Actress Christina Applegate says she has found out that she was misdiagnosed with multiple sclerosis after a seven-month, health-related break from her podcast.
In a two-part episode of her “MeSsy” podcast on Tuesday, Ms. Applegate said new technology led to the discovery, adding that her doctor told her, “Congratulations, you don’t have MS.”
Ms. Applegate was first diagnosed with MS in 2021 and retired from acting after her Netflix comedy-drama series “Dead to Me” ended the following year. She said she is “back at square one” and “not happy at all” about the news.
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She said her symptoms have not improved and in some ways have worsened. “I have every symptom of someone with MS,” she said.
Ms. Applegate said many conditions mirror those of multiple sclerosis and that misdiagnoses are not rare, adding that doctors are now finding “something different” and that “something else is going on.”
She became an advocate for the MS community through the podcast she started with former “The Sopranos” actress Jamie-Lynn Sigler. She said she feels she “let everybody down” and remains in a “state of shock.”
In the podcast’s second part, Ms. Applegate tearfully described feeling “hollow,” “scared,” “sad,” and “lost” and has experienced a “great depression.”
She said she still uses a wheelchair at the doctor’s office because she cannot walk from her car to the exam room.
Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease in which damage to the protective layer around nerve cells disrupts the brain and the spinal cord.
Symptoms include vision problems, muscle weakness, trouble with balance and coordination, fatigue, numbness, tingling, and bladder and bowel problems.
The exact cause is unknown, and there is no cure. Treatment aims to slow Ms’ progression and manage symptoms.
Conditions that neurologists most often mistake for MS include migraine, fibromyalgia and nonspecific neurologic symptoms.
Other well-known people who have been diagnosed with MS include actress Selma Blair, TV host Montel Williams and CNN anchor John King.
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