Lady Gaga alleviates fibromyalgia pain through mental health therapy

Lady Gaga is "more pain-free" than she has been in ages.

The 36-year-old pop star suffers from fibromyalgia - a chronic condition that causes widespread pain and extreme tiredness - and took to social media to thank fans for their support as she prepared to kick off the Chromatica Ball world tour in Germany.

Speaking in a video posted to Twitter on Sunday (July 17), she said: "I want to really thank you for sticking it out with me and loving me through all the different iterations of my artistry, as well as me as a person. I feel clearer today than I have in a long time and more pain-free than I have in ages."

The Poker Face hitmaker - whose real name is Stefani Germanotta - went on to explain that her latest tour will be a "healing" experience because she is finally able to dance and "tell the story" that she wanted to.

She said: "Being free of pain on stage is a real healing experience because I'm able to dance and sing and enjoy the audience, enjoy the show… and really tell a story. I just want to thank you. I'm going to thank you in another way and it's through this performance. And it will be through every performance. I don't know that I've been as speechless as I am today, knowing what we're about to do."

Following its opening night in Dusseldorf on Sunday, the Chromatica Ball tour - which is in support of her 2020 album Chromatica - is set to visit Stockholm, Paris, London, and a slew of US states before wrapping in Miami, Florida in mid-September.

Back in 2020, Gaga explained that as a result of the condition, her "whole body" was in pain but was receiving "mental health therapy" as a form of treatment.

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She said: "Fibromyalgia is essentially a chronic pain condition that makes your body hurt through your brain. Now, someone who might be watching this who has it might be saying, 'Don't tell me that my fibromyalgia is in my head because my whole body hurts'.

"Even sitting here with you today, I'm in head-to-toe pain. But what's interesting about it is that I've found through neuropsych research and my relationship with my doctors that fibromyalgia can be treated through mental health therapy. And mental health is a medical condition. It should be treated as a medical condition. It should not be ignored."