Emmy winner Christina Applegate’s health journey has taken an unexpected turn, years into her public battle with a condition she thought was multiple sclerosis.
Applegate, 54, is “back at square one” after learning she was misdiagnosed with MS, the “Dead to Me” and “Samantha Who?” TV star revealed in Tuesday’s episode of her “MeSsy” podcast.
“I was not happy at all,” Applegate told co-host Jamie-Lynn Sigler and listeners about her doctor’s recent revelation. “You don’t get misdiagnosed and all of a sudden I’m better. I haven’t gotten better. If anything, I’ve gotten worse in some ways.”
Applegate, who recently returned to the public eye after a lengthy hospital stay this year, revealed her multiple sclerosis diagnosis in 2021. MS is an autoimmune disease that affects the central nervous system and can result in progressive physical and cognitive decline. Since her diagnosis, Applegate has spoken openly about her symptoms — including depression and “intense pain” — and channeled her experiences with the condition in a memoir, “You With the Sad Eyes.”
Applegate got emotional during the podcast episode as she recalled learning of her misdiagnosis, saying she feels disheartened — “I don’t know what’s going on with me” — and that her doctors are going to further investigate the root of her symptoms. The actor also said that in the wake of her misdiagnosis, she feels she has disappointed the MS community. The experience has been unnerving and “really confusing for me,” she added.
“Sopranos” star Sigler, who has been living with MS for more than a decade, assured her co-host that the misdiagnosis changes nothing about Applegate’s efforts to bring awareness to MS or to educate listeners. Still, Applegate said, “I’m just in a state of shock right now.”
“I don’t feel relieved,” she said later in the podcast episode.
Amid reports of her extended hospital stay earlier this year, Applegate assured fans in April that she is a “strong chick, and I’m getting stronger and better every day.”
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