Pop icon Avril Lavigne disappeared from the music scene for several years in 2014 – but it wasn't because she'd grown tired of popstar life.
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The 38-year-old was in fact battling Lyme disease, which she contracted in 2014, but rather than receive a quick diagnosis, a distressing battle followed, of which the singer said: "I was in bed for [expletive] two years," during a Billboard Magazine interview in 2018.
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Avril realised she was unwell while on tour, telling ABC News in 2014: "I had night sweats and I felt like I had flu, I had blood tests and they didn't really know what was wrong with me."
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The singer went on to share that two months into her illness, she began to suspect she had Lyme disease, leading her to contact a specialist in the illness.
Speaking of her struggle for a diagnosis, Avril said: "Those were the worst years of my life as I went through both physical and emotional battles.
Avril Lavigne had to see a specialist for her Lyme's Disease diagnosis
"I had accepted death and could feel my body shutting down. I felt like I was drowning. Like I was going underwater, and I just needed to come up for air. Like I was in a river being pulled in a current. Unable to breathe."
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The singer shared that her treatment involved lots of rest, as well as antibiotics, which got her well enough to begin recording music again, even writing a song inspired by her experience, called: "Head Above Water."
Avril Lavigne is back to performing now
Avril worried that her disease might have impacted her singing voice, as it did with one of her heroes, Shania Twain, who also had Lyme disease, but Avril was lucky to find she could still sing, and used her traumatic experience as inspiration for her album, also titled Head Above Water, which she released in 2019.
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