Christina Applegate’s early MS symptoms make it clear that the disease can be confused with everyday pain. Here’s what you need to know
It’s easy to shake off a bit of numbness in your hand or lose your grip here and there. Unfortunately, as actress Christina Applegate learned in 2021, sometimes these normally not-so-worrying symptoms can be a sign of something more serious. Applegate was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) while filming the third – and final – season of the Netflix show dead to me.
Although MS was first defined by a neurologist in 1868, the medical community still doesn’t know what causes it. The disease affects the central nervous system—the brain, spinal cord, and optic nerves. Think of it as the wiring that runs through bodies, driving movement, thought, mood, and basically everything a person thinks or does throughout the day. These blows to the nervous system can cause symptoms, both short-term and long-term. Any attack on the nervous system leaves behind lesions that together tell the story of MS in a person’s body. An isolated symptom does not tell the story of MS. It takes multiple lesions to lead to a diagnosis.
Michelle Tolson understands how overwhelming the words are You have multiple sclerosis may be. Tolson, a dance educator and former Radio City Rockette, was diagnosed in 2014 at the age of 40. She had a blurry left eye, so she decided to see her doctor. “I thought I needed to increase my prescription for my reading glasses. It was kinda weird. I liken it to the glare from a disco ball,” says Tolson.
Tolson’s doctor said her eyes were fine, but when the condition persisted he sent her to a specialist. He sent her for an MRI to see if maybe her optic nerve was inflamed. At 5 p.m. the following Friday, Tolson was about to walk into a bridal shower when she got the call. “It was possible I had MS because they found lesions,” she was old.
And those lesions made it clear that Tolson may have had MS for a decade. But, she says, many of her symptoms have been masked as things dancers go through or that happen as a person ages.
MS symptoms are not unique to this condition. “If you have some numbness and tingling, maybe in your hands, maybe in your arms or legs or in your face, it’s more just a nuisance. Maybe it’s these new yoga poses I’ve tried. Maybe it’s the new office chair I’ve been sitting in that’s causing my leg to tingle,” said Julie Fiol, registered nurse and associate vice president of clinical innovation and strategy for the National MS Society.
Other common symptoms include depression, cognitive changes, fatigue, difficulty walking, muscle spasms, blurred vision, dizziness, weakness, pain and itching, mood swings, and bowel problems.
The length of time between a symptom and diagnosis can vary greatly. The fastest route to diagnosis is MRI, but it requires a doctor who believes a person’s symptoms may be more than just everyday ailments. Given the research that has come out in recent years about how women and people of color are often ignored by doctors, this is a major concern when diagnosing MS. For every man diagnosed with the disease, three women must learn to live with it. And although Fiol says the medical community mistakenly thought it primarily affected whites, it’s now clear that it occurs in white and black populations alike.
“A lot is written about symptoms. The hysterical woman. Is that hormonal? You just can’t handle the stress of being a new mom or the stress of your career,” says Fiol. “People who feel they just don’t exist seen.”
Tolson was lucky on that front. Her doctors acted quickly. But the initial diagnosis hit her with “great sadness because MS used to be almost always. I would be in a wheelchair before I knew it. This is what MS used to look like. And as a professional dancer and educator, I thought I was going to lose everything I had worked my whole life for.”
As she learned, MS has more than one face, and research and treatments have gone far beyond what she knew about the disease.
How is MS?
Because there are four different types of MS – each with its own degree of flare-up and progression – there is no single pathway for people who are diagnosed with the disease. And the faster people are diagnosed, the greater the chance that medical intervention can help stave off progression.
“Everyone has varying degrees of disability,” says Nicole Lemelle, a writer and advocate for MS patients, who was diagnosed with the disease in 2000 when she was 25 years old. “But the majority of people with MS have a disability or symptoms that are not obvious and never reach the advanced level.”
Regardless of how the disease presents itself, Lemelle says it’s important for all people with MS to take control of their own care. “Don’t let the neurologist make the decisions for you. Do your homework and come with questions to each appointment. And expect answers. If you are not satisfied with the treatment you are receiving, see another doctor. You may have to go through a few before you find a suitable match.”
Like Tolson, Lemelle was diagnosed after having vision problems. Her symptoms remained relatively minor for years, mainly fatigue and a slight limp. But after nine years, she went through a violent flare-up that landed her in the hospital. “I had to learn to eat, speak and walk. When I finally made it home, I was still confined to the wheelchair. I still haven’t regained my ability to walk.”
As an advocate for other people with MS, Lemelle also blogs to help families of people with MS understand what they are going through. “MS can be a lonely and isolating disease,” she says. But with the attention that Christina Applegate and advocates like Lemelle and Tolson are bringing to the disease, hopefully people can be diagnosed much more quickly and build their support systems much more quickly.
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