jackson was transferred to the Mayo Clinic from the Sierra Tucson Treatment Center in Arizona after a question was posed between his depression and the weight loss procedure.

Sandi Jackson said doctors at the Mayo Clinic are still running tests related to the duodenal switch to explain the extent of his physical ailments and if they’re related, but said she and the couple’s children talk with him every day. She also had a message from her husband to his constituency.

We want his constituents to know they are very much on his mind,” Ald. Jackson said. “He loves them all very much and is very grateful for their support. He wants them to know that he doesn’t take their support for granted.”