Health · Medical Research · 32 mins ago
Christina Applegate says she was misdiagnosed with MS
Christina Applegate says doctors misdiagnosed her with MS after diagnosing her with the condition in 2021.
She said new brain MRI technology led doctors to change the diagnosis recently.
Her symptoms have not gone away, and she says she has sometimes become worse.
Applegate said her medical team will investigate what is causing them.
She described feeling confused and guilty because she had become a public face of MS alongside her podcast co-host, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who has the condition.
The diagnosis had shaped years of treatment and her understanding of her illness, but Applegate said she is still dealing with serious health problems and retired from acting in 2022.
Doctors are now working to find the underlying cause of her symptoms.
Christina Applegate said she was misdiagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a condition she believed she had since 2021.
She said she remains seriously unwell and does not know what is causing her symptoms.
Applegate shared the news in a two-part episode of her podcast, “MeSsy,” which she co-hosts with Jamie-Lynn Sigler.
She said new MRI technology helped doctors discover the misdiagnosis, and that her medical team will investigate further.
Applegate said she had received MS infusions for years and felt shocked and confused by the news.
- Who
- Actor Christina Applegate said she was misdiagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
- What
- Doctors told her she does not have MS, but she continues to experience significant health problems.
- When
- She announced the news on October 20, 2026.
- Where
- In a two-part episode of her “MeSsy” podcast.
- Why
- New brain MRI technology helped reveal the misdiagnosis; the cause of her symptoms is not yet known.
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Applegate said she was diagnosed with MS and began receiving infusions.
Her doctor wanted to stop the infusions and monitor her B cells.
Applegate had a weeks-long hospital stay, according to TheWrap.
Applegate announced on her podcast that she had been misdiagnosed and said doctors would investigate her symptoms.
- Podcast
- MeSsy,” co-hosted with Jamie-Lynn Sigler
- Initial diagnosis
- MS, disclosed in 2021
- Treatment
- MS infusions for years
- Discovery
- New brain MRI technology helped identify the misdiagnosis
- Current condition
- Applegate said she remains unwell and does not know what is causing her symptoms
7 sources
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What people are saying
Congratulations. You don’t have MS.
I’m not happy at all. 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.
I feel like I let everybody down. I became, you and I, the poster children for MS.
I still have to use wheelchairs when I go to the doctor’s office. I can’t walk from the car to the room.