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Topics: Celebrity, Christina Applegate, Health, NHS, Netflix
Mia Williams
Topics: Celebrity, Christina Applegate, Health, NHS, Netflix
Christina Applegate has opened up about the symptoms she 'brushed off' before receiving her MS diagnosis in 2021.
The actress started getting symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS) - which currently has no cure - two years before she was diagnosed with the condition.
In an attempt to help other people spot the signs sooner, the star has been very open about her journey and when she first noticed that something was wrong.
The 53-year-old was on the set for the third and final season of Netflix's Dead To Me, when she received a phone call giving her the bad news.
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But determined to finish the story of Jen and Judy, she carried on filming and pushed herself to keep going every day.
MS can affect the brain and spinal cord, resulting in a wide range of potential symptoms including problems with vision, arm or leg movement, sensation or balance.
Applegate first began to experience a loss of balance while filming a dance sequence in the first season of Dead To Me, which was released in May 2019.
The next sign came when her tennis game began to falter, but at the tim,e she was sure she just needed to work harder.
“I wish I had paid attention,” she told the New York Times. “But who was I to know?”
Among the symptoms she experienced were tingling and numbness in her extremities, feelings the NHS describes as being among the 'main symptoms' of the condition.
Applegate recalled being able to 'brush off' the symptoms in January 2021, but just before she started shooting the third season of Dead To Me, she felt as though she had been 'hit by a truck and didn’t know what was going on'.
Speaking to Variety, she said: "It was very scary for me, because this body that I had known was no longer mine. We had to kind of work around that until, finally, I had answers.
"I found that I had MS while we were shooting on a Monday. I went home, and the doctor said, 'I need to do this meeting with you'.
" I could feel that this Zoom was not going to be good news. It sucked, I’m not going to lie."
Following her diagnosis, production on Dead To Me shut down so she could receive treatment, but Applegate noted there was no getting 'better' for her.
There's currently no cure for MS, though treatments can help control the condition and ease symptoms.
“There was the sense of, ‘Well, let’s get her some medicine so she can get better'”, Applegate said of the hiatus. “And there is no better. But it was good for me. I needed to process my loss of my life, my loss of that part of me. So I needed that time.”
Treatments for MS vary depending on the specific symptoms and difficulties of the patient.