Christina Applegate Details Multiple Sclerosis Progression

On November 7, 2024By Littum

Christina Applegate at the 29th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on February 26, 2023. - Credit: Gilbert Flores/Variety/Getty Images — Christina Applegate at the 29th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on February 26, 2023. – Credit: Gilbert Flores/Variety/Getty Images

In the three years since Christina Applegate was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, the actress’ medical condition has steadily evolved. During a recent episode of her podcast Messy — co-hosted with Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who also received an MS diagnosis — she detailed the chronic pain she faces and how it affects her daily life.

“I was laying in bed screaming — like the sharp pain, the pain, the squeeze,” she explained. “I can’t even pick up my phone sometimes because now it’s raised in my hands, so I’ll try to get my phone or get my remote to turn on the TV, or sometimes I can’t even hold them. I can’t open bottles now.”

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Applegate referred to multiple sclerosis as an “invisible disease,” prompting their podcast guest Rory Kandel to agree. Kandel is the founder of Rory’s Bakehouse and was diagnosed with MS in 2023. Describing her pain, the owner said: “It feels like I have knives in my stomach. I want to lie in bed and I wake up and I physically can’t turn me from side to side.”

The pain is especially intense in the morning, the hosts and guest shared. “I put my feet on the ground and they are unusually painful to the touch,” Applegate said. Turning the unfortunate truth into a comedic moment, she joked: “I was like, yeah. Gotta go back to my bed and pee in my diaper because I don’t feel like walking all the way to the damn bathroom… It’s just a joke. But it’s like it’s so freaking painful and so hard and so awkward.”

According to Johns Hopkins medicineMultiple sclerosis is a chronic disease that affects the nervous system. “It is believed to be an autoimmune disorder, a condition where the body mistakenly attacks itself,” reads a description of the condition. “MS is an unpredictable disease that affects people differently. Some people with MS may have only mild symptoms. Others may lose their ability to see clearly, write, speak or walk when communication between the brain and other parts of the body is disrupted. “

The National Multiple Sclerosis Society estimates that nearly one million people in the United States are living with MS, according to a 2019 study by the organization.

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