CELEBRITY HEALTH – Jamie Dornan was left hospitalised with ‘heart attack symptoms’ while on holiday in Portugal after a run in with ‘toxic caterpillars’, his friend Gordon Smart has revealed.
The Tourist star, 41, had been on holiday with Good Morning Britain presenter Gordon, 43, and other friends when he became ill.
Heart Rate of 120mph
Barely one day into the holiday, Gordon revealed he had felt ‘tingling in his left hand and tickling in his left arm’ and was found to have a heart rate of 120mph at hospital.
His Limbs Were Numb
After being discharged, Gordon arrived back at the hotel to find Jamie attached to medical equipment. He told him his limbs had gone numb and he found himself in the back of an ambulance.
‘It turns out we’d brushed up against hairy processionary caterpillars and have been very lucky to come out of that one alive,’ Gordon said.
The tiny hairs of the caterpillars have an irritating protein called thaumetopoein, which can cause painful skin, eye and throat irritations and rashes and, in rare cases, allergic reactions.
He was Feeling Strange
Speaking on Scottish BBC panel show The Good, the Bad and the Unexpected, Gordon said after a ‘great’ first day of boozing, he started to feel strange.
‘We had a great time the first day, played loads of golf, went out, lots of wine was drunk and then we got on to espresso martinis,’ he said.
‘Anyway, the next day, we played golf, we were all absolutely dreadful and I started to feel tingling in my left hand and then tickling in my left arm. I’m the son of a GP and thought, “This is normally the sign of the start of a heart attack.”
Gordon added: ‘Now, I’m a fairly healthy guy but once you start thinking, you’re having a heart attack, you’re pretty sure that you’re convincing yourself that you are having one.’
He Collapsed
Worried he was seriously unwell, Gordon took himself to a local medical centre where the nurse found his resting heart rate to be extremely high- at which point he ubered to the nearest hospital.
Gordon said he then collapsed and woke up in a hospital bed attached to a machine with a doctor asking, ‘What have you been doing young man?’
The doctor then asked him to list what he had drank the day before, to which Gordon added: ‘As a Scottish man in Portugal, when you start saying, “Well, I think there were nine bottles of white wine, I had six espresso martinis” and I could see him shaking his head disgusted with the Scottish specimen in front of him.’
When the Scottish news presenter returned to the hotel from hospital, he saw Irish actor Jamie hooked up to medical equipment.
Gordon continued: ‘Jamie said, “Dear me. Gordon, about 20 minutes after you left, my left arm went numb, my left leg went numb, my right leg went numb, and I found myself in the back of an ambulance.”‘
Cause of his Sickness
One week later, the doctor called Gordon and informed him that him and Jamie’s symptoms might have been caused by toxic caterpillars.
‘And it turns out that there are caterpillars on golf courses in the south of Portugal that have been killing people’s dogs and giving men in their 40s heart attacks,’ Gordon added.
It comes after Fifty Shades of Grey actor Jamie admitted he hated being a model.
