Candice Michelle opens up about her health issues.
Michelle competed in the Raw Diva Search in 2004, and while she didn't win, she still landed a deal with the company. She was featured on WWE TV for the next few years; she had a memorable run as one of Vince's Devils alongside Torrie Wilson, and Victoria. Michelle won the WWE Women's Championship once, and she was released in 2009. Aside from a one-off appearance on the Raw Reunion show in 2019, where she won the WWE 24/7 Championship, Michelle was mostly remained absent from the wrestling world.
Speaking with Steve Fall for WrestlingNewsCo, Michelle was asked to describe why she hasn't returned to the industry when many other women's wrestling stars from the past have. She first noted that she has been focused on her personal life and raising her kids before she stated that she had been dealing with some health issues.
“For me personally, I think that I’ve really taken such a step back in my personal life. I have three kids, I haven’t been present on social media like a lot of the other former wrestlers. I’ve really dived into my personal live and raising these children, and now just going into where my career’s going next, and that hasn’t really been live on social media so much. So I think maybe just missing that connection of them, ‘Who are you now? What are you doing now? What do you look like now?’ It’s just me kind of getting back into that present world. I’ve gone through many transitions recently and had some health issues lately. So it’s actually good that it’s not my time right now, but I’m coming out of that, so maybe next year is the time when it happens."
When asked to describe what’s going on with her health, Michelle recalled how she and her family moved to Texas, and the transition was challenging for her. She revealed that she had a panic attack and proceeded to have an attack every day for four months. Michelle stated that she was utterly exhausted due to the strain of having so many attacks.
“So a year and a half ago, COVID happened for everybody, and most people just were worried about getting sick from COVID. I personally didn’t have that worry. I personally didn’t have that worry. I’m very health-oriented, I’ve been running a chiropractic health organization for 20 years now. But we have this transition of, we lived in LA for 23 years, and we decided that we were supposed to move to Texas. This was not an easy transition. This is us, we’re living the American Dream, had a practice that was running beautifully, kids were in their schools, life was good, and I just knew that our next step in life, our vision to serve, was supposed to be here in Texas. So we sold everything, we moved my family of five and a big boxer into an RV, and then we went, ‘Let’s make this fun.’ So we did 21 stops, all the way from California to Texas, and national parks and exploring. But every week, my husband had to fly back to work, so I would manage the kids and the dog. It was wonderful to have this special time, but at the same time, I fell off my rituals a little, not really having my green shakes and drinking my water and doing my exercise the way I would. I was in Junction, Colorado, having a beautiful day, and I went to the mall. I wasn’t feeling good, and I was like, ‘I’m not feeling good. Maybe I need to have lunch. I haven’t had lunch yet.’ So I get lunch for me and my kids, my three daughters. We’re sitting at a table, and I can just feel it not going so good. I was like, ‘Maybe it’s blood sugar.’ I don’t have any issues with blood sugar, but I know people say when your blood sugar is low, have some candy. So I said go get me a candy out of the candy machine, and I couldn’t even eat it. I saw this baker in a cupcake shop, and I just went straight to him, and I said, ‘Is there a medic in the mall? I’m not okay, I have three kids. I’m in a strange place. I have no family, friends, and I’m not okay. Can you come help me?’ He said, ‘I’ll call security.’ I sat down, and before you know it, I’m on the ground, convulsing. I don’t pass out, but I’m not conscious. I can’t open my eyes, but I can’t see anything. I just keep saying, ‘I have three kids, I have three kids.’ 911 comes, I go to the hospital. Run all the tests, X-rays, and they say you had a panic attack. I said, ‘Panic attack? From what? I was having a good day. I was having a good day, I wasn’t worried anything, I wasn’t scared about anything. Why did I have that?’ Then that happened after that was the most shocking thing for me. I had an attack every single day for the next four months. Every single day. It’s basically like your body and your mind run a marathon every time you have an attack. So I was just beat to a pulp," Michelle said.
Michelle continued by discussing her road to recovery. She noted that she tried medications and supplements. She then stated that she was on level three adrenal fatigue, and the stress deprived her body of hormones. Michelle explained that she was on this vicious cycle for well over a year and emphasized that it was grueling.
"I started, ‘What’s happening with me?’ I tried medications. That’s not my first protocol, but I was like, ‘I’m dying. I’m not okay.’ Those made me worse. So I tried a different one, and then I’m on supplements. Before you know it, I’m getting brain scans done to see what’s going on in my brain, and we found out I basically, I hit rock bottom. I had level three adrenal fatigue, I had no hormones in my body from the stress. It’s basically [like] I was living in fight or flight for this entire journey. To build that up, I can’t replace my adrenals with a supplement if I have no hormones in my body. If I take hormones, the stress eats it before it deposits into my body. So I’ve been on a vicious cycle for a year and half. I couldn’t take my kids to school. I take one to school, pull over, I have to go through a panic attack to get my next kids to school. My husband was transitioning still, his work was in LA, so I’m full-time by myself, not feeling safe. It has just worn me out. Talk about visiting the depths of hell, and really mentally not stable. I really had to go through that journey, which has been really tough," she said.
The former WWE star then noted that she’s just getting out of these issues, as she found tools and techniques that help her, and she’s helping other people as a crisis coach now.
Michelle previously discussed her interest in returning to WWE. Check out her comments here.
Click here to check out Michelle's comments about her heat with Melina.
If you or anyone you know deals with panic attacks, resources can be found here.
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