Christina Applegate shocks fans with health update as she reveals MS misdiagnosis: ‘Back at square one’
She says her symptoms haven't magically vanished
Christina Applegate has given fans a shocking health update after the actress revealed that she had been misdiagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. However, the actress, who was diagnosed a little over five years ago and has been experiencing worsening symptoms, claimed that the news brought little comfort as she now has more questions than answers.
Applegate, 54, was first diagnosed in August 2021 and had been experiencing symptoms for a while before that, according to Page Six. However, in a recent appearance on the “MeSsy” podcast, which Applegate co-hosts with Jamie Sigler, the actress known for her roles in Anchorman and Married… with Children, revealed that she had been misdiagnosed with the chronic autoimmune disease.
“[My doctor] came into my room and said, ‘Congratulations, you don’t have MS,’” she said through tears on the podcast. While the takeaway for some may be that the misdiagnosis was good news, Applegate didn’t see it that way. “I was, like, not happy at all. Everybody else was so happy,” she said.
Applegate went on to explain why the news wasn’t as good as it first seemed: “You don’t get misdiagnosed and then all of the sudden, I’m better,” she told her podcast co-host. “I haven’t gotten better. If anything, I’ve gotten worse,” she added.
The actress said she now felt as if she were “back at square one,” as her health issues haven’t gone away, but now she has no answers as to where those issues are coming from. She revealed that there was going to be an investigation into what had been happening to her since 2021.
Christina Applegate doesn’t know where her health issues come from
The actress revealed that her diagnosis had had a large negative impact on her life, claiming she went through depression and “lost everything. I lost my job.”
“What do you say to someone who’s been living with this for six years?” the actress asked. “It stopped my life.” Applegate says she is still being affected by her illness, claiming she finds it difficult to walk and she often depends on a wheelchair now. “Nothing magical happened when [the doctor] said, ‘You don’t have MS.’ Nothing magical happened.”
Applegate also spoke of the shock she felt over the misdiagnosis, calling it a “mindf–k.” She also spoke of how she felt she was no longer a part of the MS community after being the “poster child” for a period of time, telling Sigler, “I feel like I let everybody down.”
According to Dr. Marwa Kaisey, who Applegate and Sigler invited onto the podcast, MS misdiagnoses are “fairly common” since “we don’t have one single test for MS.” According to the doctor, around 1 in 5 people who were told they have MS didn’t actually have it. Funding for research into illnesses such as MS was also allegedly cut last year.
For Applegate, her health battle continues. Last month, she was discharged from the hospital after being admitted all the way back in March. She thanked fans for their support back in April, writing that “Health issues are a constant for me, but I’m a strong chick and I’m getting stronger and better every day.”
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