Yahoo Finance Shania Twain Reveals ‘Scary’ Lyme Disease Symptoms: ‘I Thought That Was It’
Shania Twain opened up about her Lyme disease diagnosis in the new Netflix documentary Not Just a Girl.
Twain revealed she had “scary” symptoms and would often lose her balance and feel dizzy while performing on stage.
The country-pop singer says Lyme disease impacted her voice and she later underwent open-throat surgery.
Most people recognize country singer Shania Twain’s music immediately (we dare you not to sing along to Man! I Feel Like a Woman!). But, it hasn’t always been smooth sailing for the musician. The 56-year-old was forced to take a break from the spotlight to recover from a mysterious illness. In a new Netflix documentary, Not Just a Girl, the queen of country pop opens up about her battle with Lyme disease, and how she thought it would end her singing career.
While touring in 2003 to promote her new music, Twain’s life was turned upside down by a tick bite she got while horseback riding.
“The tick was infected with Lyme disease, and I did get Lyme disease,” the star says in the documentary. “My symptoms were quite scary because before I was diagnosed, I was on stage very dizzy. I was losing my balance, I was afraid I was gonna fall off the stage…I was having these very, very, very millisecond blackouts, but regularly, every minute or every 30 seconds.”
The Canadian singer also feared that the illness would impact her voice, especially after she started to lose control over her vocals. “My voice was never the same again,” she says. “I thought I’d lose my voice forever. I thought that was it, [and] I would never, ever sing again.”
Twain previously opened up about her Lyme disease diagnosis, which led her to undergo open-throat surgery and take a break from the spotlight. The Grammy winner revealed to Extra the surgeries were “very intense” and “very different from a vocal cord operation.” She eventually returned to the stage in 2017.
“I remember thinking and people saying, ‘Where’s Shania Twain? Where did she go?’” The You’re Still the One singer said in an interview with Sunday with Willie Geist, per People. “It was devastating. I was very sad about it to the point where I just—I felt I had no other choice but to accept it—and that I would never sing again.”
She revealed in an interview with ITV’s Loose Women that doctors originally didn’t know what was causing her symptoms. “It took years to get to the bottom of what was affecting my voice, and I would say probably a good seven years before a doctor was able to find out that it was nerve damage to my vocal cords directly caused by Lyme disease, and I was just out horseback riding in the forest when I got bit by a tick, a Lyme tick.”
The singer spent time healing her throat and recovering through therapy but said she “was morning the expression of my voice.” She added, “It would have killed me not to be able to ever sing again. I wasn’t going to let my life be over. But I would have been very sad and I have mourned that forever.”
Lyme disease is the most common vector-borne disease (a disease transmitted to humans from anthropods) in the United States. It is transmitted through a bite from an infected black-legged tick. If left untreated, symptoms can spread to joints, the heart, and the nervous system, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The most common symptoms of Lyme disease that pop up within three to 30 days of a bite typically include:
Fever
Chills
Headache
Fatigue
Muscle and joint aches
Swollen lymph nodes
Erythema migrans rash (bullseye rash)
You can also experience these symptoms months after infection, according to the CDC:
Severe headaches and neck stiffness
Rashes on other areas of the body
Facial palsy
Arthritis with severe joint pain and swelling
Intermittent pain in tendons, muscles, joints, and bones
Heart palpitations or irregular heartbeat (called Lyme carditis)
Episodes of dizziness or shortness of breath
Inflammation of the brain and spinal cord
Nerve pain
Shooting pains, numbness, or tingling in the hands or feet
Lyme disease is most commonly diagnosed from symptoms or known exposure to ticks. It is often treated successfully with antibiotics, according to the CDC.
We’re so glad to hear Twain’s powerful vocals again, and can’t wait to see what’s in store for the singer.
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