Ella Emhoff, the stepdaughter of Vice President Kamala Harris, recently opened up on her lifelong medical condition. Earlier this week, the 25-year-old revealed to her 345,000 followers on Instagram Tuesday that she grew up with a spinal condition. Emhoff also shared a list of “pain management” suggestions that included ketamine, the controversial dissociative drug which was responsible for the death of Friends star Matthew Perry last year.
Harris’ stepdaughter Ella Emhoff reveals lifelong medical condition
The daughter of US Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff revealed in her Instagram stories that she was born with a tethered spine, a neurological disorder that leads to malformations of the spinal cord. “I was born with a tethered spine (iykyk) which caused my back to not properly lengthen when I was growing and caused a kyphosis (hunchback),” she wrote.
“Was in and out of doctors and PT for most of my adolescence Got lower back surgery grew a million inches and now deal with chronic pain,” Emhoff added over a picture of her face covered with Hello Kitty stickers. She opened up on her condition after getting multiple responses to her previous story, in which she sought advice for pain management.
“Behind every piece is a pain management device hard at work,” she said, adding, “I have bad chronic back pain and have for most of my life. My chronic pain people, what are we using to feel comf [sic]?” In the follow-up story, Emhoff thanked her followers for the “comforting” responses before giving a “context” into her lifelong health condition.
The following day, Emhoff shared a link for a Google Sheet titled “Big Pain Management List.” The list contained a plethora of measures to alleviate pain, ranging from lifestyle modifications to therapy, books, and exercises. Among the several drugs mentioned in the list was “ketamine infusions.” “These are all just recommendations made to me these should not be taken as medical advice i am just a girl trynna feel less pain,” Emhoff wrote on the list as a disclaimer.
Meanwhile, the mention of ketamine has raised eyebrows as five individuals were recently arrested in connection to Perry’s death. The 54-year-old actor developed a severe addiction to ketamine after years of using it to combat anxiety and depression. The potentially fatal drug is regulated due to the high chances of its user forming a dependency on it.
Dr. Michael Harbison, a chiropractor in Las Vegas, slammed Emhoff’s recommendations, saying, “There are far better options out there to deal with chronic pain than Ketamine and mushrooms, in my professional opinion,” according to the New York Post. Harbison added that those drugs “are not for back pain – they are basically just getting you high.”
