Mandel: Recent health scare 'terrified' me

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 15 (UPI) -- Canadian-born comedian and television personality Howie Mandel says his recent health scare in Toronto terrified him.

Mandel called into radio's syndicated "The Billy Bush Show" to discuss the incident that sent him to a Toronto hospital Monday night with an irregular heartbeat.

Excerpts from the interview are to air on "Access Hollywood" Thursday night, NBC said.

Mandel was in Toronto filming scenes for his new show "Howie Do It" when he had a random check-up for insurance purposes and an EKG showed he had an irregular heartbeat.

Mandel said the doctor told him the problem could be corrected and his heart returned to a regular rhythm.

"They put you totally out and they take those defibrillators and they yell, 'Clear!'" Mandel told Bush. "They shock you and your heart goes back to a normal rhythm."

Mandel said he was advised not to eat before the procedure and recalled feeling dizzy at his hotel afterward.

"I got dizzy at the elevator and I must have passed out because I woke up in a gurney in an ambulance on the way back to the hospital," he said. "(The doctors) said my heart is strong and I did not have an attack."

Mandel was kept overnight for observation at the hospital and released Tuesday.

Asked if he was scared during the incident, Mandel told Bush: "I was terrified because I try to stay healthy. I work out. I eat well and to be in a public lobby of a hotel and start to feel dizzy and then have no memory after that and to wake up in an ambulance is terrifying."