Christina Applegate Vows to Keep Fighting for MS Community After Shocking Misdiagnosis: 'I'm Still Your Warrior'

Christina Applegate revealed on the October 27 episode of her podcast, "MeSsy", that despite recently learning she had been misdiagnosed with multiple sclerosis, she has no plans to step away from the MS community.

Vowing to continue advocating for those living with the disease "forever and ever," the actress reassured listeners, "I am still your warrior," adding, "I still feel like part of this community and no matter what I love you."

Her co-host, Jamie Lynn Sigler, also confirmed that their podcast will continue despite the unexpected diagnosis update.

"This is just about our lives and the messiness of life in general," Sigler explained. "It was never meant to be solely MS-focused."

Following her update, Applegate expressed gratitude for the widespread support she received after revealing her misdiagnosis on the previous week's October 20 episode, saying, "That’s all I can want."

She also acknowledged that the news was likely confusing to others.

"On the daily, I don’t even understand what the heck’s going on, so I’m sure that news coming to people, that’s an adjustment," she noted.

She also expressed gratitude for having Dr. Marwa Kaisey, associate professor at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Department of Neurology, on their previous episode to explain how a misdiagnosis happens.

"A lot of people are going, ‘Oh snap, I should check this out,'" she explained. "But I never wanted to cause a hysteria in any way, shape or form."

Dr. Kaisey told listeners that MS misdiagnoses are "fairly common," affecting nearly 20 pecent of initially diagnosed individuals, because "we don’t have one single test for MS. It’s not like we have something like a pregnancy test that says, ‘Yes. You have it.’ ‘No. You don’t.’ It’s a list of criteria."

Sigler praised Applegate for her transparency, telling her, "I think a lot of people feel very seen," noting that her openness "ignited and supported a conversation that’s been out there but maybe not getting the visibility or attention that some people felt that it should."

Sigler also emphasized that the conversation extends beyond Applegate's misdiagnosis, shedding light on the broader challenges of getting accurate medical answers and the conditions that can be mistaken for one another.

She pointed to "how difficult it is to get a correct diagnosis, and all of the different types of things, especially autoimmune and neurological, that can mimic one of the other."

Despite the misdiagnosis, Applegate, who has already bought a burial plot for herself, shared that she still deals with severe, ongoing mobility issues.

"I actually timed it today. It took me 10 minutes to be able to move off my pillow and get out of the bed and stand up. I don’t know what’s going on. This is what I am still living with," she revealed.

Feeling like she is "living in no-man’s land," she admitted her mind swings between hoping "there’s a pill or something that I could take to feel better" and fearing "it’s something really macabre."

As she navigates the uncertainty surrounding her next steps, including an appointment with a rheumatologist and potentially visits to other specialists, she is trying to manage the overwhelming unknowns about her health.

"I think I just have to go, all right, one step at a time," she concluded.