Celine Dion has stiff-person syndrome, here’s what that means
CTV
Canadian singer Celine Dion was diagnosed with stiff-person syndrome, a rare neurological condition with no cure, forcing her to take a step away from her world tour.
Early Thursday, Canadian singer Celine Dion posted a message to Instagram postponing the rest of her world tour which was set to resume in February.
Dion, 54, said she was recently diagnosed with stiff-person syndrome (SPS), also called Moersch-Woltman syndrome. It’s a rare neurological condition that gives people painful muscle spasms. There is no cure for the disease.
"I've always been an open book," Dion says in the emotional video. "And I wasn't ready to say anything before. But I'm ready now… I have been dealing with problems with my health for a long time."
SPS is described by the U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke as a disorder with "features" of an autoimmune disorder. It impacts the central nervous system and causes a person to have heightened sensitivity to noise, touch and emotional distress.
"Most commonly, it affects the muscle skeletal system where people have really a significant amount of pain, spasms that can really affect any muscle within the body," Dr. Scott Newsome, a neurologist at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine told CTV News Channel on Thursday.
