Nick Cannon says his early struggle with undiagnosed lupus 'almost took my life'

Since Nick Cannon has been diagnosed with lupus, he's learned to make adjustments in order to live with the autoimmune disease. But finding out just what was going on with his body was a rocky and sometimes scary journey.

"Ten years ago, I experienced a sudden and mysterious illness that almost took my life," Cannon said on Monday's episode of his talk show, Nick Cannon. "At the time, I had no idea it was lupus. And, you know me, I always got to have a camera on, so I literally would just open up my phone, grab my camera and I would just talk to the camera."

The actor and Masked Singer host then said that, because it was such an important anniversary for him, he wanted to show some of the footage. He then played a black-and-white collection of clips, roughly five minutes long, that summed up what he had gone through back then.

At the start, Cannon explains to a doctor that, just a few days before, he had been playing in the snow with his wife, who was Mariah Carey at that time, and their twins. Then he suddenly had "excruciating pain" in his right side and a "shortness of breath." The following scenes show Cannon — with Carey, at one point — visiting with various doctors in search of an answer.

"They found two blood clots in my lungs. Really life threatening," Cannon said as he sat in a medical office. "It's the last place you wanna be, man. Doctors tell you you could die, and I'm in this room by myself just reflecting, thinking."

Later scenes showed Cannon resisting cupcakes and Cheetos and permanently signing off a radio show as he made necessary changes to his lifestyle.

"Turn your test into a testimony," he said when the video ended. "Turn your mess into a message. And, I mean, we still pushing through."

Cannon has been open about his physical and mental health struggles in the past, such as the grief he felt following the heartbreaking death of Zen, his 5-month-old son with model Alyssa Scott, from brain cancer in December.