Christina Applegate shares health update after MS misdiagnosis

Christina Applegate has shared a health update weeks after announcing she had been misdiagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

Applegate, 54, was diagnosed in 2021 with the incurable autoimmune disease that affects the brain and spinal cord, and has spoken openly about the debilitating pain of the condition.

She announced her misdiagnosis on the October 20 episode of her MeSsy podcast — returning after a seven-month hiatus due to health issues — and sent a message of support to the MS community a week after that.

Now, on the latest episode of the podcast she co-hosts with Jamie-Lynn Sigler — who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2016 — Applegate has shared that she has undergoing testing for other diseases that have similar symptoms to MS.

“You’ve got RA [rheumatoid arthritis] and you’ve got lupus and Lyme disease and all these things that kind of can mimic MS,” she explained. “So now I’m being tested for all that stuff slowly but surely.”

Applegate said she remains in pain and is struggling with her identity now that she’s been misdiagnosed.

“It’s hard for me to try to shake that identity because it’s been my identity for so long,” she said. “If there’s something I can be doing to feel better, because I don’t have the stigma of MS or I don’t have, you know, the criteria of that, whatever that is, please let me know.

“I am wanting the advice right now.”

In sharing the news of her misdiagnosis on a previous podcast episode, Applegate cited new technology that contributed to the finding, saying, “This may come as great news, but to me, I’m back at square one. It’s hard to say that [my doctor] came into my room and she said, ‘Congratulations, you don’t have MS.’”

Applegate said she was “not happy at all” to hear the news.

“You don’t get misdiagnosed and then all of the sudden I’m better. I haven’t gotten better … If anything, I’ve gotten worse in some ways,” she said. “So I’m back at square one, that I don’t know what’s going on with me.”

After announcing her diagnosis in 2021, Applegate retired from acting the next year following the finale of the hit Netflix drama series Dead to Me.

Now, she said, her illness is a mystery. “I have every symptom of someone with MS. Every single one,” she said. “Now, we both know that there are many things that mirror MS — many different things.”

Applegate added that “there’s a pretty damn high number of misdiagnoses with MS,” so this is not a rare occurrence.

“It’s clear now that they’re finding something different,” Applegate continued. “Something else is going on.”