Comedian Bert Kreischer revealed serious health complications during a recent podcast appearance, sharing extensive details about his blood clot diagnosis and the medications he’s now taking.
“I can’t drink,” Kreischer announced early in the conversation. “Blood clots, yeah. My legs… In my lungs. Yeah.”
The diagnosis came after Kreischer experienced severe leg pain following multiple cross-country flights.
When pressed about the cause, he explained: “It’s from passing out on a plane. Passing out on a plane with your leg like this. It’s like just inactivity on a plane. I flew back and forth from LA to the east coast about probably about five times from December 18th to New Year’s Eve.”
The pain began during his travel schedule. “I got off that the last flight I had from New York to do Kelly Clarkson. Man, on the plane I was like, ‘God damn it, my f**king leg hurts.’ And it had been hurting for like a week, two weeks all over in different locations.”
Kreischer described the night he knew something was seriously wrong: “I woke up at 2 in the morning to make a drink to go back to bed because I was like I can’t… I have no rest. And LeeAnn’s like I’m taking you to the emergency room.”
Kreischer stated that he was initially dismissed by emergency room staff who told him he didn’t fit the typical profile, an ultrasound revealed a substantial clot behind his knee. Further testing showed the clots had traveled to his lungs, turning what seemed like a minor issue into a serious medical emergency.
He said, “They’re like, ‘You don’t have a blood clot. You don’t have any of the… the markers are you’re very overweight.’ Like I’m overweight but I’m like… I’m not… you got to be very overweight. Totally inactive. Like those are the markers for blood clots usually. She’s like you you seem fairly active. And she goes I think it’s your sciatic nerve.”
Kreischer insisted on further testing: “I told her I said, ‘But it’s been traveling.’ It was in my foot. It was on the outside of my foot. It was in my calf. It was on the outside of my calf. It was in my… It was all over my leg.”
The ultrasound confirmed his suspicions. “She comes back. They do a ultrasound and she’s like, ‘You have you have a significant blood clot behind your knee.’ She goes, ‘I didn’t see that.’ She goes, ‘We got to see if they’re in your lungs.’ And then took me in and then they’re like, ‘They’re in your lungs.'”
During the diagnostic process, Kreischer faced another frightening moment. Medical staff needed to inject iodine for the CT scan, asking: “Are you allergic to iodine?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think I’ve ever had it,” Kreischer responded. The technician replied: “Well, we’ll just find out.”
When Kreischer asked about potential side effects, he was told: “Oh, anaphylactic shock.”
The technician warned him: “You’re going to feel it…. Your throat is going to tighten. It’s going to get real hot. And then you’re going to feel like you s**t yourself and you’re going to feel like you pissed yourself.”
Mid-scan, a nurse approached with an alarming question: “Hey, man, are you having a heart attack?” Kreischer recalled: “I was like, I don’t know. And he was like, your heart rate is through the roof and your blood pressure is skyrocketing.”
The comedian is now on multiple medications, including blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, and blood thinner prescriptions. His cardiologist suggested he should remain on blood thinners not just for six months, but potentially for life.
Kreischer explained: “They’re like, ‘Yo, we’re going to put you on blood thinners. It’s really serious. You need to take this very serious. You need to be on blood thinners.’ And I was like, ‘For how long?’ She goes, ‘Six months.'”
He sought additional medical opinions. “I call my cardiologist and I go, ‘Yo, so I got… I’m on blood thinners.’ And he goes, ‘I think you should be on blood thinners for the rest of your life. I mean, it’s not bad, you know, but like a mild blood thinner.'”
Currently, Kreischer is on a reduced medication regimen. “I was on a crazy amount of blood thinners and now I’m on like just like two a day and no Tylenol and my blood pressure is perfect.”
Beyond blood thinners, Kreischer faces other limitations. “I can’t even eat edibles right now. I can barely do coffee. I’m allowed one cup a day.”
When he asked his doctor about other stuff, the conversation went: “I asked her if I could have cigars and she was like, ‘You have you have blood clots in your lungs.’ And I was like, ‘Weed?’ She goes, ‘What are we doing here?'”
Kreischer identified multiple potential contributing factors to his condition. “I think you probably got injured. They go to and because I was injured and this is like a perfect storm of blood clots. Because I was injured, I stepped up my testosterone thinking it would heal me. And so all these things mixed and I had COVID 11 times and I had four vaccinations.”
In addition to blood thinners, Kreischer disclosed he’s taking tirzepatide for weight management. “I’m on tirzepatide so I don’t eat at all. Like I don’t eat, I feel sick if I eat, so I barely eat. All I’m eating is fish because it’s what I’m supposed to eat.”
Since starting treatment in November, Kreischer reported significant progress. “It’s been since November. It’s January. I’m down like almost 40 pounds.”
Despite the serious diagnosis, Kreischer reported improvement. “I went from crazy pain in my leg. Like I mean, unbearable. Unbearable. Couldn’t find comfort sleeping to now like I took a walk in the park today. I’ve been working out. I don’t feel it the way I did.”
He scheduled a follow-up appointment strategically: “I set an appointment for the day after the Super Bowl to get my leg checked.”
Kreischer remains optimistic about eventually resuming normal activities, though for now he’s focused on recovery and maintaining his health regimen while continuing his comedy tour with necessary modifications.
