Shania Twain details how Lyme disease affected her career: 'I thought I'd lost my voice forever' https://ift.tt/vlDEAfV

Shania Twain revealed how a Lyme disease diagnosis affected her career in the Netflix documentary "Not Just a Girl."

Twain, 56, was diagnosed with the disease after being bitten by a tick while horseback riding in 2003. Years later, the country music star explained her symptoms, which she characterized as "quite scary."

"Before I was diagnosed, I was on stage very dizzy," Twain said in the documentary (via Page Six). "I was losing my balance, I was afraid I was gonna fall off the stage."

"I was having these very, very, very millisecond blackouts, but regularly, every minute or every 30 seconds," she continued.

SHANIA TWAIN ADDRESSES EX-HUSBAND'S AFFAIR IN NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY

On top of the dizziness and blackouts, the "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!" singer developed dysphonia. The neurological disorder affects speech and voice, according to Penn Medicine.

"My voice was never the same again," Twain recalled. "I thought I’d lost my voice forever. I thought that was it, [and] I would never, ever sing again."

The "You're Still the One" singer previously opened up about losing her voice.

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"You start avoiding speaking on the phone, you start avoiding going to places that have ambient noise where you have to speak over the volume of others. It's very debilitating," she told People magazine. "Our voice is such a huge part of our self-expression. For a vocalist, a singer ... it's devastating in so many ways.

"Until I got to the bottom of why I was having a problem with my voice, there wasn't really much I could do about it," she continued. "So it took a long time. I did believe that I would probably have to accept at some point that I was never going to sing again."

To regain her voice, Twain underwent multiple invasive surgeries – including an open-throat operation.

"Not Just a Girl" premiered July 26 on Netflix.