Christina Applegate’s MS Misdiagnosis Leaves Her Searching for Answers

When her doctor said “congratulations,” she didn’t feel like celebrating. The actor opens up about why the news hasn’t brought relief, and a neurologist explains how often this happens.

It’s been five years since Christina Applegate learned she had multiple sclerosis, or so she thought. After being diagnosed with the illness in 2021, the actress recently revealed it was a misdiagnosis, leaving her with more questions about what her symptoms actually mean.

“She came into my room, and she said, ‘Congratulations. You don’t have MS,’” Applegate recalled of her neurologist on her podcast, “MeSsy,” returning for the first time after a months-long break from the show. Her reaction: “I was like, not happy at all,” she told her co-host, fellow actor Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who also has MS.

Back in January 2021, the actress first experienced numbness in her toes, which later spread to her legs, accompanied by pain. A series of tests resulted in her MS diagnosis later that year.

Now that she’s learned she never had the disease, Applegate says nothing has changed, except the void of not knowing what’s causing her symptoms, which have gotten worse in some ways.

“You don’t get misdiagnosed and then all of a sudden I’m better. I haven’t gotten better, Jamie. If anything, I’ve gotten worse in some ways,” said the 54-year-old, who still uses a wheelchair at doctor’s appointments. “Nothing magical happened when she said, ‘You don’t have MS,’” she added.

Christina Applegate now feels like she “let everybody down” after advocating for the disease all these years. “Now I don’t have a reason,” she said of her daily struggles. “It’s very unnerving, and it’s really confusing for me.”

But Sigler assured her, “You didn’t mislead anyone.”

Applegate says she’s “back at square one,” undergoing a new round of bloodwork as her doctors investigate what’s really causing her symptoms.

Cedars-Sinai neurologist Dr. Marwa Kaisey explained to the podcast hosts that misdiagnoses aren’t unusual, since there’s no single test for MS. The diagnostic criteria change over time, and common symptoms like numbness and fatigue can have many other causes Kaisey said that in a study she conducted of new patients at two MS clinics, she found that “almost one in five of these people who had been told they had MS, some for decades, didn’t actually have it.”

While Kaisey acknowledged that it’s “really hard to be diagnosed with MS,” she said, “it’s harder to be undiagnosed.”

As such, she recommends that patients who doubt their diagnosis ask their neurologist what it was based on, including a walk-through of their MRI. She also recommends getting a second opinion from an MS specialist for further questions.

Having been part of the MS community for the past five years, Applegate has no plans to abandon her advocacy, stating, “I’m going to still be an MS warrior no matter what.”

As she put it, “It’s still the same game, man. Just a different name.”