About one in a million persons have Stiff-Person Syndrome, an irreversible neurological condition, according to Dr Pavan Tankha of the Cleveland Clinic.
In a heartbreaking Instagram video posted Thursday morning, Céline Dion announced that she had been diagnose with stiff-person syndrome. This condition would need her to postpone and reschedule several future concert engagements.
Dion, 54, admitted to fans that she’s still learning about the rare condition and how it affects her life and music career.
Dr Pavan Tankha, medical director of comprehensive pain rehabilitation for Cleveland Clinic’s Neurological Institute, was contacted by news to respond to inquiries regarding the neurological condition, which only one in a million people has been officially identified as having. Find out more about stiff-person syndrome by reading this (SPS).
The disorder is a rare and fatal neurological disease that primarily affects the brain and spinal cord in the central nervous system. Women are twice as likely as men to be diagnosed with the syndrome, which commonly manifests between the ages of 30 and 60. SPS is considered an autoimmune disease in which the body’s immune system assaults healthy cells, despite experts saying the cause of SPS is unknown.
The neurological condition can result in symptoms including “hyper-rigidity,” “debilitating pain,” “chronic anxiety,” and muscle spasms “so powerful they can dislocate joints and even break bones,” according to the Stiff Person Syndrome Foundation. Additionally, patients may become bedridden, wheelchair-bound, or disabled.
Tankha, who does not treat Dion, says, “There is that stiffness of the muscles in the trunk muscles, the belly, and the chest, that comes and goes slowly over time.” “That stiffness then extends to the legs, arms, and face, and as it worsens, it has been known to cause people to hunch over. People are incapable of moving at all in the most extreme situations. Rarely, the muscle spasms and rigidity might be so severe that they break bones.
He continues, “At first, the symptoms are often moderate, but the onset might be from a few months to a few years. You can have symptoms very quickly, and they keep getting worse, or you might experience symptoms very slowly and eventually reach a plateau for a few years.
