Health scares are always terrible, especially since we are often led to believe by the internet that we are possibly suffering from a life-threatening condition.
But what’s even more horrifying is suddenly almost collapsing while performing in front of an audience, without any warning, as Drake White did a few weeks ago.
According to the country star, there is an explanation for why his body behaved the way it did. Apparently, White is suffering from a medical condition called arteriovenous malformation, or AVM for short, and he had received his diagnosis back in January of this year. Now, he is receiving treatment for it, but the symptoms still do show up unannounced sometimes.
AVM Explained
There has been a lot of research conducted on AVM, and what science has understood so far is that the condition occurs when the brain arteries, as well as veins, become entangled with each other, thereby causing a disruption in the flow of blood.
According to White’s diagnosis, his AVM is huge enough already that it can be compared to a full-sized cone of ice cream and is located on his brain’s back on the right side.
AVM is a condition that shows a few symptoms, and while a full-blown collapse may not happen until a later point of one’s life, the initial symptoms start showing up in the form of numbness or even as sensory issues which White reportedly felt on his body’s left portion.
Thankfully, White caught on to the symptoms he was facing and received an early diagnosis before the condition could cause any lethal impact on his physical health.
Better Diagnosed Early
According to the doctor who provided White with his diagnosis, the problem with not getting an early diagnosis for AVM is that the blood vessels start to weaken as we age, and since they are tangled up, the blood pressure is also very high in the AVM region. This can result in the rupturing of vessels inside the brain, which can easily cause a stroke.
White, who is now 35 years of age, naturally became very concerned about his physical health when he realized that something was definitely wrong with his brain. According to an interview which the singer gave to People magazine, he was apparently having a normal way whereby he had exercised and then gone out for a meeting over lunch, but suddenly he had started experiencing a headache.
It was only two in the afternoon and White had crashed in his bed, and he recalls that at this point all he could see was spots, especially if he looked through his left eye.
Then, he started losing all sensation in the left side of his body, and although White had thought that a good shuteye would help him with all these issues, when he woke up, he was still experiencing a very strong headache. This is when White knew that he had to pay a visit to the doctor’s office, after which he received his AVM diagnosis.