Celine Dion Ingested Lethal Doses of Valium Amid Health Issues
As Celine Dion continues to battle stiff-person syndrome, she opened up about taking lethal doses of valium during a televised interview. She admits not knowing that they were a potentially lethal doses.
Since Dion’s diagnosis in 2022, her health concerns have gravely impacted her career and quality of life. Appearing in a rare TV interview with Hoda Kotb in an NBC News Special, the Canadian singer talked about her attempts to manage her physical discomfort.
“We tried a lot of things. Trying a lot of things when you don’t know what you have can kill you,” the 56-year-old confessed last June 11.
“I did not know, honestly, that it could kill me. I would take, for example, 20 milligrams of valium and just walking from my dressing room to backstage, it was gone already. That fast. 20 minutes,” she lamented.
Brief Background on Stiff Person Syndrome
Stiff person syndrome is a neurological and autoimmune disorder that makes the body excessively rigid while wracking the torso and limbs with muscle spasms. A combination of medications, immunotherapy, and different physical therapy are commonly prescribed.
It is an incurable disease that can only be managed with steroids, muscle relaxants, and sedatives.
Dion: “My Body Got Used To It”
Though several sedatives are quick-acting, patients build an immunity to them, making them less effective with time.
During the interview, Dion described how diazepam (brand name Valium) lost its sedative effects. “It can kill you, you can stop breathing. And my body got used to it at 20 and 30 and 40 milligrams,” the Las Vegas resident admitted.
“It was relaxing my whole body but for how long? For two weeks, for a month? But then it doesn’t work anymore. More, more more,” she narrated in frustration.
Stiff-Person Syndrom and Performing Onstage
They also discussed Dion’s challenges in coping with her demanding onstage career prior to her diagnosis. According to the singer, she began experiencing the disorder’s troubling symptoms in 2008. Though she already felt it in her vocal cords, she attributed it to a cold that would eventually go away.
Over time, her symptoms progressed and worsened. There were times when she struggled to sing. During those moments, Dion said she would lie about a broken microphone and encourage her fans to sing the lyrics to her.
“I was trying to survive and I let the people sing with me,” she said to Kotb.
She also lowered the notes in her songs, rationalizing, “That’s fine. It was a smart thing to do. Different temperatures, weather, It’s OK.”
Ultimately, her voice and range were affected, making her sound more nasal. As she noticed the increasing rigidity in her body, she began seeing doctors, hoping they could pinpoint the reason behind her discomfort.
Today, her symptoms have progressed to such an extent that she finds it difficult to move from one side of the room to the other. She has also suffered several broken ribs from muscle spasms.
Despite the impossibility and difficulty of her situation, Dion is fighting with everything she’s got. “I have a great team of doctors working alongside me to help me get better and my precious children, who are supporting me and giving me hope. I’m working hard with my sports medicine therapist every day to build back my strength and my ability to perform again, but I have to admit it’s been a struggle.”
