Emotional Christina Applegate reveals shocking MS misdiagnosis: 'I don't know what's going on'

Christina Applegate made the shocking revelation on October 20 that she does not have multiple sclerosis (MS).

The 54-year-old was diagnosed with the autoimmune disease, which damages the central nervous system and attacks the protective coating around nerve fibers, in early 2021.

However, during the new episode of her MeSsy podcast on Tuesday, she made the tearful admission to her co-host Jamie-Lynn Sigler that she was misdiagnosed.

"She came into my room and said, 'Congratulations, you don't have MS,'" Christina recalled through tears. "I was, like, not happy at all. Everybody else was so happy."

Christina admitted that she is now "back at square one" after discovering that she doesn't have MS, yet still battles with debilitating symptoms.

"You don't get misdiagnosed and then all of the sudden I'm better," she continued. "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. 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?"

An emotional Christina later said: "I've gone through a great depression because of it. But I lost everything. I lost my job. I lost — I'm sorry. What do you say to someone who's been living with this for six years — God, I'm so sorry — because it stopped my life. 

"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. Nothing magical happened when she said, 'You don't have MS.' Nothing magical happened."

Christina continued: "It's weird because I feel like I let everybody down. It's this weird feeling because I became this — you and I, the poster children for MS. And everything I was doing.

"I had a reason. I had a[expletive] reason as to why my day sucked every day. And now I don't have a reason and it's very unnerving and it's very confusing for me."

Christina admitted that she is still in a "state of shock" over her misdiagnosis but has taken the last few months to "process" the news, calling her health issues "the same game with a different name."

MS diagnosis

Christina shocked fans in August 2021 when she revealed on Twitter (now X) that she had been diagnosed with MS.

"Hi friends. A few months ago I was diagnosed with MS. It’s been a strange journey," she wrote at the time.

"But I have been so supported by people that I know who also have this condition," Christina continued. "It’s been a tough road. But as we all know, the road keeps going. Unless some [expletive] blocks it."

She added: "As one of my friends that has MS said 'we wake up and take the indicated action'. And that’s what I do. So now I ask for privacy. As I go through this thing. Thank you xo."

First symtoms

Christina first began to notice symptoms in January 2021 when she suffered from numbness in her toes, which gradually spread to her ankles and knees, accompanied by severe pain and loss of balance. 

Recalling her symptoms, Christina previously explained: "Eventually, over months it went from my toes to my ankles to my knees down. Selma Blair said, 'Can you please go to the neurologist,' and I was like, 'There's no way that both of us from the same movie have MS.'"

Christina added: "I was losing balance, but the pain was extraordinary. And when I say numb, it's numb, but it hurts."