Since the news about Christina Applegate’s multiple sclerosis misdiagnosis was released, texts from friends in disbelief have been popping up on my phone. “How could this happen?” they asked. “I wonder what else it could be?” they questioned. Because it took so long to receive my multiple sclerosis diagnosis, they assume that I might be wondering if I, too, could be misdiagnosed. “I’m not surprised,” I responded each time someone reached out. “MS can be difficult to diagnose.”
“She came into my room and said, ‘Congratulations — you don’t have MS,’” Applegate shared on a recent episode of her podcast, “MeSsy.” While the doctor thought this was positive news, Applegate told her listeners that she was not happy at all. “You don’t get misdiagnosed, and all of the sudden I’m better,” she said. I felt her disappointment as if it were my own — because not long ago, it was.