The Tragic Health Issues HGTV's Property Brothers' Older Sibling J.D. Scott Deals With

It's safe to say that J.D. Scott is part of a very successful family. In addition to his career in the world of home renovation and house flipping, he's made a name for himself in the world of entertainment. His younger brothers, twins Jonathan and Drew Scott, have done the very same, rising to prominence thanks to their HGTV series "Property Brothers." Unfortunately, success isn't the only thing in J.D.'s blood, as the eldest Scott sibling has had to deal with some tragic health issues over the years. Worse yet, it took him a while to discover the actual cause.

J.D. and then-fiancée (now wife) Annalee Belle (whose last name JD actually took when they married) opened up about his health struggles in a video posted to Instagram in July 2019, in which they revealed he had been battling a mysterious illness for just over a year at that point. According to the pair, J.D.'s symptoms were known to leave him bedridden for days at a time. Doctors suspected everything from some kind of autoimmune disease to brain aneurysms. While the latter was eventually ruled out, months upon months of grueling testing still left more questions than answers, and J.D.'s quality of life continued to suffer. "Walking too much would bring on the symptoms. Heat would bring on the symptoms," he said (via People).

Leaning into the autoimmune disease theory, J.D. began taking new medications and started adhering to a strict diet. And while this did help somewhat, the specific cause of J.D's ailments continued to elude him.

Fortunately for J.D. Scott, he was ultimately able to figure out what was making him so sick, so doctors were able to treat him accordingly — both doctors and the health department, apparently. But why would the government need to get involved? Well, as Scott revealed in a September 2019 Instagram post, he had actually been diagnosed with acute mercury poisoning (a rare health issue RFK Jr. dealt with as well), and had a dangerous amount in his system.

In the post, the Property Brothers' older sibling claimed he had no idea how he became exposed to so much mercury. Nevertheless, the problem was being addressed. That said, mercury poisoning wasn't the only thing ailing him. In the same post, J.D. shared that he was also suffering from fluoroquinolone toxicity, a potential side effect of a certain class of antibiotics. He had also suffered from a gastrointestinal infection, though he clarified that it had been addressed prior to his initial July 2019 post.

But while J.D. eventually got to the bottom of his health issues, that didn't make the ordeal itself any less scary. "I was at the point where any travel would set off the symptoms, or even just being in temperatures over 70 degrees," he told People. "I would pass out pretty much wherever I was ... There were many moments that felt like the end of the line." J.D. confessed that he had even left behind handwritten instructions for his loved ones in the event of his death.