"I love the kids," Abdul (with Kelly Clarkson and Justin Guarini) says of Idol. Photo by: SCOTT GRIES / GETTY |
The truth, says Abdul, 42, is that she has never felt better. After a 25-year battle with debilitating chronic pain, which she says began with a cheerleading accident at 17, the singer-songwriter-choreographer was diagnosed in November with Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy, a rare neuropathic disorder that causes intense, unexplained pain. With the diagnosis – and a successful treatment course that includes Enbrel, a medication used to treat arthritis and psoriasis – came an end to years of failed treatments, including 12 surgeries and heavy medications that she says made her chronically nauseous, sleep-deprived and so "loopy" that she chose instead to live with the pain.
Much to her frustration, "I'm not on anything now and people are accusing me of being on drugs," she says. "If people only knew what I've gone through with pain and pills. I'm dancing for joy at the fact that not even a year ago I was in so much pain I could barely get up."
Abdul spoke with assistant managing editor Todd Gold about her private battle and the long road to a recovery that she calls "beyond amazing."
It all started when I had a cheerleading accident at 17. I was dropped and injured a disc in my neck. Back then, there was nothing I could do. Surgery wasn't an option; the odds of an improvement were too iffy. I was also a kid. You shake it off and go on.
