Rapper Cardi B Recently shared the statement on her Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) that left a lot of her fans concerned. The 32-year-old wrote, “I’ve been in the hospital recovering from a medical emergency the last couple of days.” She added, “I wont be able to perform at ONE MusicFest.” Cardi continued to share her heartbreak over not being able to see her fans over the weekend — “I really wish I could be there.”
The rapper sincerely thanked her fans for being understanding and promised to return soon “better and stronger.” While the rapper didn’t disclose why she was sick, she asked her followers not to worry. After the “WAP” hitmaker shared the update, fans rushed to the post’s comments section to wish her a speedy recovery. One commentator wrote, “Heal up and come back strong when you can,” while another stated, “The most important thing is your health.”
While the 32-year-old didn’t provide further details about her condition, fans are speculating it’s because Cardi didn’t take adequate time to rest after giving birth. “That’s a setback. Stay in the house for 2 months after you have babies!!! Give ur body time to heal,” “Should’ve sat down after you had that baby but nooooooo,” and “Definitely a setback moving too fast gotta rest up fr and give your body time to heal from having a whole baby,” read some of the liked comments.
What Could’ve Caused Her Emergency?
Cardi gave birth to her third child with rapper Offset less than two months ago. The two are going through a divorce.
That’s something that anyone would lose sleep over, which could make some of those health speculations true. According to the American Heart Association, sleep deprivation has negative effects in multiple ways throughout your body. Those can affect the following body systems, organs and processes:
- Heart and circulatory systems: Sleep deprivation has long-term damaging effects on your heart and circulatory health. People with chronic sleep deprivation are more likely to develop high blood pressure (hypertension) and high cholesterol (hyperlipidemia).
- Metabolic systems: People with chronic sleep deprivation are at a much higher risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.
- Immune system: Your body’s natural defenses against infections can’t work properly if you aren’t getting enough sleep.
- Nervous system: It’s common for people who aren’t sleeping enough to have higher pain sensitivity, which means they feel pain more easily, the pain is more intense or both.
- Brain: Sleep deprivation has very negative effects on how your brain works. While experts don’t fully understand sleep’s role in brain function, they do know it’s a key part of how people learn and remember. There’s also some evidence that sleep deprivation could play a role in the development of Alzheimer’s disease.
- Mental health: Sleep deprivation also negatively affects your mental health, making it harder for you to manage and process your emotions. People with sleep deprivation are more likely to feel symptoms of depression and anxiety.
The effects of sleep deprivation depend on why it happens and how long it lasts. The longer a person has sleep deprivation, the greater — and more severe — the effects.
Conditions that can get worse or happen because of sleep deprivation
Sleep deprivation also increases your risk of developing certain conditions or making them worse if you have them. These conditions include:
- Type 2 diabetes.
- High blood pressure (hypertension).
- Obesity.
- Obstructive sleep apnea.
- Vascular disease.
- Stroke.
- Heart attack.
- Depression.
- Anxiety.
- Conditions that involve psychosis.
Cardi B’s Recent Health Issues Left Her Feeling Paralyzed
In a conversation on X Spaces on Thursday, Aug. 8, the pregnant rapper, 31, described exactly how she felt “paralyzed” and “couldn’t move for two days straight” after previously sharing that she had a “freak accident” that almost led to a pregnancy loss.
“I was going down the stairs and I slipped a little,” the “I Like It” singer explains on PEOPLE.com. “I practically fell, but I was trying to prevent myself from falling, so I was holding myself on the railing. My foot still slipped, and I kind of busted my ass.”
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She adds that upon falling, “I felt a weird jerk, like a pop, and I couldn’t get up really.”
After “screaming” for her dad, he ran over and “tried helping me get up and move out the steps.” Despite his efforts, Cardi shares, “I noticed that I couldn’t really walk, like I was feeling pain in my, I don’t know, in the lower of my stomach.”
Cardi notes that she’s carrying her soon-to-be baby “a little low,” so she’s used to feeling “a little pain” in that region and just decided to take a nap after the fall.
However, Cardi says, “When I woke up, I couldn’t move my bottom at all. Like, just moving my feet was hurting the bottom of my stomach. I couldn’t move. I felt like paralyzed.”
Unable to move and starting to panic, the singer took an ambulance to the hospital where she “found out that I tore a ligament in my pelvis and it’s right where my baby’s head is at.”
“I dilated and I was having contractions for every two minutes for a whole 24 hours,” the soon-to-be mom of three continues. “So they had to monitor me and I was in a lot of pain. I couldn’t move for two days straight.”
Cardi adds that eventually the doctors “sent me home,” and they “not only put me on bed rest, but I got to do therapy.”
“So stop playing with me. I’m not even a type of person to exaggerate anything,” she tells those who criticized her for previously asking for more morphine from the hospital. “You don’t even know what the f— is going on or what I’m going through.”
According to the National Institutes of Health, paralysis during pregnancy like how Cardi experienced is rare, but can occur due to a number of conditions, including:
Hypokalemic periodic paralysis
A rare disorder that causes episodes of weakness or paralysis in the muscles. It’s caused by low potassium levels, which can be due to poor intake, urinary loss, or redistribution into cells. Pregnancy can worsen this condition, and it’s important to be prepared for any episodes during labor and delivery.
