Arroyo complains of shooting pain near neck

MANILA -- Former President and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Thursday said she would need to wear her neck brace in longer periods due to the shooting pain in her shoulder.

In her Twitter account, @gmarroyo, the former President said: "I've been taking out my soft collar neck brace for longer periods as advised by my doctors even when I was still in Veterans to avoid atrophy."

"But my CT scan showed my cervical spine muscles have atrophied, so I have taken my neck brace out for even longer periods. But now I've started to feel numb in the surgical area and shooting pain in the shoulder near the neck, not to mention the old chronic pain that has to be therapied three times a week. So I'm back to longer periods with the neck brace," she added.

Even if she's out in provisional liberty, the former President continues to attend her therapy thrice a week at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC).

Arroyo had been on hospital detention at VMMC for months on charges of electoral sabotage, in relation to the 2007 midterm elections.

Last month, Arroyo's spokesperson, Elena Bautista-Horn, said the former President was allowed to occasionally remove her titanium neck brace after choking on her food on August 2.

Arroyo meanwhile also failed to attend her scheduled pictorial at the House of Representatives Thursday.

"I couldn't make it to my scheduled congress pictorial because I wasn't feeling well; so I sent a file photo," she said.

The House of Representatives is scheduled to approve on second reading the proposed P2.006-trillion national budget Thursday night before it goes on a two-week recess. (Kathrina Alvarez/Sunnex)