MANILA, Philippines—No, it wasn’t a heart attack. It was more like a case of “infectious diarrhea.”

And the doctor’s advice? When you fly, eat something light, not anything hard to digest.

With that, doctors Sunday discharged First Gentleman Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo from St. Luke’s Medical Center in Quezon City, where he had been confined for a day.

“I’m OK. Doctors have cleared me and I can go home already,” a smiling Arroyo told reporters at the hospital lobby.

Wearing a blue shirt with collar, the husband of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo walked all the way to his car, accompanied by his sons, Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo and Camarines Sur Rep. Dato Arroyo.

The First Gentleman set off a media alert on Friday night when he was stricken ill while traveling on a US-bound Philippine Airlines flight with Ms Arroyo, who was to attend a summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Lima, Peru.

Excruciating pain

Arroyo, 62, said he suffered from “excruciating abdominal pain,” which prompted the presidential plane to make an emergency landing in Osaka, Japan.

“I’m glad that the episode is over. I did not have a heart attack, thank God,” he said.

“But it was very painful, very severe abdominal pain so it led others to conclude that I had a heart attack.”

Arroyo said he was taking continuing medication and would be back at St. Luke’s on Friday with the President for their annual executive checkups.

President called

The First Gentleman said he had talked with the President on the phone and told her he was all right.

“Yes, she called, and (I told her) I’m OK already,” he said.

Asked what his plans are, he said he would continue with his diet and take plenty of rest.

According to his attending physician, Dr. Juliet Cervantes, her patient’s latest illness was not related to his heart problem.

“It is not related to his existing problem but could be related to what we call infectious diarrhea because at that time, it was already accompanied by vomiting and diarrhea,” Cervantes said.

“So once we assessed he was stable and safe enough to fly back to the Philippines, we made the decision that he will go with us back to the Philippines for further observations.”

He can fly again

Cervantes said the diarrhea was resolved on Saturday evening. She added that doctors had very strict instruction to Arroyo that any abdominal or chest pain should not be ignored.

“Because of his problem in the aorta we have to evaluate him every now and then just to be sure that everything is under control,” Cervantes said.

She also said Arroyo could ride an airplane again.

“He can fly again, as long as he should not have something a little bit heavy to digest. That made him have difficulty when the altitude was high. So the moral lesson of the story, before you fly, take something light and not hard to digest,” Cervantes said.

Flown on San Miguel plane

The President went on to Peru for the summit “because there was nothing to worry about,” she told reporters.

Arroyo was flown from Japan to the Philippines on Saturday on a private plane owned by San Miguel Corp.

Arroyo had a high risk open heart surgery in April 2007 after being diagnosed with a dissecting aortic aneurysm, a serious condition in which a tear develops in the inner layer of the aorta, the large blood vessel branching out from the heart. With a report from Agence France-Presse