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Christina Applegate says she was misdiagnosed with MS—how could that happen? (www.scientificamerican.com)

submitted 2 days ago by gedaliyah@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

36 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Her experience, while not the norm, is far from unusual, experts say.

Applegate disclosed the revelation on an episode of her podcast with Jamie Lynn Sigler, MeSsy, which centers on their lives with MS. (Sigler disclosed that she has relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, or RRMS, in 2016.) “In January of 2021, I had numbness in my toes, and that numbness grew to all of my legs,” Applegate recalled on the podcast. “And then the pain started.”

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[–] celeste@kbin.earth 61 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Applegate said that while everyone in her life was relieved, her reaction to the news was that she was "not happy at all," noting, "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. So I'm back at square one, that I don't know what's going on with me."

From the USA Today article. I gather this is really common reaction for people with chronic or progressive illnesses, when they find out they don't have the terrible thing they were misdiagnosed with. Like, everyone else is all "yay! no MS!" and the person who is still experiencing the symptoms that led to the misdiagnosis is like "ok, but I'm not suddenly healthy, and now I have to start over." You can at least plan things when you know what you have.

Her symptoms sound really bad, too, and if there's a treatment for what she does have, she's not getting it.

[–] Lumidaub@feddit.org 25 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Every time a blood test comes back as "perfectly normal" I want to throw shit at people.

[–] diablicja@lemmy.zip 11 points 2 days ago (2 children)

My kid is going through this right now. As a girl, she has the added benefit of "let's try the pill and see if it helps!". She has fatigue, heart palpitations and occasional chest tightness (EKG didn't detect anything, bloodwork all normal with iron on a lower side but not bad). I wonder what would be the recommendation if she were a boy.

[–] TheArtfulLlama@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 day ago

My BIL and I (a girl) both had terrible stomach issues, something I had been dealing with for almost 7 years before he got his issues. Within a year and a half he was diagnosed with severe celiac and kidney stones and is now perfectly pain free. Meanwhile I’ve now been dealing with my issues for 9 years, had a laporoscopy that helped a bit, and have a medication that helps most of the time, but I still get horrible flare ups now and then with my doctors shrugging their shoulders and telling me that’s life.

I’m so happy for my BIL to be healed but I can’t help but be enraged that I’m still dealing with my issues with little to no answers.

[–] bookmeat@fedinsfw.app 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Anxiety disorder? IANAD.

[–] diablicja@lemmy.zip 4 points 2 days ago

I suppose you probably mean well but anxiety disorder, menstrual cycle and weight problems are the unholy trinity of excuses for dismissing women's health issues. In my kid's case, it's most likely a heart issue she got from her dad, occasional skipping of a beat. Doesn't show in a regular EKG, doesn't give acute symptoms most of the time. Makes her life absolutely miserable, might cause issues later if her dad's case is any indication.

[–] Malica@lemmy.zip 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

That's how I was with pots

[–] Witchfire@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Literally what is happening to my partner right now. All the symptoms point to pots and it's been going on for years but no one wants to diagnose her since her bloodwork is "healthy". Meanwhile she can barely stand half the time and has to fight tooth and nail every time she needs a propananol refill

[–] Malica@lemmy.zip 6 points 2 days ago

It's incredibly common now and research suggests it could be caused by COVID. Anything to do with women and you get this sexist bullshit in medicine. I hope your partner can get her diagnosis soon, I wish you both the best of luck.

[–] celeste@kbin.earth 2 points 2 days ago

Yeah, that sucks! Good luck :(

[–] NotSteve_@lemmy.ca 10 points 2 days ago

Yeah, that's the reason I was actually excited to be diagnosed with celiac even though I hate nothing more than having it. It sucks going like 15 years with severe issues but nobody being able to figure out what's causing it

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 days ago (4 children)

There is no treatment for any neurodegenerative disease. There is no funding in the US for any neurodegenerative disease as of 2025.

[–] ThisUsernameKillsFascists@piefed.social 10 points 2 days ago (2 children)

There’s no treatment that restores function, but there are numerous treatments that slow or even stop disease progression with MS, which are much better than what was an available 15-20 years ago. A diagnosis at least gives hope of some ability to mitigate worsening symptoms.

[–] bss03@infosec.pub 2 points 2 days ago

Yeah, I know two people with MS, one has been diagnosed for a decade and a half and with medication she's doing okay, one was diagnosed earlier this year, but is already receiving treatment intended to slow/stop progression.

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 0 points 2 days ago (1 children)

There is no treatment that stops MS.

[–] ThisUsernameKillsFascists@piefed.social 1 points 1 day ago

Not that reliably stops it for all patients or for unlimited time, but the current mainstream treatments are way more effective than what was generally available 15-20 years ago. I’ve been on my current twice-annual infusion for more than 8 years now with no relapses or new lesions. That is a halted disease progression, and though it may not last indefinitely, for the time being, for me, it is effectively stopped, and the same is true for countless others.

[–] Lumidaub@feddit.org 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

It's not necessarily about treatment but about knowing what you have. If you know what you have and there's a treatment, yay. If you know what you have and there's no treatment, okay, you can try to learn how to come to terms with that. If you don't know what you have.... 乁⁠(⁠ ⁠•⁠_⁠•⁠ ⁠)⁠ㄏ

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 0 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Pick any neurodegenerative disorder. No treatment restores neurons.

People love to think diagnosis = treatment that works. Rarely is that true.

The FDA and Pharma will sell you drugs, but none of the them actually work as promised.

Again, no one cares about funding biomedical research, no one cares when Trump cut it all. Unless the treatment for these diseases is fighter jets, no other government worldwide has stepped in to fill the large gap left by the NIH illegal cuts. The world has leaned on the US to foot this bill for over 50 years, and the US had a trillion dollar pharma industry to show for it. The entire planet spends about $60B a year to research all diseases, Trump cut $38B out of that. In 2 years, the Trump administration, along with G7 apathy, has irreversibly damaged medical research. You will see some drugs approved for a few years, then nothing. So, enjoy your PEPTIDES.

With NIH funding, there will be no biotech or pharma to commercialize new treatments. Pharma stopped doing basic research decades ago, now they are basically banks. The entire industry is headed to extinction.

$60B sound like a lot of money? a fraction of a single percent of healthcare spending.

[–] Lumidaub@feddit.org 2 points 2 days ago

I am unclear on the reason you're telling me this.

[–] speculate7383@lemmy.today 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

There is no treatment for any neurodegenerative disease

I don't know how technically specific you're trying to be here, but there are definitely treatments for some diseases that have major neurodegenerative effects, such as pernicious anemia.

For that one, the treatment is amazingly cheap (B12 injections), but most US doctors are decades behind in understanding and applying it.

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 0 points 2 days ago

US doctors are decades behind in understanding and applying it.

Sounds like YouTube medicine.

[–] phutatorius@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 days ago

There is no funding in the US for any neurodegenerative disease as of 2025.

Except Donald Trump, who has leeched federal funding to advertise himself.

[–] guycls@lemmy.world 32 points 2 days ago (3 children)

After rounds of tests for a variety of conditions, her doctor found “almost 40” lesions on her brain and diagnosed her with MS, she said.

Now, five years later, Applegate said that, after analyzing brain scans with a “new technology,” her doctor told her she doesn’t have MS.

[–] wjrii@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

Estimates vary, but a recent meta-analysis found that around 15 percent of MS cases across studies were misdiagnoses.

Diagnostic tools are getting better. In 2025 the International Advisory Committee on Clinical Trials in Multiple Sclerosis updated its guidelines on how to diagnose MS to reflect recent advancements....

[–] paraphrand@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

“Hey Chatty G!”

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca -2 points 2 days ago (2 children)

This whole story makes no sense.

[–] wjrii@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago

Patient diagnosed ~5 years ago.
Disease presents similarly to several neurological disorders and has a known misdiagnosis rate between 5 and 20 percent (15% for the study mentioned in the article).
Disease has seen developments in imaging and interpretation since original diagnosis.
Prominent person announces they were misdiagnosed, but the symptoms persist.

[–] Adamthinks@fedia.io 3 points 2 days ago

It does if you read the article.

[–] Pistachio@lemmy.zip -2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Who?

[–] bss03@infosec.pub 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

One of the leads of "Dead To Me" (among other things).

[–] Pistachio@lemmy.zip 0 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Also a blank for me, oh well.

[–] bss03@infosec.pub 4 points 1 day ago

I first saw her as the daughter in "Married: With Children", but her imdb has 80+ entries.

"Dead To Me" just came to mind first because the production was affected by her diagnosis.