Celine Dion - A Living Statue?!
- Manasa Raghu
- Dec 12, 2022
- 3 min read
We all have played the statue game, which has always been fun, but what if it becomes a reality, not in a fantasy web series but in real life?
Yes, you read it right, the Canadian singer Celine Dion recently revealed that she has Stiff Person Syndrome. The 54-year-old singer posted an Instagram video highlighting a rare neurological disorder and her struggles in fighting the same.
Celine Dion is one of the bests selling artists of all time. She is well known for her song “My heart will go on...” from titanic. She is gifted with powerful and skilled vocals and has been a versatile singer. Her music includes various genres like pop, rock, R&B, and gospel.
The singer has won five Grammy awards, including "Album of the year" and, "Record of the Year" titles. In her Instagram video, the star shared that her disorder will affect her vocal cords. She has called off her upcoming stage performances for the time being.
Stiff Person Syndrome, also known as Moersch-Waltman Syndrome. It is an autoimmune and acquired neurological disorder. It was first studied and described by Moersch and Waltman in 1956. As in the name, the disease stiffens and rigidifies the body affecting the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord). It mainly affects the muscles in the trunk, arms, and legs. People with this disorder often experience painful muscle spasms that can be frequent and for a longer time occasionally. This progressive disorder starts at one part of the body and is widespread for a while. Characteristics of this syndrome include emotional distress and great sensitivity to noise and touch; this might trigger muscle spasms. Over a period of time, affected people struggle with abnormal and hunched-over postures and moving or walking. Other autoimmune disorders like type-I diabetes, vitiligo, and thyroiditis.
Early symptoms of this disorder are tough to identify as this has fluctuating rigidity of the muscles. It might have developed to become stable for years to show severe symptoms later. Usually, people under the age group of 30 to 60 show symptoms of this disorder.
In the beginning, the severity of either stiffness or the spasms is less and pays frequent or rare visits, but gradually rigidness stays, and spams worsen.
Spasms might lead to the dislocation of bones too. In most cases, the neck, shoulders, arms, and facial muscles also suffer stiffness.
Research on the disease is still in progress. Its exact cause is yet to be found. However, this is an autoimmune disorder (the body's immune system attacks its healthy cells). Some studies indicate that the tissues that got attacked by the immune system are nerve tissues that contain an inhibitory protein called glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD). People suffering from this disorder are to develop antibodies for this protein. Thus, the major problem arises as this inhibitory protein acts as a precursor in synthesizing an inhibitory neurotransmitter Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) which controls muscle movements. But, the development of antibodies is not declared to be the sole cause of the disease.
Stiff person syndrome is a rare disorder with the odds of one in a hundred thousand individuals. The diagnosis is made based on the symptoms. Blood tests are to detect the presence of antibodies for GAD proteins; electromyography (EMG) is to study the activity of skeletal muscles.
However, no cure for the disorder has been found to date. All doctors can treat the patient with pain-suppressing sedatives and relaxants. Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) has been promising to improve the symptoms.
Many clinical trials and research are going on in the medical field to find a cure for the disease.
This article is for educational purposes, and we wish her a speedy recovery.
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