Celine Dion’s Twins Practice ‘Crisis’ Drills, Have Emergency ‘Panic Buttons’ at Home Amid Her SPS Battle

In an interview with PEOPLE for its latest cover story, the music icon — who was diagnosed with the rare autoimmune and neurological disorder in August 2022 — revealed that her 13-year-old twins Nelson and Eddy practice “crisis” drills at home, and there are “panic buttons” in the house in case of emergencies.

Those with SPS, like Dion, experience muscle stiffness and painful muscle spasms. The disorder gets its name because it can cause “episodes of muscles locking up and becoming stiff as a board,” according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.

The 56-year-old singer said she calls these “crisis” episodes, during which she also experiences severe pain. Following her diagnosis, Dion and her team taught her kids about SPS, and after they witnessed one of her episodes, they educated the teens on how they can help their mom.

“They saw a crisis — we explained it, we played it frame by frame,” she explained. “When I make a sound, or when I don’t make a sound, and what can they do because they’re 13 years old. They can help me out even if I don’t communicate verbally because I can’t produce a sound.”

The “My Heart Will Go On” singer also shared that she and her physical therapist create fake  “crisis” episodes for the twins so they’ll know how to react in an emergency.

In addition, Dion said, “We have panic buttons in the house and they know how to put me on my side.”

“The idea of telling them and showing them, it was not to frighten them. It is for them to know, ‘I’m your mom and it’s my responsibility. You’re old enough to understand I might need your help,'” she continued. “They’re so amazing because I would say 15 minutes or so every night, they come and they say, ‘Mom,’ and I say, ‘Yes?'”

“[They say], ‘It’s just because it’s been a little longer than you usually take when you clean up at night before bedtime. We just want to make sure you’re fine,'” Dion added. “This is our lives now: We care for each other, and they’re so helpful.”

Dion welcomed Nelson and Eddy, along with son René-Charles, during her marriage to René Angélil, who died in 2016 following a battle with throat cancer.

While speaking with PEOPLE, the Grammy winner said she credits her children for giving her the strength to navigate her health struggles, sharing that they give her the strength to fight as “they already lost a parent.”

“I barely could walk at one point, and I was missing very much living. My kids started to notice. I was like, ‘Okay, they already lost a parent. I don’t want them to be scared,'” she explained. “I let them know, ‘You lost your dad, [but] mom has a condition and it’s different. I’m not going to die. It’s something that I’m going to learn to live with.'”

Dion opened up about her diagnosis in 2022, in an emotional video in which she revealed her health problems and announced she’d be postponing her concerts in 2023.

“Recently, I’ve been diagnosed with a very rare neurological condition called stiff-person syndrome, which affects something like one in a million people,” she said at the time. “While we’re still learning about this rare condition, we now know that this is what has been causing all of the spasms that I’ve been having.”

However, Dion has been suffering from symptoms — including excruciating muscle spasms, difficulty walking and breathing — for years.

While speaking with PEOPLE, the mother of three revealed that she began experiencing symptoms as far back as the mid-2000s. After failing to find treatment or remedies that were successful, she said she was prescribed Valium, the name brand for diazepam. The medication, which belongs to a class of drugs called benzodiazepines, is used to treat anxiety, muscle spasms, and seizures.

However, the “I’m Alive” singer — who took the medication to help alleviate her symptoms during performing — said she built a tolerance to the medication, and over time, she was taking what would be considered a “lethal” dose.

According to the Mayo Clinic, the average prescribed dose for adults to use for muscle spasms is 2 to 10 milligrams three or four times a day. Dion said, at one point, she was taking 90 milligrams a day.

“It could have been fatal. I did not question the level because I don’t know medicine. I thought it was going to be okay. It worked for a few days, for a few weeks, and then it doesn’t work anymore,” Dion told PEOPLE. “I did not understand that I could have gone to bed and stopped breathing. And you learn — you learn through your mistakes.”