Christina Applegate Says She Was Misdiagnosed With MS

The facts come first below. My opinion follows in the section marked as opinion.

Christina Applegate, the actress who has spoken openly about living with multiple sclerosis since 2021, says her doctors have now told her she does not have the disease at all. She shared the news on "MeSsy," the podcast she hosts with actress Jamie-Lynn Sigler, in a two-part episode that marked her return to the show, the BBC reported.

The news did not bring relief. "I'm back at square one where I don't know what's going on with me," Applegate said on the podcast, according to the Associated Press, as published by PBS News.

What she said

Applegate recalled the moment her doctor gave her the news. "She came into my room and said, 'Congratulations, you don't have MS,' " she said. "I was, like, not happy at all," she continued. "Everybody else was so happy." The BBC reported that she was in tears when she found out, and quoted her: "You don't get misdiagnosed and then all of the sudden I'm better." She added, "If anything, I've gotten worse," the BBC reported.

According to the BBC, Applegate said her doctor suggested a few years ago that she stop her infusion treatment for MS to see how her body reacted. During that time her body did not respond the way it would if she had MS, and doctors looked further and concluded she did not have the autoimmune disease. An investigation into what has been causing her daily symptoms is set to begin next week, the BBC reported.

Her symptoms have not changed. The AP reported that Applegate still has "every symptom of someone with MS," and quoted her: "I still have to use wheelchairs when I go to the doctor's office. I can't walk from the car to the room." She also told listeners, "It's weird because I feel like I let everybody down," according to the AP. She and Sigler have become prominent advocates for people with MS.

Applegate, known for "Married With Children," "Anchorman" and the Netflix series "Dead to Me," was first diagnosed with MS in August 2021, the BBC reported.

How common is a wrong MS diagnosis?

More common than many people think. Dr. Marwa Kaisey, a guest on the episode, said there is no single test. "It's not like we have something like a pregnancy test that says 'yes, you have it. No, you don't,'" Kaisey said. "It's a list of criteria." The BBC cited Northwestern Medicine neuroimmunology physician Elena Grebenciucova as saying research suggests about 15 to 20 percent of patients diagnosed with MS do not actually have the disease. Dr. Philip De Jager of Columbia University told the BBC that patients should seek second opinions.

The AP noted the same difficulty: there is no single test for MS, and a diagnosis usually involves ruling out other causes. It can take years and several doctors, the AP reported.

Johns Hopkins neurologist Dr. Michael Kornberg told the BBC that a diagnosis "becomes part of your identity," and added, "To live with that for five years and then to be given a different diagnosis is really unsettling," the BBC reported.

Opinion: She did not let anyone down

Most people would expect a woman told she does not have MS to celebrate. Applegate cried, and anyone who has lived with chronic pain understands why. A name for your suffering is a kind of handhold. It gives you a plan, a community and a reason. Take the name away while the pain stays, and you are back in the dark.

She said she feels she let everybody down. She did not. She told the truth when the truth was awkward and cost her something, and that is worth more than any tidy story. Telling the public she was wrong about her own diagnosis, after years of advocacy, took courage.

There is a lesson here for the rest of us, too. If research suggests roughly one in five or six MS patients may not have the disease, as the BBC reported, then families walking through long, confusing illnesses should not be shy about asking for a second opinion. Doctors are skilled, and most work hard to get it right, but medicine is practiced by people, and people miss things. Asking questions is not disrespect.

Scripture does not promise we will always understand what is happening in our bodies. It tells us to "lean not unto thine own understanding," and it offers hope that does not depend on a chart: "though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day."

Applegate's road is not over, and she does not yet know where it leads. Pray that her doctors find answers quickly, and that she finds strength for each day while they look. And for those who have followed her story, the kindest response is not disappointment but gratitude for her honesty. For more on how celebrities handle hard moments in public, read our story Miley Cyrus Honors Dolly Parton With 'Jolene' at Hollywood Bowl.