Doctor shares why MS can be misdiagnosed after Christina Applegate reveals she doesn’t have autoimmune disease
A doctor has shed light on why multiple sclerosis is commonly misdiagnosed, after Christina Applegate revealed she doesn’t actually have the illness, despite believing so for five years.
The 54-year-old Dead to Me actress first announced in August 2021 that she was diagnosed with the autoimmune condition, which affects the central nervous system.
Since then, she’s become an advocate for those suffering from MS, been candid about her debilitating symptoms, and even started a podcast for people who live with the illness.
However, on Tuesday (20 October), upon returning to her MeSsy podcast with her co-host Jamie Lynn Sigler after a seven-month hiatus, Applegate shared the shock news that she’d been misdiagnosed and was ‘back to square one’.
Advert
She told listeners: “It’s hard to say that (my doctor) came into my room and she said, ‘Congratulations, you don’t have MS.’ I was not happy at all.
“You don’t get misdiagnosed and then all of a sudden I’m better. I haven’t gotten better. If anything, I’ve gotten worse in some ways.”
She added: “I’m back at square one that I don’t know what’s going on with me.”
Applegate said it is common to get an MS misdiagnosis, adding that she had ‘every symptom’ of someone who has the condition.
“It’s clear now that they’re finding something different, that something else is going on,” she added.
And as we say, Applegate sadly isn’t the only one to experience this, as nearly one in five patients with an established diagnosis of multiple sclerosis are misdiagnosed, according to a 2019 study led by Cedars-Sinai.
Tyla spoke with Dr Nikki Ramskill, a GP and founder of The Female Health Doctor clinic, who explained that MS can be particularly challenging to diagnose because its symptoms overlap with numerous other conditions.
She outlined: “You might feel really tired, or get tingling or numbness in your body. Some people also get dizzy, have trouble seeing, or feel weak. You might even have a hard time balancing. There are lots of reasons why this could be happening - it could be something like a lack of vitamin B12, a problem with your thyroid, or even a migraine. It's also possible that it's related to something going on with your nerves.”
Another reason the autoimmune condition is difficult to pin down is that it ‘behaves differently from person to person’.
Dr Ramskill said: “Symptoms may appear intermittently, improve for a period and then return, which can make recognising a consistent pattern more difficult.”
Finally, there’s no single test that can diagnose it or give it a concrete yes or no answer, like you’d get with a pregnancy test, for example.
The GP explained: “Diagnosing multiple sclerosis isn't straightforward - there's no single blood test that can confirm it. Instead, doctors typically do a thorough neurological exam, take MRI images, and sometimes they'll do other tests like a lumbar puncture to get a clearer picture. This process can be pretty involved, but it's the best way to figure out what's going on.”
She concluded: “Because MS is a significant, lifelong diagnosis, it’s essential that clinicians carefully consider alternative explanations and ensure the clinical findings support the diagnosis.
“Equally, we mustn’t dismiss neurological symptoms just because initial investigations are normal or inconclusive.”
Symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS)
As per the NHS, some of the most common symptoms include:
- Feeling extremely tired (fatigue)
- Problems with your eyes or your vision, such as blurred vision or eye pain
- Numbness or a tingling feeling in different parts of the body
- Feeling off balance, dizzy or clumsy (uncoordinated)
- Muscle cramps, spasms and stiffness
- Needing to pee more often or not being able to control when you pee
- Problems with memory or concentration
- Sexual problems, including a dry vagina or erection problems
Topics: Christina Applegate, Health, News, Life, Celebrity
Madison Burgess