Solange Knowles (Photo by Jeff Spicer/Getty Images for Gucci)
Solange Knowles has opened up about her struggles with multiple autoimmune disorders.
Musician Shaun Rosss spoke candidly about his postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) diagnosis as a result of long COVID via an October 14 Instagram post. Knowles, 38, wrote about her own experience with POTS in the comments section. Per the Cleveland Clinic, POTS is known to cause an abnormally rapid heart rate when transitioning from lying down to standing up.
“Sending u so much love and strength Shaun and to all in the comments struggling with the debilitating, confusing, and lonely symptoms of POTS,” the “Losing You” singer wrote.
Along with POTS, Knowles revealed that she was also diagnosed with Sjögren’s syndrome and mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS) in 2018, adding that she can “really relate to not wanting your health to be your identity.”
According to the National Institute of Health, Sjögren’s is an autoimmune disorder that attacks the salivary and lacrimal glands. As for MCAS, the condition causes repeated and severe allergic reactions like “hives, swelling, low blood pressure, difficulty breathing and severe diarrhea,” according to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.
Solange Knowles Sonia Moskowitz/Getty Images for ABA
Knowles also gave a shout-out to Dysautonomia International, a nonprofit that “seeks to improve the lives of individuals living with autonomic nervous system disorders,” per its website.
“The good folks at @dysautonomiaintl were really an incredible resource for me and I feel really grateful for the spoonie community for holding me down during my times of complete uncertainty!” she wrote.
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Ross, 33, responded to Knowles’ comment, saying, “Thank you so much Solange. You’ve known me since I was a teen and how energetic I can be. This definitely changed my entire outlook on so much [trying] to navigate this entirely. I appreciate you so much. Sending love ❤️.”
Knowles previously spoke about her health issues via Instagram in 2021, on the two-year anniversary of her critically acclaimed 2019 album, When I Get Home. However, she did not get specific about her diagnoses at the time.
“When I first started creating ‘When I Get Home’ I was quite literally fighting for my life,” the R&B singer wrote in her March 2021 post. “In and out of hospitals (s/out park plaza on Binz! 🙂) with depleting health and broken spirits asking God to send me a sign I would not only survive, but that if he let me make it out alive, I would step into the light whatever that meant.”