Lady Gaga Discusses Fibromyalgia in Vogue Cover Story

         

Lady Gaga appears on the cover of the latest edition of Vogue Magazine and gives an interview about her upcoming film A Star is Born with Bradley Cooper. In the film, she plays a singer-songwriter discovered by Coopers booze-and-pill-addled country music star. It’s her first starring role in a feature film and it’s generating huge Oscar buzz.

But what interests us is her discussion of fibromyalgia, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and anxiety. She went public with her diagnosis when she was forced to cancel part of her tour in February. She also shows herself going through a flare-up in her Netflix documentary, Gaga: Five Foot Two.

In the Vogue piece she addresses the invisible nature of fibromyalgia directly:

“I get so irritated with people who don’t believe fibromyalgia is real. For me, and I think for many others, it’s really a cyclone of anxiety, depression, PTSD, trauma, and panic disorder, all of which sends the nervous system into overdrive, and then you have nerve pain as a result. People need to be more compassionate. Chronic pain is no joke. And it’s every day waking up not knowing how you’re going to feel.”

Some more highlights:

• Lady Gaga discusses her experience as a survivor of sexual assault, saying, “No one else knew. It was almost like I tried to erase it from my brain. And when it finally came out, it was like a big, ugly monster. And you have to face the monster to heal.”
• She discusses the PTSD she suffered as a result of the assault, and her belief that it partially triggered her fibromyalgia.
• “It’s getting better every day,” she says, “because now I have fantastic doctors who take care of me and are getting me show-ready.”
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