{"id":4285,"date":"2026-11-06T21:36:03","date_gmt":"2026-11-06T21:36:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/?p=4285"},"modified":"2026-11-06T21:36:03","modified_gmt":"2026-11-06T21:36:03","slug":"christina-applegate-shares-testing-update-after-ms-misdiagnosis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/?p=4285","title":{"rendered":"Christina Applegate Shares Testing Update After MS Misdiagnosis"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\n\tChristina Applegate<\/a> still needs answers about the symptoms that have changed her life.<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter revealing in October that she had been misdiagnosed with multiple sclerosis<\/a>, the actress says doctors are now looking into other possible causes. On a recent episode of her MeSsy<\/em><\/a> podcast with Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Applegate shared an update with guest Jack Osbourne.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe\u2019re going into square one, just doing some testing and going one-by-one of the sister diseases to MS,\u201d she said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got RA [rheumatoid arthritis], lupus<\/a>, Lyme disease, all these things can kind of mimic MS. So now I\u2019m being tested for all that stuff slowly but surely.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\"John<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\tRelated story
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\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tWhy John Ritter\u2019s Widow, Amy Yasbeck, Is Urging Families to Get This Life-Saving Heart Screening\t\t<\/p>\n

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\n\t\tWhat She\u2019s Hoping to Learn\t<\/h2>\n

\n\tWhen Applegate shared the misdiagnosis in October, she said she was still having trouble<\/a> walking and needed help getting to medical appointments.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI still have to use wheelchairs when I go to the doctor\u2019s offices. I can\u2019t walk from the car to the room. I\u2019m still in this,\u201d she said at the time. \u201cNothing magical happened when she said, \u2018You don\u2019t have MS.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe new tests are a step toward understanding what\u2019s causing those symptoms. Applegate hasn\u2019t announced another diagnosis just yet, but we\u2019re hoping she finds the answers she\u2019s looking for soon.<\/p>\n

\n\t\tWhy MS Can Be Difficult to Diagnose\t<\/h2>\n

\n\tNo single test can confirm MS. According to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society<\/a>, doctors look for evidence of damage in different areas of the central nervous system, including the brain, spinal cord, and optic nerves. They also need to rule out other conditions that could explain the symptoms.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat evaluation can include a neurological exam to check balance, strength, reflexes, and vision, along with MRI scans to look for areas of damage. A spinal tap may help identify proteins associated with inflammation, but those results alone can\u2019t confirm or rule out MS. Blood tests can help doctors check for other possible causes.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s not like we have something like a pregnancy test that says, \u2018Yes. You have it.\u2019 \u2018No. You don\u2019t.\u2019 It\u2019s a list of criteria,\u201d said neurologist Dr. Marwa Kaisey, who joined the podcast.<\/p>\n

\n\tKaisey coauthored a 2019 study<\/a> that reviewed 241 patients who arrived at the Cedars-Sinai and UCLA MS clinics with an existing MS diagnosis. Specialists found that nearly one in five had been misdiagnosed.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAlmost one in five of these people who\u2019d been told they had MS, some for decades, didn\u2019t actually have it. And a majority of them were on medication to treat their MS,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n


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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christina Applegate still needs answers about the symptoms that have changed her life. After revealing in October that she had been misdiagnosed with multiple sclerosis, the actress says doctors are now looking into other possible causes. On a recent episode of her MeSsy podcast with Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Applegate shared an update with guest Jack Osbourne. \u201cWe\u2019re going into square one, just doing some testing and going one-by-one of the sister diseases to MS,\u201d she said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got RA [rheumatoid arthritis], lupus, Lyme disease, all these things can kind of mimic MS. So now I\u2019m being tested for all that stuff slowly but surely.\u201d Related story Why John Ritter\u2019s Widow, Amy Yasbeck, Is Urging Families to Get This Life-Saving Heart Screening What She\u2019s Hoping to Learn When Applegate shared the misdiagnosis in October, she said she was still having trouble walking and needed help getting to medical appointments. \u201cI still have to use wheelchairs when I go to the doctor\u2019s offices. I can\u2019t walk from the car to the room. I\u2019m still in this,\u201d she said at the time. \u201cNothing magical happened when she said, \u2018You don\u2019t have MS.\u2019\u201d The new tests are a step toward understanding what\u2019s causing those symptoms. Applegate hasn\u2019t announced another diagnosis just yet, but we\u2019re hoping she finds the answers she\u2019s looking for soon. Why MS Can Be Difficult to Diagnose No single test can confirm MS. According to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, doctors look for evidence of damage in different areas of the central nervous system, including the brain, spinal cord, and optic nerves. They also need to rule out other conditions that could explain the symptoms. That evaluation can include a neurological exam to check balance, strength, reflexes, and vision, along with MRI scans to look for areas of damage. A spinal tap may help identify proteins associated with inflammation, but those results alone can\u2019t confirm or rule out MS. Blood tests can help doctors check for other possible causes. \u201cIt\u2019s not like we have something like a pregnancy test that says, \u2018Yes. You have it.\u2019 \u2018No. You don\u2019t.\u2019 It\u2019s a list of criteria,\u201d said neurologist Dr. Marwa Kaisey, who joined the podcast. Kaisey coauthored a 2019 study that reviewed 241 patients who arrived at the Cedars-Sinai and UCLA MS clinics with an existing MS diagnosis. Specialists found that nearly one in five had been misdiagnosed. \u201cAlmost one in five of these people who\u2019d been told they had MS, some for decades, didn\u2019t actually have it. And a majority of them were on medication to treat their MS,\u201d she said. Source link<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4098,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-female-health-issues"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4285\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}