Céline Dion: understand the rigid person syndrome, which made the artist cancel shows

Céline Dion has revealed that she has been diagnosed with rigid person syndrome, a rare neurological disorder with features of an autoimmune disease.

On her Instagram, the 54-year-old French-Canadian singer revealed the diagnosis to her fans.

“I’ve been dealing with health issues for a long time and it’s been very difficult for me to face these challenges and talk about everything I’ve been through.”

“I was recently diagnosed with a very rare neurological disorder called stiff person syndrome, which affects about one in a million people. While we are still learning about this rare condition, we now know that this is what is causing all the spasms I have. “, he said in the published video.

In the sequence, the artist explained that the condition affects her ability to do her basic activities like walking and singing, and therefore the planned shows in the UK and Europe next year are officially cancelled.

“I’m working hard with my sports medicine therapist every day to get my strength back and my ability to perform again, but I have to admit it’s been a struggle,” said the singer, who thanked her fans for their support.

What is rigid person syndrome?

Stiff person syndrome, formerly called “stiff man syndrome”, is a neurological disease that affects the central nervous system and causes neuromuscular changes.

“The disease has an autoimmune nature, that is, it causes some of the body’s own cells to attack other healthy cells”, says Gustavo Franklin, a neurologist at Hospital Marcelino Champagnat.

“An antibody called anti-GAD is typically related to this autoimmunity process. It attacks certain nervous structures leading to the characteristic symptoms.”

The signs, explains the doctor, are mainly muscle stiffness, which can vary in intensity and frequency, which usually makes the correct diagnosis difficult.

The patient may have painful spasms in the limbs like arms and legs and also in the spine.

“Having this syndrome increases the chance of the person having other autoimmune diseases, such as diabetes mellitus”, says Franklin.

Although the syndrome in the past had “man” in its name, the neurologist says that it is more common in women over 40 years old.

The diagnosis that confirms the condition is made through a neurophysiological examination called electroneuromyography, by observing the symptoms and also by analyzing the CSF for GAD antibodies.

There is no cure, but there is treatment.

There is no cure, but according to the neurologist there are treatments that, in some cases, work so well that the patient is considered in a state of remission.

“Treatment involves immunosuppressive drugs and remedies to relieve symptoms, such as muscle relaxants.”

Autoimmunity, explains the expert, can be primary (genetic) or secondary, as in the case of about 1% of the population.

“These rarer cases are called paraneoplastic syndrome, which indicates that the autoimmune disease can be parallel to the presence of a tumor. It is not at all common, but every time we diagnose the rigid person syndrome we must evaluate the possibility of having concomitant tumors” , points out Franklin.