Bit of an odd request but are you aware of any quotes or anything that might suggest that John Lennon experienced some variety of chronic pain? I have small pet theory (or more it's a possibility I've considered) that John might have had a connective tissue disorder or something, based on him apparently being double jointed/having very loose joints and also according to yoko having very soft skin. I'm pretty sure there's nothing out there that would suggest chronic pain, but I also know that if there is it's likely to be a singular sentence in fred seaman's book or similar. I know I sound a little crazy trying to diagnose john lennon 44 years after his death but I think it's an. interesting possibility.
Hey! That’s really interesting actually, although I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything specifically about John having chronic pain specifically in anything I’ve looked in.
From what I have on me in terms of any chronic health issues, Albert Goldman (and I know it’s Albert Goldman but...) mentions of John in 1978:
‘John’s health, which he thought he was guarding with his self-denying regimen, was actually being undermined. He complained of colds and fevers, chronic indigestion and constipation, headaches and toothaches, dizzy spells and tachycardia. Once he exposed his gums to Marnie and showed her an eruption that had him quite worried. Though Lennon was a hypochondriac, alarmed by every ache and pain, he never sought professional help, doubtless because he knew that any legitimate doctor would demand that his patient give up illegal drugs. Preferring to doctor himself, John was forever tinkering with his diet by calculating his balance of yin and yang.’
Although that paragraph really is there to just emphasise John as a hypochondriac, so I’m not sure how much weight could be given to whether that was representative of John's actual long-term health. Not related to potential connective tissue disorder but a dentistry article I’d read a while back theorised that he likely had some form of gum disease/long-term tooth pain due to the state of decay of one of his teeth that had been sold at auction in 2011, so that may have been an additional source of pain generally.
However relating to any variety of chronic pain as you’ve mentioned, I haven’t really seen anything that would indicate that from anything I’ve previously looked at. In terms of health issues, the Seaman book mentions more about John (but more so Yoko’s) concerns about diet, rather than any physical ailments. Although considering the aversion to doctors and more conventional types of treatments in terms of other issues, if he did have some sort of connective tissue disorder I’m not sure it would have been treated in any conventional way, or any treatment/issues be mentioned anywhere (that I know of). Also I feel that any symptoms of joint pain, fatigue, etcetera, if felt, may have just been pushed under the umbrella of effects of long-term drug use, so I don’t think there would be any real way of knowing for certain.
