Shania Twain’s Lyme Disease Symptoms Nearly Ended Her Career: ‘I Thought I’d Lost My Voice Forever’
Plus see the Lyme warning signs you should never ignore
Iconic country music star Shania Twain is known for her chart-topping songs that balance fun, like the TikTok-trending “Man! I Feel Like a Woman,” and vulnerability, like “You’re Still the One.” Twain’s vulnerability extends not only to her music, but also to her openness in talking about her battle with Lyme disease symptoms. The disease affected more than just her health—it nearly robbed her of her career and changed her voice forever. Here we explore the early Lyme disease symptoms Twain experienced, how she manages the condition today and what to do if you suspect you might also be affected.
Twain’s Lyme disease symptoms were ‘quite scary’
In Twain’s 2022 Netflix documentary Not Just a Girl, the country legend talks about the early Lyme disease symptoms that affected her ability to perform. Twain revealed that after getting bitten by an infected tick in 2003 while horseback riding, she developed Lyme disease.
Only at the time, she didn’t know she was sick. “My [Lyme disease] symptoms were quite scary because before I was diagnosed, I was on stage very dizzy,” Twain said. “I was losing my balance. I was afraid I was going to fall off the stage. I was having these very, very, very millisecond blackouts, but regularly, every minute or every 30 seconds.”
Woman's World Answers
Twain’s Lyme disease symptoms not only impacted her ability to perform the way she was used to, but they also altered her voice. “My voice was never the same again,” Twain said. “I thought I’d lost my voice forever. I thought that was it, [and] I would never, ever sing again.”
Common Lyme disease symptoms to watch for
Twain’s dizziness and blackouts without a diagnosis may seem surprising, but experts say determining whether someone has Lyme disease is not always easy.
“The loss of balance and blackouts reported by Twain are definitely rare,” says Rani Aravamudhan, MD, Senior Medical Director at Nomi Health. “It’s important to remember that diagnosing Lyme disease is very tough because all the initial symptoms are non-specific and more common [in] conditions like flu, strep throat and more recently COVID. Longer-term symptoms can mimic conditions like fibromyalgia, lupus or multiple sclerosis (MS). All those have to be ruled out. It’s not surprising that Twain experienced them before diagnosis.”
Dr. Aravamudhan says more common symptoms of Lyme disease include:
- Fever
- Bullseye rash
- Muscle aches
- Joint stiffness
- Headaches
- Fatigue
These typically happen within the first 30 days of a bite. Left untreated, Lyme disease symptoms can worsen over time, according to the Mayo Clinic. Within about three to 10 weeks after a bite from an infected tick, Lyme disease symptoms can progress to include:
- Facial drooping or muscle weakness
- Neck stiffness
- Pain or numbness in your extremities
- Swollen eyelids
What is Lyme disease?
“Lyme disease is a bacterial infection (Borrelia burgdorferi) prevalent in about 15 US states, mostly in the Northeast, mid-Atlantic and upper Midwest states,” says Dr. Aravamudhan. “It’s spread by infected blacklegged ticks, so humans get it when they are bitten by this tick. Lyme disease is characterized by a unique type of rash, called Erythema migrans or the bull’s eye rash, which starts at the site of the bite and spreads.”
”It’s recommended to seek care immediately, especially when such non-specific symptoms are accompanied by a rash,” Dr. Aravamudhan continues. “This is especially important if these symptoms start within three to five days of outdoor activities like camping, fishing or hiking in wooded areas or open fields in the geographic areas mentioned above.”
How twain manages her condition today
During an appearance on The View in 2020, Twain said in the three weeks between when she was bitten by the tick and when she started treatment, Lyme disease had damaged her vocal cords. And it took doctors “several years” to ultimately link her vocal problems with her Lyme disease diagnosis.
“There were seven years where I could not, for example, yell out for my dog,” Twain said. “My voice would just cut out in certain places. And it took another several years to determine what it was. It wasn’t anything obvious. Nobody connected the Lyme disease to it. In the end, a neurologist finally connected that it was the nerve to each vocal cord.”
Today, Twain said she now has a “grip” on living with Lyme disease and is grateful it didn’t further impact her health.
“It was just a very unfortunate, ironic problem since I’m a singer, but I feel so grateful and so lucky that it didn’t attack somewhere else because it’s so debilitating,” Twain said. “I have a different voice now but I own it. I love my voice now.”
Today, the 59 year old is still performing and actively interacts with fans on her social media platforms.
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