Back pain to Lyme disease: Luigi Mangione, the suspected killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson suffered from these health issues

Luigi Mangione, a 26-year-old suspect, has been arrested for the murder of Brian Thompson, the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare, who was shot dead last week in New York City. While the police investigation is ongoing, and many aspects including the motive are yet to be known, the police think that it also has something to do with an injury Mangione suffered in June 2023, and he was furious at the healthcare industry.

Scion of an affluent Baltimore family, Mangione was the topper of his class and valedictorian in high school, and an Ivy League graduate. Mangione, who is an avid social media user, has posted pictures from his travel and fitness and also discussed his health struggles. From back pain to brain fog, Lyme disease, irritable bowel syndrome, and general sleeping issues, he has spoken about his health struggles on social media.

Luigi Mangione has complained about his back pain, which started as a minor problem, and later worsened in 2022 after he went surfing. It further worsened as per Luigi Mangione's Reddit post, when he slipped on a piece of paper, and he had trouble with sitting down, including twitching leg muscles, and numbness in his groin and bladder.

He underwent a spinal fusion surgery in 2023, and was fine later. “The surgery wasn’t nearly as scary as I made it out to be in my head, and I knew it was the right decision within a week,” Luigi Mangione wrote on Reddit. “Seemingly all I could read on the internet was that I was destined to chronic pain and a desk job for the rest of my life. That representation was terrifying, and inaccurate and completely destroyed me until I realized the silent majority of fusions are highly successful. Hoping this can help others who find themselves in the same place! This is not to encourage surgery per se, but just to provide reassurance that athletic life is totally normal after fusion if/when the surgery is necessary," he wrote. He also posted a picture of the X-ray, which showed spinal fusion.

Back pain wasn't the only health struggle Mangione faced. He has complained about 'brain fog' and how it worsened during his college year, which made studying a challenge for him. He spoke about how the doctors couldn't figure out what was happening. “It’s absolutely brutal to have such a life-halting issue,” he wrote.

The accused has also spoken about undergoing tests for Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). "I have IBS [irritable bowel syndrome] but tested for SIBO [Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth]. Would it still be worthwhile to pursue a low FODMAP [Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides, And Polyols] diet?” Mangione wrote on Reddit on Aug. 31, 2018, according to People. According to him, the testing had been covered by Blue Cross Blue Shield.

According to reports, Mangione also suffered from an apparent pinched nerve. “It can be easy to get caught up in the plethora of horror stories on the internet. When my spondy went bad on me last year (23M) it was completely devastating as a young athletic person," Mangione allegedly wrote in a post on Aug. 3, 2023. Spondy stands for spondylolisthesis, a rare back condition where the vertebrae in the spine slip out of place.

Mangione's post from 2024 hints that he had surgery six months before, which is around late July or early August 2023.


"Yea I had L5/S1 spinal fusion 6 months ago after 1.5 years of failed conservative treatment. Within 7 days of the fusion I was on zero pain meds. (That's probably faster than most folks, but my point is just that your body isn't supposed to be in pain and need meds. Even after getting my back sliced open and my spine drilled into, I wasn't in much pain)," the post read.

His Reddit account was suspended, as "that may potentially be related to suspects in high-profile criminal investigations," according to The New York Times.

(Pic coutresy: X/ kodstrangeer)