Christina Applegate, a leading MS advocate, says doctors found she doesn’t have the disease after all

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Since 2021, Christina Applegate has been one of the most famous advocates for living with multiple sclerosis. Now she says she has discovered that she doesn’t actually have the disease.

Applegate shared the shocking news Tuesday during an episode of the podcast she hosts with the actress and MS patient Jamie Lynn Sigler about life with MS, “MeSsy.”

Sigler had been hosting the podcast solo for seven months while Applegate dealt with her worsening health. Talking to Sigler in her return appearance, Applegate got emotional when she described how her doctor had told her that recent test results had ruled out the condition.

“It’s hard to say, but she came into my room and she said, ‘Congratulations, you don’t have MS.’” Applegate said. “I was like, not happy at all. Everybody else was so happy.”

MS is an autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks the body’s own healthy cells, affecting the nervous system. It can be debilitating for some. For Applegate, her previous diagnosis of MS had offered an explanation for her ongoing struggle with symptoms including tingling and numbness in her extremities, lack of coordination, balance issues and difficulty walking.

Earlier this year, the “Married With Children” star told People magazine she had been spending most of her time in bed because she has been so ill.

Recent testing utilizing new technology led to the conclusion that she does not have MS.

“This may come as good news…but I’m back at square one,” Applegate said tearfully on the podcast.

The finding is not as surprising as it sounds.

A study titled “Incidence of multiple sclerosis misdiagnosis in referrals to two academic centers” found that nearly 1 in 5 patients with an MS diagnosis did not fully meet the criteria for the disease and “had a much more likely alternate diagnosis.”

Applegate and Sigler addressed that during their two-part podcast episode, with a guest appearance by one of the authors of that study Dr. Marwa Kaisey, an associate professor with the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center department of neurology.

Kaisey told them that some people had gone on for years with a misdiagnosis of MS, and many of them were prescribed medication to treat it.

The doctor talked about what she referred to as the “push and pull of the diagnostic process.”

“We’re so eager to get people diagnosed because we know that the earlier we start them on treatment the better they’re going to do decades from then,” Kaisey said. “But at the same time we have to be really careful to give them the accurate diagnosis.”

Applegate has had a rough time of it since her initial, now apparently wrong, diagnosis.

Her health deteriorated to the point that she had to leave her hit Netflix series “Dead to Me” which concluded with season three in November 2022.

She authored a memoir titled “You With the Sad Eyes,” which addressed the condition. During the podcast, she told Sigler that the pair of them had become “the poster children for MS.”

Learning about the wrong diagnosis has not led to her being healed and has been a “mindf**k” Applegate said. She sadly marveled at how she had lived with something for years, believing all the while that doctors knew what it was.

“I haven’t gotten better, Jamie! If anything, I’ve gotten worse. So I’m back at square one where I don’t know what’s going on with me,” she said. “And that’s going to be an online investigation that my doctors are going to be getting into just to find out what has been going on since 2021, why did this happen?”

She also spoke about her depression and how she has “lost everything” including her job.

“I still have to use wheelchairs when I go to the doctor’s office. I can’t walk from the car to the room. I’m still in this,” Applegate said. “Nothing magical happened when she said, ‘You don’t have MS.’”

The star’s doctors are continuing to try and determine what is causing her symptoms.

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自2021年以来，克里斯蒂娜·艾伯盖特一直是多发性硬化症患者权益的知名倡导者之一。如今，她却表示自己发现自己实际上并没有患上这种疾病。

周二，阿普尔盖特在她与女演员兼多发性硬化症患者杰米·林恩·西格勒共同主持的播客节目“MeSsy”中分享了这个令人震惊的消息。该节目探讨了多发性硬化症患者的生活。

在阿普尔盖特健康状况恶化的七个月里，西格勒独自主持了这档播客节目。在阿普尔盖特回归节目与西格勒交谈时，她情绪激动地讲述了医生告诉她，最近的检查结果已经排除了她的病情。

“很难说，但她走进我的房间，说：‘恭喜你，你没有多发性硬化症。’”阿普尔盖特说。“我当时一点也不高兴。其他人都非常高兴。”

多发性硬化症是一种自身免疫性疾病，患者的免疫系统会攻击自身健康的细胞，从而影响神经系统。这种疾病对某些患者来说可能非常痛苦。对于阿普尔盖特来说，她之前被诊断出患有多发性硬化症，这解释了她持续遭受的症状困扰，包括四肢麻木和刺痛、协调性差、平衡障碍和行走困难。

今年早些时候，这位《已婚有子女》的女星告诉《人物》杂志，由于生病，她大部分时间都卧床不起。

最近利用新技术进行的测试得出结论，她没有患多发性硬化症。

“这或许是个好消息……但我又回到了原点，”阿普尔盖特在播客节目中含泪说道。

这一发现并不像听起来那么令人惊讶。

一项题为“转诊至两家学术中心的多发性硬化症误诊率”的研究发现，近五分之一的多发性硬化症患者并未完全符合该疾病的诊断标准，“更有可能被诊断为其他疾病”。

Applegate 和 Sigler 在他们的两期播客节目中谈到了这一点，该研究的作者之一，西达赛奈医疗中心神经病学系副教授 Marwa Kaisey 博士作为嘉宾出场。

凯西告诉他们，有些人多年来一直被误诊为多发性硬化症，其中许多人还被开了药物来治疗。

医生谈到了她所说的“诊断过程中的推拉作用”。

“我们非常渴望帮助人们确诊，因为我们知道，越早开始治疗，他们几十年后的健康状况就会越好，”凯西说。“但与此同时，我们也必须非常谨慎，确保做出准确的诊断。”

自从最初的诊断（现在看来显然是错误的）以来，阿普尔盖特的日子一直不好过。

她的健康状况恶化到不得不离开她主演的热门 Netflix 剧集《麻木不仁》（Dead to Me）的地步，该剧第三季于 2022 年 11 月完结。

她写了一本名为《忧郁眼神的你》的回忆录，书中讲述了她与多发性硬化症抗争的经历。在播客节目中，她告诉西格勒，他们俩已经成为了“多发性硬化症的代言人”。

阿普尔盖特说，得知误诊并没有让她康复，反而让她“精神崩溃”。她悲哀地感叹，自己竟然带着这种病活了这么多年，却一直以为医生们知道到底是什么病。

“杰米，我的病情没有好转！反而更糟了。我又回到了原点，完全不知道自己到底怎么了，”她说。“我的医生们会在网上展开调查，弄清楚自2021年以来到底发生了什么，为什么会这样？”

她还谈到了自己的抑郁症，以及她如何“失去了一切”，包括她的工作。

“我去诊所看病还是得坐轮椅。我没办法从车走到诊室。我还是老样子，”阿普尔盖特说。“医生说‘你没得多发性硬化症’的时候，并没有什么神奇的事情发生。”

这位明星的医生们仍在努力查明导致她出现这些症状的原因。