Watching Danielle Busby smile during an interview while discussing inflammation and nerve damage as if she were describing a slightly inconvenient commute is almost impossible to comprehend. Danielle Busby’s weight gain is only one obvious aspect of a much more complicated picture. The 40-year-old mother of six, best known from TLC’s *OutDaughtered*, has spent years discreetly controlling a body that seems to have turned against her.
The human body was not designed to carry quintuplets. It’s possible that the majority of people who watched the Busby family on TV never truly came to terms with that fact. After one pregnancy, five babies, and a C-section at 28 weeks, life simply continued. The quints needed everything, Blayke needed attention, and somewhere in the middle of all that cacophony, Danielle’s body began to send signals that were increasingly difficult to ignore.
“My body itself has actually slowed down a lot” she said in a recent interview with “Parade” prior to *OutDaughtered* Season 10. “So I’ve had a lot of inflammation, a lot of swelling, a lot of weight gain, to losing some weight to weight gain. It’s just like this, this up and down curve.” That statement conveys the quiet tiredness of someone who has been riding that curve for longer than seems reasonable rather than any dramatic revelation.
The fact that Danielle Busby’s weight gain story isn’t about vanity is what makes it truly worthwhile. It is a sign. Her medical team has been treating her for a number of overlapping conditions, such as fibromyalgia, autoimmune problems, and migraines, but there isn’t a single clear diagnosis that connects them all.
“There’s no medical diagnosis for me,” she said, “but I get kind of treated for a bunch of different things.” This type of medical limbo is more prevalent than most people realize, especially in women who are coping with complicated systemic problems, and it can be frustrating to even see from the outside.
These days, she alternates between traditional physicians and a holistic approach that includes vitamins and supplements. Vitamin deficiencies have been identified with the aid of routine blood work. Some drugs treat the nerve damage that creeps up her neck and causes the migraines that can cause her to become flat. It’s more of a management system than a treatment, and maintaining it requires a great deal of self-control, particularly for a woman in Houston, Texas, who also runs a YouTube channel, oversees several business endeavors, and is raising six daughters.
It’s difficult to ignore the fact that Danielle’s health issues became more apparent as the children grew more self-sufficient. There was less physical mayhem in the house, and all of a sudden her body had space to experience everything it had been lacking. That’s not uncommon; in fact, it’s a known phenomenon that long-term stress can conceal underlying medical issues, with symptoms emerging after the adrenaline subsides.
She stated, “I have been pretty solid and pretty good probably the last like eight or so months,” and it feels honest that she used the word “pretty” twice to qualify it. Not healed. Not resolved. Just better-managed than before, which may be the most practical form of good she has at the moment given what her body has endured.
It remains to be seen if the course of action will ever result in a more precise diagnosis. However, Danielle Busby has never been one to wait for ideal circumstances before taking action. She has already created a life out of seemingly insurmountable circumstances. The nerve pain, inflammation, and weight swings are all real and persistent. However, she is as well.