Christina Applegate speaks out ‘new challenges’ she’s facing after finding out she doesn’t have MS
Christina Applegate is facing ‘new challenges’ after she was misdiagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS).
The actress is opening up about her worsening health challenges in the latest episode of her MeSsy podcast which she co-hosts with Jamie-Lynn Sigler.
Describing the situation as being ‘back at square one’, Applegate, 54, told listeners that it recently took her 10 minutes just to get out of bed.
“I actually timed it today. It took me 10 minutes to be able to move off my pillow and get out of the bed and stand up at which point I almost couldn’t walk to the bathroom.”
Advert
She continued: “I don’t know what’s going on. This is what I’m still living with and I never had that before. I was able to sit up.”
She says her conditioning appears to be worsening, or something ‘new’ is happening. However it is currently unclear what her condition may be.
She previously 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.”
The Dead To Me actress was diagnosed with the chronic autoimmune condition back in June 2021.
She shared the news with fans just months later, and has since become a vocal advocate about the signs and symptoms of MS in an attempt to raise awareness and prevent anyone else from missing the signs.
This attack can trigger inflammation, and causes the signals between the brain and the body to be scrambled.
She described how she's been going through a 'great depression because of it' and 'lost everything'.
The Hollywood star emotionally continued: "I lost my job. I lost - I’m sorry. What do you say to someone who’s been living with this for six years - God, I’m so sorry - because it stopped my life.
"I still have to use wheelchairs when I go to the doctor’s office. I can’t walk from the car to the room. I’m still in this.
"Nothing magical happened when she said, ‘You don’t have MS.’ Nothing magical happened.”
The actress shared that said she's struggling with her place in the MS community following the misdiagnosis news.
She shared: “It’s weird because I feel like I let everybody down. It’s this weird feeling because I became this - you and I, the poster children for MS. And everything I was doing. I had a reason. I had a f***ing reason as to why my day sucked every day. And now I don’t have a reason, and it’s very unnerving, and it’s very confusing for me."
Doctor Marwa Kaisey, an associate professor with the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center department of neurology, joined the duo on the podcast, where she explained that MS misdiagnoses are 'fairly common' because we 'don’t have one single test for MS'.
The doctor added that, alarmingly, nearly 20 percent of those diagnosed with MS turn out not to have the illness.
Topics: Christina Applegate, Celebrity, Health
Greg Harris