STIFF’S SYNDROME. Singer Celine Dion has revealed that she has a rare neurological condition called stiff person syndrome, forcing her to postpone her 2023 tour of Europe.
[Mis à jour le 09 décembre 2022 à 09h47] Canadian singer Celine Dion revealed Thursday, December 8, to be suffering from a rare neurological disease called “stiff person syndrome” or Stiff Person Syndrome in English, in a video posted on his Instagram account. “I was diagnosed with a very rare neurological disorder. (…) We don’t know everything about this disease yet, but we now know that it is the cause of the muscle spasms I suffer from,” she said. , also announcing the postponement of his tour in Europe scheduled for 2023. This neurological pathology affects “about one person in a million”, according to the singer.
This rare neurological disease mainly affects the trunk muscles, causing spasms, chronic pain and reduced mobility, including the inability to walk. “These spasms affect my everyday life at all levels. I sometimes have difficulty walking and I can’t always use my vocal cords to sing as I would like”, confided the interpreter of I’ll go wherever you will go.
Discovered in the 1950s, this syndrome is characterized by muscle rigidity and increased sensitivity to external stresses, such as noise. Often misdiagnosed because it is confused with other illnesses, Stiff-person Syndrome affects twice as many women as men and the peak incidence is around 45 years old, explains Orpha.net, “the portal for rare diseases.” “The progressive muscular stiffness leads to immobility of the trunk and hips and the gait becomes stiff and particular”, is it detailed on the same site. For now, scientific research has not identified the causes of this disease, which would be an autoimmune reaction of the brain and spinal cord. Some analgesic treatments can reduce the symptoms of the disease but they do not cure it.
How Stiff Person Syndrome Affects Celine Dion
In her video posted on Instagram on Thursday, December 8, singer Céline Dion explains the symptoms of stiff person syndrome in her home. “I have had health problems for a long time and it is not easy for me to cope with them, she begins. Recently I was diagnosed with a very rare neurological disorder, called in English Stiff-person syndrome, which affects approximately one in a million people. We don’t know everything about this rare disease yet, but we now know that it is the cause of the muscle spasms I suffer from.”
And to detail, concerning his daily life with the disease: “Unfortunately these spasms affect my everyday life, on several levels. I sometimes have great difficulty walking and I cannot use my vocal cords as I would like. “