Celine Dion Health
Singer Céline Marie Claudette Dion was born in Canada on March 30, 1968. She is the most successful Canadian recording artist of all time and the most successful French-language artist ever.
Céline Dion revealed she has stiff person syndrome in a video she posted on Thursday, 8th of December, in which she discussed the fate of her world tour.
The Canadian singer said that her severe muscle spasms, which impair her ability to move and sing, are a result of a rare neurological condition. Due to the diagnosis, she will have to cancel several gigs and postpone a significant portion of her tour.
What is Stiff Person Syndrome (SPS)?
According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), Stiff Person Syndrome, also known as Stiff-Man Syndrome (SMS), is an unusual, degenerative neurological condition. It is an uncommon neurologic condition with an unknown etiology that causes progressive stiffness and rigidity.
Postural abnormalities are caused by stiffness, which mostly affects the truncal muscles and is accompanied by spasms.
Symptoms of Stiff Person Syndrome (SPS)
Common symptoms include lumbar hyperlordosis, diminished mobility, and chronic discomfort. Muscular stiffness in the arms, legs, and trunk may also be among the symptoms, as well as increased sensitivity to sound, touch, and emotional distress, which can cause muscle spasms.
After varying at first, sometimes for days or weeks, the muscular stiffness gradually starts to regularly limit motion. Patients can lose their ability to walk or bend as the illness worsens.
Acute pain can also happen from time to time, but chronic pain is more frequent and gets worse with time. Sleep reduces symptoms, which are increased by stress, cold weather, and illnesses.
Some individuals might not be able to walk or move. Since street noises, such as the sound of a car horn, can produce spasms and falls, people with SPS may be scared to leave the house.
Superimposed spasms and high sensitivity to touch and sound are both experienced by SPS patients. Primarily, the proximal limb (e.g hips, shoulders, upper legs, upper arms) and axial muscles experience these spasms.
Spasms frequently last a few minutes and can reoccur for several hours. Spasms can strike at any time and are frequently brought on by rapid movements, mental tension, or abrupt sounds or touches. Rarely, abnormal eye movements, vertigo, and damage to the chest, hands, feet, and face muscles can also occur.
Due to the spasms, patients may experience depression, anxiety, and phobias such as agoraphobia (fear of open and/or crowded places) and dromophobia (fear of crossing the street).
They may also need assistance and become unable to work. Most patients have normal psychological functioning and react appropriately to their circumstances.
Stiff Person Syndrome Causes
Although research points to an immune reaction that went awry in the brain and spinal cord as the cause of SPS, its precise origin is still a mystery.
Other autoimmune conditions like type I diabetes, thyroiditis, vitiligo, and pernicious anemia are frequently linked to it.
Treatment for Stiff Person Syndrome (SPS)
There are no large-scale controlled trials of SPS therapies, and there is no evidence-based standard of care for the disorder. Guidelines development is complicated by the disease’s rarity.
Intravenous immune globulin has been reported to be a “well-tolerated and successful” therapy, even though there is no cure. Although it shouldn’t be misunderstood as a form of treatment for the condition, it is mostly used to manage the symptoms and lessen the suffering of the diagnosed patient.
Conclusion
While the lack of treatment might seem fatal to the patient, it is important to know that it is not the end for them as physical therapy is an option.
Love and support from family and friends will also go a long way in keeping them strong and steady as researchers try to develop a permanent solution to this terrible disease.