Celine Dion told People about her journey with 'stiff person syndrome', from which she has suffered for 17 years. Celine revealed that symptoms of the syndrome began to manifest in the mid-2000s, including muscle spasms, difficulty breathing, resulting in her live performances and constant physical pain.
Dion confessed that when he felt the first spasm, about 20 years ago, he was on tour in Germany. "I had breakfast and suddenly I started to feel a spasm. The vocal exercises made it worse," she said in the emotional documentary "I Am: Celine Dion," which will air June 25 on Prime Video.
The popular singer also said that she had used a number of medicines and made numerous appointments, analyzing her ears, nose and throat, but without success. When her symptoms worsened, she took muscle relaxants such as Valium.
"We started with 2 milligrams to help me, then 2.5, then 3, 15 and 50," Dion said, adding that at one point, she took 90 milligrams to help her performance.
"It could have been fatal. I did not question the level of danger because I was not familiar with the drug. I thought it would be okay. It worked for a few days, for a few weeks, but then it stopped working. I didn't realize that I can go to bed and stop breathing. And later, you learn, you learn from your mistakes".
In August 2022, Dion began the combination treatment, which includes medication, immune therapy, vocal therapy and physical rehabilitation 5 days a week.
"Stiff person syndrome" (SPS) is a rare neurological disorder with features of an autoimmune disease. This syndrome turns people into "human statues" and occurs in 1 in 1 million cases, because it is a matter of muscle stiffness. SPS is characterized by increased muscle sensitivity and uncontrolled movement after any stimulus, be it noise, touch, stress, etc. The disease can go so far that movement or speech becomes impossible.
There is no specific cure for Celine Dion's diagnosis, but only treatments that can slow down the progression of the disease.
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