"Has an impact on every aspect of my everyday life" - Celine Dion suffers from stiff person syndrome
Created: 2022-12-13, 8:30 p.m
By: Anna Heyers
Celine Dion recently canceled her tour.
The reason for this is an incurable nervous disease, the symptoms of which complicate the singer's everyday life.
Stiff Person Syndrome (SPS) is the name given to the nervous disorder that Celine Dione has been suffering from for more than a year.
The symptoms of the disease hit the singer so hard that she had to cancel the Germany tour originally planned for 2023.
A message that not only saddens the Canadian's fans, but also the 54-year-old herself. In an Instagram video, she speaks to her followers: "Unfortunately, the cramps affect all aspects of my everyday life.
Sometimes they make it difficult for me to walk and forbid my vocal cords to sing the way I'm used to.
I'm sorry to tell you I'm not ready to restart my tour in February."
Stiff Person Syndrome: What is it Exactly?
"Stiff" is English and means something like "stiff".
The name probably comes from the fact that the autoimmune disease leads to muscle cramps in the back and hips.
These in turn can lead to chronic pain, changes in the lumbar spine and poor posture.
You move less and less, so you become stiff.
The singer herself speaks of problems with walking to the inability to sing in a way that meets her expectations.
The symptoms are exacerbated by external influences such as stress and some medications.
The common: The disease can often be divided into phases, which, however, can only be relied on to a limited extent.
So it is quite possible that a good phase lasts for weeks, months or even years - but flare-ups can occur at any time.
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Who is affected by Stiff Person Syndrome?
SPS is relatively rare and mostly affects middle-aged people.
One in a million people contract it every year.
In Germany there are currently around 300 people with this diagnosis.
It is typical of autoimmune diseases that women are usually more frequently affected than men.
"This is probably due to both genetic and hormonal reasons," says Dr.
Frank Hoffmann, chief physician of the neurology clinic in the Martha-Maria Halle-Dölau hospital, opposite the
picture
.
The singer Celine Dion had to cancel her tour of Germany for 2023 with a heavy heart.
The reason for this is a serious nervous disease.
© Graham Hughes/Imago
What are the causes of nervous disorders?
The causes of stiff person syndrome are not yet entirely clear.
According to the
German Brain Foundation,
an autoimmune disorder leads to increased excitability of the muscles.
This is caused by antibodies blocking central pathways by acting against specific proteins at synapses.
In addition, there are often other chronic autoimmune diseases, such as diabetes mellitus type I, thyroid dysfunction or vitiligo.
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Long unrecognized: SPS diagnostics
Since the disease is quite rare and the symptoms cannot always be assigned exactly to this clinical picture, the diagnosis is often made more difficult.
Many patients live for years with the disease and increasing difficulty walking, muscle stiffness or recurring cramps - without knowing the exact name.
In the case of Celine Dion, the diagnosis also took a long time, because according to Dr.
Frank Hoffmann, "Symptoms can also be misunderstood as functional, neurotic or psychiatric."
In order to come to the final diagnosis, other diseases must first be ruled out, such as Parkinson's, which has been on the cards for a long time, or multiple sclerosis.
Is Stiff Person Syndrome Curable?
No, there is currently no cure.
However, once the diagnosis has been made, you can usually achieve a significant and long-lasting improvement with various forms of therapy.
Celine Dion also believes in this: "But I have no choice but to focus on my health now and I have hope that I am on the road to recovery.
I'll do everything I can for it."
