Christina Applegate says she was misdiagnosed with MS, 'back at square one'

Actor Christina Applegate has said she was misdiagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), the illness she announced publicly in 2021. Speaking in a two-part episode of her podcast MeSsy, which she hosts with actor Jamie-Lynn Sigler, she said doctors have now told her she does not have MS, but that her symptoms have not gone away. Her remarks were widely reported on October 20, 2026. "I haven't gotten better," she said, adding that she is "back at square one" and does not know what is causing her illness.

Many readers will recognise the feeling Applegate described. A diagnosis, even of a serious illness, gives a person a name for what is happening, a treatment plan and a community of others with the same condition. Losing that diagnosis while still feeling unwell can be harder than people expect. Applegate said plainly that she was not happy about the news, because it did not make her better; it only took away the explanation she had lived with for five years.

Multiple sclerosis is a disease of the brain and spinal cord in which the body's immune system damages the protective coating around nerves. It can cause problems with walking, balance, vision, fatigue and memory. There is no single test that confirms it. Doctors put the picture together from symptoms, brain scans, spinal fluid tests and how the illness changes over time. That is why mistakes happen. In the 2019 study from two academic MS centres in Los Angeles, nearly 18 per cent of 241 referred patients who had been told they had MS turned out to have something else, most often migraine. Other researchers have stressed that the true rate of MS misdiagnosis across all patients is still not known, because studies like this look only at people referred to specialist centres.

For women balancing careers, families and their own health, the story carries a practical lesson that does not depend on celebrity. Long, uncertain illnesses take a toll on mental health as well as the body, and Applegate has spoken before about the depression that followed her original diagnosis. Asking for a second opinion, keeping a record of symptoms, tests and medicines, and taking someone along to appointments are simple steps that help patients and doctors when a diagnosis is unclear. None of this replaces medical advice from a qualified doctor.

Short-term: Applegate faces a new round of tests to find out what is causing her symptoms. Her openness is likely to prompt questions from other people living with an MS label about how their own diagnosis was made.

Long-term: Public cases like this keep attention on how hard some neurological illnesses are to diagnose, and on the value of review by specialist centres. For patients, the lasting message is that a diagnosis can be revisited, and that the emotional strain of not knowing deserves care too.

Who is affected: Applegate and her family; people living with an MS diagnosis or with unexplained neurological symptoms, many of them women in their working years; their carers; and doctors who diagnose and treat MS.

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