Jamie Dornan found himself in the hospital after he suffered heart attack symptoms caused by toxic caterpillars during a recent trip to Portugal, his friend has revealed.
The “Fifty Shades of Grey” actor’s health scare was revealed by his pal Gordon Smart, who was also rushed to the hospital after experiencing the same symptoms at a golfing resort last year.
Recalling their nightmare getaway on BBC’s “The Good, the Bad and the Unexpected” podcast, Smart revealed that they initially thought their health woes were the result of too many drinks the night before.
To their surprise, they were told that their symptoms were caused by a run-in with processionary caterpillars, which are known to be toxic.
Pine processionary moth caterpillars have thousands of tiny hairs that contain an irritating protein that can cause painful skin, eye, and throat irritations, according to Forest Research.
Just one day into their vacation, Smart revealed that he felt a “tingling in his left hand and tickling in his left arm” that made him think it was “the sign of the start of a heart attack.”
“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 said.
After being under the watchful eye of doctors and nurses at the hospital Smart was discharged.
As he returned to the hotel, he saw the Irish actor hooked up to medical equipment.
“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,’” Smart recalled.
“Anyway, as he left the hospital, the paramedics asked them for a selfie, which is really what you want when you’re being wheeled out of a hospital room.”
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The following week, the doctor called Smart and said that the pair’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,” he shared.
“It turns out we’d brushed up against hairy processionary caterpillars and have been very lucky to come out of that one alive.”
“So there’s my story; the good news is it wasn’t a caffeine overdose, it wasn’t a hangover — it was a poisonous, toxic caterpillar,” he added.
Page Six has reached out to Dornan’s reps for further comment.
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