55KRC: UC expert discusses stiff person syndrome

After canceling and postponing performances over the past year, snger Céline Dion recently announced she has been diagnosed with stiff person syndrome.

The University of Cincinnati's Alberto Espay, MD, joined 55KRC's Simply Medicine radio show and podcast to discuss stiff person syndrome, explaining it is an autoimmune disorder that leads to muscle rigidity and spasms.

"Often that’s translated into initially episodes of stiffness but eventually becomes a chronic problem where muscles become tight because they are overcontracted," said Espay, director and endowed chair of the James J. and Joan A. Gardner Family Center for Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders at the UC Gardner Neuroscience Institute and a UC Health physician. 

"There are some fluctuations in the severity in which the spasms manifest, but individuals can be very vulnerable to different types of stimuli making the spasms worse.," Espay continued. "As you can imagine, somebody that would be a performer and would be under constant level of stimuli of differing kinds, that could make symptoms worse."

Espay said he and his colleagues treat about 10 patients with stiff person syndrome in their clinic, and each patient is different in their severity and response to different treatments.

"People who after treatment in fact go into remission do exist. They are the minority of all patients with stiff person syndrome," he said. "But treatments can yield excellent benefits and we have had a number of individuals that with treatment can reach a state of neurological normalcy."

Listen to the Simply Medicine segment. (Note: Segment begins around 11:07 mark.)

Featured photo at top of Dr. Espay. Photo/University of Cincinnati.