Advertisement
Christina Applegate Was Misdiagnosed With MS: What It Means For Women's Health
Actress Christina Applegate, 54, has been open and honest about her journey with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Since being diagnosed with the condition in 2021, she has been an advocate, sharing her experience on the podcast MeSsy with fellow actress Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who also has MS.
That’s why fans were as shocked as Applegate herself to find out she does not actually have MS.
“This may come as great news, but to me it comes as very much like I’m back at square one,” Applegate said, as she welled up with tears while announcing her misdiagnosis on the latest episode of her podcast.
But being misdiagnosed with MS is not uncommon. “Studies have found that up to 15% of patients referred to specialized MS centers with an existing diagnosis ultimately are found to be misdiagnosed,” said Kellyann Niotis, M.D., a preventative neurologist.
Ahead, we break down how Applegate learned of her misdiagnosis, and what it means in the wider context of women’s healthcare.
What is MS?
Applegate’s journey to misdiagnosis
In January 2021, Applegate noticed numbness in her toes. Soon, it spread throughout her legs, and she began experiencing increasing amounts of pain.
As her condition deteriorated, Applegate’s doctors tested her for everything under the sun, she said on the podcast. When they eventually did a spinal tap and MRI scan of her brain and spinal cord, they found almost 40 lesions on her brain that come from myelin deterioration.
As upsetting as the diagnosis was, Applegate appreciated finally knowing what was going on in her body. “I leaned into the community. I felt safe because I had a place to talk… I felt like, okay, I have an answer. What a great thing,” she shared.
However, a few years ago Applegate's doctors took her off the infusions that MS patients get to prevent inflammation in the nerve cells, which included B cells. Typically, when these treatments are discontinued, B cell counts gradually recover, Niotis said. But Applegate’s remained stable.
“The unexpected B-cell response to treatment raised questions about whether the therapy was having its intended biological effect, and prompted a closer examination of her original diagnosis,” Niotis explained.
After being admitted to the hospital several times over the last year, due to what the public thought was complications of MS, Applegate learned of her misdiagnosis.
The mental burden of a misdiagnosis
Applegate has taken time to mentally process the misdiagnosis, and is now embarking on an investigation with her doctors into what’s really going on in her body, while still struggling with symptoms she has had for years.
“I had every symptom of someone with MS. Every single one,” Applegate said. But now, she is back to square one.
Her friends and family expected her to be thrilled when she shared the news that she didn’t have MS, but in reality, she was extremely unsettled by this new level of uncertainty.
“I had a… reason as to why my day sucked every day. And now I don’t have a reason. And it’s very unnerving and it's really confusing for me,” Applegate says, adding that she hasn’t physically felt any better since the diagnosis either.
There’s also the additional burden of being a public figure sharing this news. “I feel like I let everybody down,” she said, describing the strange feeling of announcing her misdiagnosis after becoming a poster-child for MS.
A systemic problem with women’s autoimmune disease
MS is widely considered an autoimmune disease because of the way the body mistakenly attacks the myelin that is protecting the nerves in the brain and spinal cord. And, like other autoimmune diseases, MS is much more common in women.
“Women are approximately three times more likely than men to develop the disease,” Niotis said, mentioning that Applegate’s experience highlights a broader issue of underrepresentation of women’s health in medical research.
This underrepresentation leads to a lack of knowledge about these conditions. Despite there being over 2.8 million people living with MS worldwide, there is no single test that exists to confirm the disease. Instead, Niotis explained that neurologists must use a mix of patient symptoms, neurological examination, MRI findings, and sometimes spinal fluid testing to find evidence of damage to the central nervous system.
“It's a bit like putting together a puzzle, where no single piece tells the whole story,” she says, with the added challenge that many of these pieces are not unique to MS.
The takeaway
Applegate’s story is a reminder that, if you feel your condition is not being addressed accurately or appropriately treated, it’s your prerogative to ask your care team questions and get a second opinion.
But Niotis wants to reassure people living with MS, or any other chronic condition, that this story isn’t a reason to panic or lose confidence in your medical care. You should not stop medications or treatment without consulting your doctor based on Applegate’s unique experience.
“MS is a complex disease, but we do have well established diagnostic criteria, and many, many people are diagnosed accurately,” she says, adding that this is “I think what we can take from this is that you should be an active participant in your own health.”