You don’t have MS,’ ” the “Dead to Me” actress, 54, recalled her doctor saying.
asserted
doctor → have → Me
“I’m back at square one, that I don’t know what’s going on with me,” she said Tuesday on her podcast, “MeSsy,” which she hosts with fellow actor Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who was diagnosed with MS in 2001.
asserted
who → ’m → 2001
MS causes the immune system to attack the protective covering on nerve fibers, disrupting communication between the brain and the rest of the body.
asserted
system → cause → body
That disruption may become permanent, and patients can lose the ability to walk on their own or move at all.
uncertain
patients → become → own
Misdiagnosis affects more people than you might think.
uncertain
you → affect → people
“Up to 1 in 5 patients diagnosed with MS may not actually have MS but a different condition,” Dr. Elena Grebenciucova, an MS and neuroimmunology physician at Northwestern Medicine, told The Post.
uncertain
Grebenciucova → diagnose → Post
A misdiagnosis doesn’t just confuse and distress patients.
asserted
misdiagnosis → confuse → patients
Shortly after being diagnosed with MS, patients often start therapies that suppress the immune system to slow long-term disability progression.
asserted
that → diagnose → progression
Improper treatment can cause severe injury and unnecessary health risks.
asserted
treatment → cause → injury
“You don’t get misdiagnosed and then all of a sudden I’m better,” Applegate said.
asserted
Applegate → misdiagnose → ?
“I haven’t gotten better, Jamie.
asserted
I → get → ?
If anything, I’ve gotten worse in some ways.”
asserted
I → get → ways
Here’s how an MS misdiagnosis can occur — and the next steps Applegate is taking to identify the correct cause of her health woes.
asserted
Applegate → ’ → woes
Applegate reported first experiencing a tingling sensation in her toes in early 2021 that gradually led to “insane tingling” from her “butt down.”
asserted
that → report → butt
She also felt her leg buckling while shooting scenes for Netflix’s “Dead to Me.”
asserted
leg → feel → Me
She required a wheelchair during the 2021 filming and has walked with a cane since.
asserted
She → require → cane
“My knees feel like I have bricks attached to them, heavy and painful,” Applegate noted as she reflected on her symptoms.
asserted
she → feel → symptoms
“When I put my feet down on the ground when I wake up, it feels as if the floor is made of needles, yet I can’t feel them because my feet are completely numb.”
asserted
feet → put → them
MS, which is believed to affect nearly 1 million Americans, might start with vision problems (such as double vision, pain with eye movement or vision loss), muscle weakness (often in the arms and legs), muscle stiffness and muscle spasms.
uncertain
which → believe → arms
This can lead to clumsiness and difficulty balancing.
asserted
This → lead → clumsiness
It could also manifest as tingling, numbness or pain in the limbs, abdomen or face; loss of bladder control; and/or dizziness.
uncertain
It → manifest → control
Over time, muscle weakness and pain can affect walking or standing or lead to paralysis.
asserted
weakness → affect → paralysis
About 20% to 40% of MS cases progress steadily, with some periods when the disease doesn’t get worse.
asserted
disease → progress → periods
Most people have relapse-remitting MS, where new symptoms or “relapses” emerge over days or weeks, then improve or disappear completely.
asserted
symptoms → have → days
What steps is Applegate taking to get the proper diagnosis?
asserted
Applegate → take → diagnosis
Anyone who believes they might have been misdiagnosed with MS should visit an MS specialist.
uncertain
they → believe → specialist
“It’s important to talk to a neuro-immunologist at an academic center to review whether this is autoimmune and what other mimics of MS may have not been investigated,” Grebenciucova said.
uncertain
Grebenciucova → ’ → MS
Applegate said on her Tuesday podcast episode that her doctors are embarking on “an online investigation … to find out what has been going on since 2021, why did this happen?”
asserted
this → say → 2021
Dr. Marwa Kaisey, an associate professor of neurology at Cedars-Sinai in LA, said on the podcast that it’s imperative to find the cause of Applegate’s inflammation.
asserted
it → say → inflammation
“The next steps are to try to get them an answer as to what’s actually going on, and that looks different in each patient,” Kaisey explained.
asserted
Kaisey → try → patient
“For someone like Christina, who has these bands in her spinal fluid [the diagnostic hallmark that was the basis for her MS diagnosis], there’s probably something causing inflammation within her central nervous system, so that’s the road that you might go down and look for things that might be inflammatory causes.
uncertain
that → have → things
Rheumatoid arthritis, a chronic autoimmune condition, is being explored, Applegate said on the podcast.
asserted
Applegate → explore → podcast
Her rep had no further comment to The Post.
asserted
rep → have → Post
Which conditions are often mistaken for MS?
asserted
conditions → mistake → MS
Many diseases manifest symptoms similar to MS, which are called “MS mimics.”
asserted
which → manifest → MS
“For example, tingling or blurry vision can occur due to dozens of other diagnoses.
asserted
tingling → occur → diagnoses
Imbalance, likewise, can occur due to a variety of conditions,” Grebenciucova said.
asserted
Grebenciucova → occur → conditions
Because there is no single test that can identify MS, sometimes the only way to identify it is to rule out other possibilities.
asserted
way → be → possibilities
This includes autoimmune disorders like acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), Sjögren’s syndrome, myasthenia gravis (MG) and sarcoidosis.
asserted
This → include → encephalomyelitis
Lyme disease, human T-cell lymphotropic virus-1 (HTLV-1) and syphilis that spreads to the brain are a few infectious diseases that can look like MS.
asserted
that → spread → MS
…and 8 more, not listed.
The Aporia
