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Christina Applegate has shared a message with the multiple sclerosis community after revealing her misdiagnosis.
Applegate, 54, was diagnosed in 2021 with the incurable autoimmune disease that affects the brain and spinal cord, and has spoken openly about the debilitating pain of the condition. One week after revealing the health update on her MeSsy podcast — returning after a seven-month hiatus due to health issues — Applegate has shared a new message to the MS community.
Speaking on this week’s podcast episode, she said: “I’m still going to speak out on your behalf forever and ever. I still feel like part of this community and no matter what I love you.”
Applegate said she “feels OK” and that she’s been surrounded by support in the days following her misdiagnosis announcement, adding, “That’s all I can want.”
However, the Married... with Children actor said she continues to struggle with mobility issues. “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. I don’t know what’s going on. This is what I am still living with,” she revealed.
She shared that her next step in her health journey is to see a rheumatologist, “and then, you know, we’ll go from there. If that doesn’t come with any kind of results, then we’re going to go to a different specialist and then a different specialist,” she says. “That starts to overwhelm me...I think I just have to go, all right, one step at a time.”
Applegate’s co-host Jamie-Lynn Sigler — who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2016 — addressed the future of their podcast, saying, “This is just about our lives and the messiness of life in general. It was never meant to be solely MS focused.”
Sigler added that Applegate’s openness about the misdiagnosis has “ignited and supported a conversation that’s been out there but maybe not getting the visibility or attention that some people felt that it should.”
“Not even just about a misdiagnosis, but about how difficult it is to get a correct diagnosis, and all of the different types of things, especially autoimmune and neurological that can mimic one of the other, and the frustration that comes along with that, and the heaviness that can come with a diagnosis, and all the feelings around it,” Sigler continued.
In sharing the news of her misdiagnosis on her podcast, Applegate cited new technology that contributed to the finding, saying, “This may come as great news, but to me, I’m back at square one.
“It’s hard to say that [my doctor] came into my room and she said, ‘Congratulations, you don’t have MS.’”
Applegate said she was “not happy at all” to hear the news.
“You don’t get misdiagnosed and then all of the sudden I’m better. I haven’t gotten better … If anything, I’ve gotten worse in some ways,” she said. “So I’m back at square one, that I don’t know what’s going on with me.”
After announcing her diagnosis in 2021, Applegate retired from acting in 2022 following the finale of the hit Netflix drama series Dead to Me.
Now, she said, her illness is a mystery. “I have every symptom of someone with MS. Every single one,” she said. “Now, we both know that there are many things that mirror MS — many different things.”
Applegate added that “there’s a pretty damn high number of misdiagnoses with MS,” so this is not a rare occurrence.
“It’s clear now that they’re finding something different,” Applegate continued. “Something else is going on.”