Christina Applegate Does Not Have MS, but Symptoms Remain
In the first episode of her MeSsy podcast after a break since March, the actress said her doctor told her she does not have the disease she announced in 2021.
Actress Christina Applegate said on Tuesday, October 20, in the first episode of the MeSsy podcast that she does not have multiple sclerosis, the disease she publicly announced in 2021. Her symptoms, she says, have not gone away, and doctors are now looking for another cause of her health problems.
Applegate returned to the podcast after a break that began in March. The episode is in two parts, and she hosts the show with actress Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who also has multiple sclerosis.
What did she say on the podcast?
The actress said her doctor delivered the diagnosis in words that did not sound like bad news. Applegate repeated them like this:
“Congratulations, you do not have multiple sclerosis.”
For her, it was not a relief. She said she took the break to come to terms with the news, and according to TMZ she burst into tears when she heard the diagnosis, and not from joy. She says she was not happy, while everyone around her was.
“This could be great news, but for me it means I’m back at square one,” Applegate said. B92 reports that the new finding came with the help of new technology.
The actress also explained why she does not feel that anything has improved:
“You can’t just get a wrong diagnosis and suddenly be better. I haven’t recovered… If anything, in some ways I’m even worse.”
TMZ writes that her symptoms have grown more severe over time.
Who is looking for the cause now?
Applegate insists her symptoms have not changed:
“I have every symptom a person with multiple sclerosis has. Every single one,” she said. She added that many other conditions have symptoms resembling the disease, and that doctors, as she put it, are now trying to determine what is actually happening to her:
“It’s clear now that they’re finding something else. Something else is going on.”
The episode does not name a new diagnosis, and neither of the two articles we read says it does.
In the second part of the episode, according to TMZ, the guest was neurologist Marva Casey of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. She said a wrong multiple sclerosis diagnosis is not rare, because there is no single test for the disease and the diagnosis is made against a list of criteria. TMZ adds that, by the figures it cites, one in five people receive a wrong diagnosis.
How does Applegate feel about her public role?
Applegate said she feels as if she let down the people she has supported for years, especially those living with multiple sclerosis. Speaking to Sigler, she said:
“It’s a strange feeling, because you and I became the faces of multiple sclerosis.” She then added: “I had a reason. I had, damn it, a reason why every day was awful. And now I no longer have an explanation, and that upsets and confuses me a lot.”
In the second part of the episode she spoke about the last five years:
“I went through a major depression over all of this. But I lost everything. I lost my job… It stopped my life.”
According to B92, her day-to-day functioning is still seriously limited, and she uses a wheelchair to see doctors because she cannot cross the distance from the car to the office on her own. She concluded:
“I’m still in the same situation. Nothing miraculous happened when she told me, ‘You don’t have multiple sclerosis.’ Nothing changed.”
What is known about the earlier course of the illness?
Applegate received her multiple sclerosis diagnosis in August 2021, and according to TMZ she likely had symptoms for years before that. She stepped back from acting after the series “Dead to Me” ended. Sigler, known for her role in “The Sopranos,” was diagnosed in 2001.
TMZ also reported that Applegate was hospitalized in Los Angeles in late March, and that the reason for her admission was never disclosed. She remained under medical care for nearly four months and was discharged in August. Neither article says whether this is connected to the podcast break.
