Singer Marina, commonly known by her former stage name Marina and the Diamonds, has said that she has been diagnosed with ME (Myalgic encephalomyelitis).
The Welsh musician, real name Marina Diamandis, posted on her Instagram that she received the diagnosis after suffering for seven years with symptoms including "deep fatigue, numbness, tingling, brain fog, rashes, insomnia and a feeling of being 'poisoned'". She wrote, "It’s been hard to remember what healthy feels like" and has relied "on adrenaline and willpower to push me through each day."
The 37-year-old singer is best known for a number of hit songs in the period from 2010-12, including I Am Not A Robot and Primadonna.
She says that her recovery started when she sought medical help after a particularly bad recent flare-up, where she suffered "shooting pains and burning sensations all over my hands, legs and back".
With medical assistance, she says that her nervous system has learned to somewhat regulate itself again, telling her nearly two million Instagram fans, "The happy news is… (!) I am feeling better today than I have in a long time. My energy levels are around 65 - 70% most days and the dips I have are shorter."
She continued, "Healing is demanding a lot of my energy and attention right now, but the better I feel, the sooner I can get back to my creative life again. I worked for the first time in a while yesterday and it felt so good."
She concluded the statement by saying, "I've also cultivated a deeper empathy for the millions of people who live silently with chronic illness…
"It’s hard to maintain optimism when the world feels like it’s moving on without you, but hope always exists. Answers always exist. The body wants to heal — and what I’ve learned is you have to work with it, not against it."
According to the Irish ME Trust, ME is a serious and often disabling chronic physical disorder, and is believed to affect up to 12,000 people in Ireland.
