Viewers of Lady Gaga‘s tell-all documentary, which aired in 2017, will be familiar with the life-wrecking health struggles she’s faced over the past decade.
In Four Foot Two, the megastar offered a heartbreaking window into her battle with chronic pain caused by the long-term condition, fibromyalgia.
The singer, whose real name is Stefani Germanotta, has spoken widely about her struggles since, telling Oprah that she was ‘in head to toe pain’ during a 2020 interview.
But now, the illness — for which there is no cure — appears to have subsided for Germanotta, 38.
Lady Gaga’s Netflix documentary ‘Gaga: Five Foot Two’ offered a glimpse into the star’s life and struggle with pain condition fibromyalgia
In her latest interview with Vogue magazine, the A Star Is Born actor said her most recent tour, in 2022, was the ‘first time I’ve performed not in pain’.
‘I did it pain-free,’ she said. ‘I’ve like, changed.’
She added that she hasn’t ‘smoked pot’ in years, having previously spoken of using the drug to help ease her chronic pain.
Though she doesn’t fully explain why her health condition has improved so dramatically, she said the 2022 tour, called Chromatica, was the first she did while dating current fiancé, US entrepreneur Michael Polansky.
‘Michael and I did that tour together,’ she said, adding later that she is ‘really excited’ to ‘organize our lives and our marriage around our creative output as a couple’.
Fibromyalgia is thought to affect between 1.8 million and 2.9 million people in the UK.
In a candid new interview with Vogue , in which she poses in a number of striking looks, Lady Gaga gushed over her ‘kind’ and ‘smart’ partner, before praising him for ‘holding her hand’ through difficult times
Lady Gaga has opened up about her love for fiancé Michael Polansky as she reveals he helped her through a dark period in her life in which she struggled with her mental health
The cause of the condition is unknown. But it is believed to be related to misfiring brain signals that change the way the nerves carry pain messages around the body.
It causes a range of symptoms including increased pain sensitivity, muscle stiffness, fatigue and problems concentrating, as well as low mood, according to the NHS.
There are limited treatments for fibromyalgia — and campaigners have long been fighting for further research to look for better therapies.
Currently, the NHS recommends a combination of exercise, talking therapies and medications that are usually used to treat anxiety and depression.
There’s little or no evidence to show that other types of medicine help reduce long-term pain.
Germanotta previously admitted that she’s taken mental health medication that helped her ‘tremendously’, during her 2020 interview with Oprah.
‘I take an anti-psychotic. [If I didn’t take it] I would spiral very frequently and I would spasm in my sleep,’ she said.
‘Medicine really helped me. A lot of people are afraid of medicine for their brains to help them. I really want to erase the stigma around this.’
However, anti-psychotic medication like amisulpride and clozapine are not the drugs recommended for fibromyalgia.
While evidence doesn’t suggest that a new relationship can improve symptoms, studies have found that emotional stress can worsen pain.
One 2019 review by Norwegian scientists found stress-relieving therapies like mindfulness led to mild to moderate improvements in fibromyalgia-related symptoms in a group of female patients.
However, Lady Gaga’s symptom-free bout may also be simply a case of timing.
According to NHS guidance, fibromyalgia symptoms vary over time — and can suddenly vastly improve as brain signals regulate.
But the condition can decline just as rapidly, with symptoms becoming increasingly debilitating.
‘We know that fibromyalgia is a relapsing condition and that means most people will experience some fluctuations in their symptoms,’ says GP Dr Philippa Kaye.
‘In fact one of the signs of the disease is that symptoms are inter-changable — they can suddenly get better or worse.’
‘While there IS no cure, for lots of people, the pain will go away for a very long period of time.’
Dr Kaye adds there’s lots of things patients can do to ‘help manage’ the disease.
These can include exercise programmes and cognitive behavioural therapy.
