President Barack Obama thought he was just going to the doctor on Saturday to get checked for a sore throat. Turns out he suffers from acid reflux, the president's physician said, according to Reuters.
"The president's symptoms are consistent with soft tissue inflammation related to acid reflux and will be treated accordingly," Obama's doctor, Capt. Ronny Jackson, said in a statement, the news outlet reports.
The diagnosis came after Obama, 53, went to Walter Reed military hospital for a fiber-optic exam of his throat, and since swelling was detected, doctors decided to perform a CT scan as well, Jackson said, according to the news site.
Acid reflux is a condition in which the stomach contents flow back up from the stomach into the esophagus, causing such symptoms as heartburn and sore throat, Reuters writes.
While no cause was given for the president’s diagnosis, risk factors include smoking, use of alcohol and hiatal hernia, the site says, citing a report at the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
Obama received a clean bill of health after his last physical exam in June. At the time Jackson noted in a medical report that daily exercise, healthy eating and a tobacco-free lifestyle had helped the former smoker stay in great shape, the report says.
Read more at Reuters.