ACTOR Christina Applegate has opened up about her ongoing struggle with multiple sclerosis (MS), sharing that she rarely leaves home.
“This is the worst thing I’ve ever had in my life,” the star said.
She added: "It's the worst thing I've ever gone through.”
The 53-year-old spoke about how the disease has affected her life during a May 5 appearance on Conan O’Brien's Needs a Friend video podcast.
“I don't really leave the house anymore,” she told Conon. "It's really, really hard.”
Christina was diagnosed with MS in 2021.
The condition is thought to affect around 1 million people in the US, 100,000 in England, and 2.5 million worldwide.
The exact cause is still unknown.
But risk factors include being biologically female, having a family history of autoimmune diseases, and living in places with less sunlight - the risk tends to rise the further north you live.
It occurs when the immune system turns inward and attacks the nerves and their protective coating, myelin.
This causes inflammation in the brain and the spinal cord, leading to a range of symptoms like vision problems, movement difficulties, and clumsiness.
The initial symptoms, Christina explained to Conan, were painful.
“I was losing balance, but the pain was extraordinary," she said. "And when I say numb, it's numb, but it hurts."
The Netflix Dead to Me alum has been candid about her brutal symptoms, in the past.
She revealed on her podcast and in interviews that she’ll “lay in bed screaming” from pain, and that “unimaginable” bouts of vomiting and diarrhea have landed her in the hospital 30 times.
There are lots of possible symptoms of MS. Everyone with the condition is affected differently.
For example, someone may have clumsiness, often described as 'butter fingers', particularly if they also have muscle weakness. This symptom is often lumped in with dizziness and difficulty with balance.
The 8 most common symptoms include:
In some patients, episodes are followed by periods of remission (relapsing remitting MS).
While others experience gradually worsening symptoms (progressive MS).
Christina has never releaved what type of MS she has.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a lifelong condition that affects the brain and spinal cord.
It is caused by something going wrong with the immune system which causes it to mistakenly attack the brain or spinal cord.
Specifically, it targets the myelin sheath, the protective layer of protein and fatty acids that protects the nerves which carry signals from the brain.
The myelin sheath becomes damaged and scarred, so brain signals, like those to the muscles which are needed to walk, become disrupted and slowed.
Symptoms include fatigue, difficulty walking, vision problems, trouble controlling the bladder, numbness and tingling in parts of the body and problems with balance.
There is no cure, but treatments such as steroids can control the condition and ease symptoms.
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