In January, shortly after a Guadalajara-born man I’ll call Rolando Bouchet retired at age 75, a malady that seemed to come out of nowhere put him in bed for weeks, with “hives all over his body, fevers every day and barely eating enough to stay alive,” his wife lamented.
A family man with a background of country clubbing and an American father, Bouchet had led a charmed life until now. His wife wondered if retirement was having this horrifying effect. “The worst thing was he told me he didn’t want to survive. I tried to prepare our children for bad news.”
After weeks of high drama, pieces of the puzzle started to fall in place. Around January, Bouchet had developed leg ulcers and was advised by a doctor to stop taking RM Flex, a “natural herbal supplement” (as his wife described it) that is marketed for men and manufactured in Jalisco, according to some of its labels. The doctor recognized the name, told Bouchet it contained cortisone, a synthetic adrenal hormone classified as a steroid, and pointed out that this prescription drug is not listed on the label. At the doctor’s advice, Bouchet dropped the supplement. He’d been taking it “for several years.”
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