{"id":889854,"date":"2026-10-21T09:18:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-21T09:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/889854\/"},"modified":"2026-10-21T09:18:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T09:18:13","slug":"christina-applegate-actress-says-her-doctor-told-her-she-was-misdiagnosed-with-ms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/889854\/","title":{"rendered":"Christina Applegate: Actress says her doctor told her she was misdiagnosed with MS"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK \u2014 Christina Applegate,<\/a> who has candidly shared raw details about her journey with multiple sclerosis for years, revealed Monday her doctor says she doesn\u2019t have the autoimmune disease<\/a> and was misdiagnosed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m back at square one where I don\u2019t know what\u2019s going on with me,\u201d the actor said on the latest edition of her podcast \u201cMeSsy,\u201d along with co-host Jamie-Lynn Sigler,<\/a> who has been public about her own battle with MS.<\/p>\n

Applegate first publicly announced in 2021 that she had been diagnosed with the disorder<\/a> that causes the immune system to attack the cells in the central nervous system.<\/p>\n

On Monday\u2019s podcast, Applegate revealed that despite the misdiagnosis, she still has \u201cevery symptom of someone with MS,\u201d adding, \u201cI still have to use wheelchairs when I go to the doctor\u2019s office. I can\u2019t walk from the car to the room.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is no single test for MS, and a diagnosis usually involves ruling out other causes. It can take years and seeing multiple doctors before one puts the clues together.<\/p>\n

Dr. Benjamin Greenberg, a neurologist who specializes in multiple sclerosis and autoimmune neurological disorders at the UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, said the most reputable studies put the MS misdiagnosis rate at 10%.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe rely on the clinical symptoms, the history, the MRI, often spinal fluid, and then a series of tests to rule out potential mimics. And unfortunately, those tests are not universally codified,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Greenberg said Applegate\u2019s experience has lessons for both medical providers and patients. For doctors, it\u2019s a reminder to ensure a single diagnosis doesn\u2019t lead to a system-wide bias toward that conclusion.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I put \u2018multiple sclerosis\u2019 as a diagnosis on an MRI, a radiologist is far less likely to say, \u2018Well, this isn\u2019t multiple sclerosis. You really should consider something else.\u2019 It can permeate the system,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor patients and families, my general recommendation is whenever receiving a significant serious or chronic diagnosis, if feasible, there is never a harm in getting second opinions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Applegate said the news had put her in an odd place since she and Sigler have become prominent advocates for people with MS.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s weird because I feel like I let everybody down,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s very unnerving, and it\u2019s really confusing for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most autoimmune diseases, especially in adults, aren\u2019t caused by a specific gene defect. Instead, a variety of genes that affect immune functions can make people susceptible. Scientists say it then takes an \u201cenvironmental\u201d trigger, such as an infection, smoking or pollutants, to set the disease in motion.<\/p>\n

On the podcast and earlier this year while promoting her memoir, \u201cYou with the Sad Eyes,\u201d<\/a> the Emmy-winning Applegate has been candid about unpredictable symptoms that have forced her to use diapers and scoot down stairs on her butt.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy life has in some ways shrunk to the size of my California king,\u201d she writes in her book.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK \u2014 Christina Applegate, who has candidly shared raw details about her journey with multiple sclerosis for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":889855,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[236,88],"class_list":["post-889854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/889854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=889854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/889854\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/889855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=889854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=889854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=889854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}