Shania Twain recently spoke out about her fight with Lyme disease and how it ended her career. Twain discussed her experience with Lyme illness and how it affected her voice in her new Netflix documentary, Not Just A Girl.
She stated:
“I felt dizzy on stage before I was diagnosed… I was losing my equilibrium and worried about falling off the stage.”
The 56-year-old singer described her symptoms as “very, very, tiny micro blackouts, but constantly, every minute or every 30 seconds.” Twain was diagnosed with Lyme disease in 2003 after being bitten by an infected tick while horseback riding in Norfolk, Virginia.
Shania Twain also said that her chronic sickness caused her to develop dysphonia, which caused her to momentarily lose her voice. Her voice, she said, “was never the same again.”
“I assumed I’d lost my voice for good. I felt it was the end of everything, and that I would never, ever sing again.”
‘There was a point where I thought I’d have to accept that I’d never be able to sing again.’
Shania Twain opens up about contracting Lyme disease and the stress this had on her voice and her singing career.
Watch➡️ https://t.co/uhvdBHHe6b pic.twitter.com/aFVOMjDpCL
— Loose Women (@loosewomen) August 17, 2020
What exactly is Lyme disease? Investigating Shania Twain’s symptoms
Lyme disease is spread to people via the bite of infected black-legged ticks, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This condition has the potential to extend to the joints, heart, and neurological system. Symptoms of the condition include fever, headache, acute exhaustion, joint pains, enlarged lymph nodes, and rashes or ticks that increase over time. Later-stage symptoms include headaches, facial palsy, severe arthritis, heart palpitations, and spells of dizziness.
According to the Mayo Clinic, Lyme illness may cause vocal cord injury since the inflammation directly affects the voice box. When the nerves in the voice box are injured, the nerve impulses are further disrupted, resulting in vocal cord paralysis. Twain observed that this persistent disease may make it difficult for the sufferer to talk, breathe, or emit noises. This illness, according to the Mayo Clinic, may also cause the patient to choke when swallowing food, making it difficult for the patient to talk aloud.
More information about Shania Twain’s health.
Shania Twain said on the British chat program Loose Women that she had been in therapy for years before realizing she had Lyme disease that was affecting her voice and ability to sing. Shania Twain mentioned:
“I used to believe I’d never be able to sing again… It took years to figure out what was wrong with my voice. It was approximately seven years before a specialist discovered that the nerve damage to my voice chords was actually caused by Lyme illness.”
Twain revealed in an interview with The Sun that she “felt sad” as a result of the sickness and its influence on her singing powers. She said, ”
“I also thought I’d never record another album, which was probably true. It was catastrophic. I was devastated by this. It did depress me, and I battled it every day.”
Shania went on to explain how her “first passion,” called “writing,” kept her spirits up when she couldn’t sing or perform for her fans due to her condition. She stated:
“It was extremely dismal, and I was quite upset about it, but I still had my writing, and my writing is truly my first passion, beyond everything else. I had planned to be a writer rather than a performer.”
Shania Twain published “a compilation of all the songs in the documentary” for her fans, titled Not Just A Girl – The Highlights, after the premiere of the new Netflix documentary.
