Shaquille O'Neal's health scare: Doctors told me I could die

Basketball legend Shaquille O'Neal recently learned that he suffers from sleep apnea and that his life was at risk because of this serious sleeping disorder, with which breathing repeatedly stops and starts.

As a result of this health scare, the NBA legend now has to use a sleep machine.

"When I went back to the doctor, there was some stuff I never even knew," O'Neal revealed in a recent interview with GQ, discussing his first visit to the doctor in years.

"They give you those certain words: 'Hey man, you got sleep apnea and sleep apnea can cause hypertension or strokes, so you could die'.

"I said 'What?' and they said 'You could die'.

"So now I've got to sleep with a sleep machine."

That wasn't the only health issue that doctors discovered when Shaq went for his check-up.

"They said 'All those painkillers you were taking, bro? Your kidneys are kind of weak, so no more painkillers', but I was dependent upon painkillers," he added.

"Not addicted. Certain days when I couldn't move, I just popped one or two, just to get me going. But I'm off that now.

"I've got this machine that I put on my legs, a Normatec. That's what I do. Whenever I get tired, or my legs start to swell after I fly, I just sit in my Normatec and I get in the hot tub and I just try to stretch.

"I had to really get checked out. When they hit you with that three-letter word that starts with D and ends with E, it changes stuff up."