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Christina Applegate’s Candid MS Battle: Pain, Depression and Resilience

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Christina Applegate, the 52-year-old actress, recently shared her personal struggles with multiple sclerosis (MS) on her “MeSsy” podcast. She revealed that her battle with the chronic disease, which affects the brain and central nervous system, has been particularly challenging recently due to a “pretty bad” relapse.

Applegate confessed to her co-host Jamie Lynn-Sigler, who also has MS, “I’m gonna be honest with you, I need to buy stock in Cottonelle because I haven’t taken a shower in three weeks.” The reason, she explained, is that she can’t stand in her shower due to the severity of her symptoms.

She further explained, “I have such a small bench and my a– is so huge these days that I can’t sit on it, it’s like I slip right off of it.” As a result, she’s been using Cottonelle wipes to clean herself, though she expressed doubt about their effectiveness, saying, “I smell so bad. And it’s, like, awful. Thank God I’m always alone so that no one smells me except for Sades,” referring to her daughter Sadie.

At the start of the episode, the “Married…With Children” alum detailed the severity of her symptoms and how they were affecting different parts of her body. She shared that she was experiencing “intense pain” in her legs that made her unable to walk to the bathroom due to her fear of falling.

Applegate also described suffering from “insane tingling” that radiated from her backside down her body. She revealed that she was unable to sleep due to movement problems in one of her eyes. “I haven’t slept for 24 hours because my eye is doing something weird, where every time I close my eye to go to sleep, my right eye starts to shift like this,” she said.

After doing some online research, Applegate discovered that her eye problems could be a symptom of MS resulting from possible damage to the optic nerve in her right eye. “I couldn’t sleep because every time I would close my eyes, my eye would start doing, like, crazy s—,” she explained. “So I have been up for over 24 hours.”

When asked if she had contacted her doctors about her relapse, Applegate admitted that she had not yet been able to reach them. “I’m going to have to go in and see someone because it’s a little scary and it’s freaking me out that, like, my eye is, like gonna burst out of my face or something,” she said. “So I’m a little concerned about that. My legs have never been this bad, so I don’t know what’s going on. Like no energy. Legs are just — just done.”

Applegate also shared that she’s been struggling with depression since returning from a vacation. “You just lay in a dark room watching TV and wanting it all to just go away. And that’s kind of where I’m at,” she admitted.

Applegate publicly announced her MS diagnosis in August 2021, which she received a few months prior. The diagnosis led to a five-month halt in production on the last season of her hit Netflix show “Dead to Me” as she began treatment.

“I got diagnosed while we were working, and I had to call everybody and be like, “I have multiple sclerosis, guys. Like, what the f—!”, she told Variety in November 2022. She also shared that filming the third and final season of “Dead to Me” was the “hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.”

Applegate also revealed that she had noticed warning signs of MS for years before her diagnosis. “I started thinking about the last four years, and I had very small symptoms,” she said. “So it presented itself like a few years ago until it just got as bad as it did.”

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  1. Ann

    April 8, 2024 at 5:44 pm

    So sorry to hear you are suffering so much my sister had it and her legs were a problem, I hope that some of the medications will help you. Saying lots of prayers for you to improve 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

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