A bout of chronic hiccups sent Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to the hospital this week, forcing him to cancel a scheduled meeting with the heads of the South American nation’s legislature and judiciary on Wednesday.
Bolsonaro was admitted to a military hospital in the capital of Brasilia and will be under medical observation for the next day or two, according to local reports.
He may be released and continue being observed outside of the hospital over the next 48 hours, his office said, according to Brazilian outlet Globo.
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Bolsonaro has reportedly complained of the hiccups for nearly two weeks, telling a radio audience last week that he recently had surgery on dental implants. The spasms could be related to a medication he is taking following the surgery, he said.
“I apologize to everyone who is listening to me because I’ve been hiccuping for five days now,” Bolsonaro said, according to Folha de Sao Paulo.
“I have the hiccups 24 hours a day,” he added.
On Tuesday, Bolsonaro gave an address from the presidential palace in Brasilia, which he reportedly was able to get through without a hiccup fit.
“I’m speechless, folks,” Bolsonaro said afterward. “If I start talking too much, it’s back to hiccups.”
One physician, Flavio Quilici, said the persistent hiccups could be related to “an esophageal complication,” adding that the recent surgery could be playing a role, Globo reported.
“Any muscle in your body needs a stimulus to contract, and the diaphragm is no exception,” another physician, gastroenterologist Ricardo Barbuti, said, according to Folha de Sao Paulo. “The phrenic nerve, which is a branch of … the vagus nerve, provides stimulus for this muscle to contract. The phrenic or vagus nerve in this path to the diaphragm may give [the] hiccup.”
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The radio anchor interviewing Bolsonaro recommended that he be scared in order to stop the hiccup fit.
“For now, I’m not scared of anything that happens in government,” the president responded.
