--- title: "Official Lets Slip That Something Is Wrong With Elon Musk’s Health" description: "An Indian government official appears to have broken a cone of silence surrounding Elon Musk's health problems." date: "2023-11-15" modified: "2023-11-15" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/official-elon-musk-speedy-recovery" categories: - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "back pain" - "elon musk" - "india" - "tesla" --- # Official Lets Slip That Something Is Wrong With Elon Musk’s Health ![An Indian government official appears to have broken a cone of silence surrounding Elon Musk's health problems.]() *\Image: Leon Neal via Getty / Futurism\* An Indian government official appears to have broken a cone of silence surrounding Elon Musk's health problems after visiting a Tesla factory in California. In a tweet, [Indian commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal]() wished Musk a "speedy recovery" from an undisclosed illness or procedure that seems to have kept him from the meeting, and said he was sorry to miss the mogul's "magnetic presence" when visiting the Tesla factory in Fremont, California. In response, Musk said only that Goyal's visit to the factory, which took place during the Hindu festival of Diwali and amid Tesla's push to [build a Tesla facility in India](), was an "honor," and that he was not "[able to travel to California]()" at the time. Let's face it: Musk's [behavior during COVID]() made him seem like the exact type of boss who would show up at work with a cold and cough on anybody, including a foreign dignitary. So the fact that he blew off a strategic international meeting is striking. The multi-hyphenate figure hasn't publicly announced any health issues recently, though he works notoriously grueling hours, sleeps little, and indulges in drugs including [Ambien]() and [ketamine]() — a lifestyle you might be able to get away with while you're young, but that inevitably catches up with workaholics in middle age, like the 52-year-old Musk. There have also been clues for a while now that he might need surgery. When [appearing in court]() in February over his 2018 Tesla tweets, Musk admitted to an attorney, [per the *Wall Street Journal*,]() that he was in pretty bad shape. "I’m sorry for squirming around," he reportedly told the lawyer when in court. "I have quite severe back pain." In August, Musk admitted on the social network formerly known as Twitter that he was getting an MRI of his neck and upper back and "[may require surgery]()" before his planned cage match with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Just a month later, biographer [Walter Isaacson's new book]() about the serial entrepreneur included the claim that at least one of Musk's physical issues is the result of a decade-old injury he gleaned when fighting a sumo wrestler on his 42nd birthday. "I decided to see if I could throw this guy, and I did," the billionaire told the biographer. "But I also blew out a disc at the base of my neck." Beyond the back stuff, Musk's infamous [work hard](), [party hard]() lifestyle paired with his sleep issues have earned him concern from the likes of Arianna Huffington, who in 2018 penned a since-disappeared open letter beseeching the bombastic business owner to [get more sleep](). Though at the time he claimed in a [2:30am response]() that getting more sleep was not "an option," the [father of at least 11]() seems to have somewhat taken her advice at least somewhat to heart, [admitting earlier this year]() in a *CNBC* interview that he now gets six hours of sleep per night and acknowledging that getting less than that gives him "brain pain." Nevertheless, *something* made Musk miss the meeting with [Indian president Narendra Modi]()'s surrogate — and considering how important business is to him, it would have had to be big. **More on Elon world:** [*A SpaceX Worker Died and They Kept It a Secret*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()