NBC News
Celine Dion says one of the tougher parts of her Stiff-Person Syndrome battle includes fending off addiction to the dangerous doses of Valium she was taking to continue performing.
The singer opened up about her health journey during an interview with NBC’s Hoda Kotb … revealing she was prescribed the drug as a way to treat her rare neurological disorder.
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Valium, or the generic diazepam, is used to treat anxiety, muscle spasms and twitches — which she experiences with SPS — so, she took the drug, literally, to ensure her live shows could go on … but that eventually required extremely high doses.
The issue, as Celine put it, is her body built up a tolerance, and at one point, she was taking 90 milligrams per day.
What Celine didn’t realize? She was taking a near-lethal amount of the medication.
DECEMBER 2022
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She added, “Ninety milligrams of Valium can kill you. You can stop breathing. And at one point, the thing is that my body got used to it at 20 and 30 and 40 [milligrams], until it went up. And I needed that. It was relaxing my whole body.”
In a separate interview with People, Celine — who first began struggling with early symptoms of SPS in 2008 — said she did not question the treatment as she was not a medical professional.
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She continued … “I did not understand that I could have gone to bed and stopped breathing. And you learn — you learn through your mistakes.”
As the Grammy winner told Hoda, she stopped taking Valium during the COVID-19 pandemic, since she was no longer performing. However, Celine explained she didn’t stop cold turkey … as she needed the help of doctors to safely wean off the meds.
It was at this point her SPS symptoms got worse … as Celine broke multiple ribs amid spasms and suffered memory loss — prompting her to share her diagnosis with the world in December 2022.
While Celine canceled her tour at the time, she’s more determined than ever to return to the stage … and her health journey is the focus of the new documentary, “I Am: Celine Dion,” out next week.
