Christina Applegate details painful experience living with MS: 'I lay in bed screaming'
The "Married... With Children" alum also revealed that the disease has "traveled into my hands" and makes it difficult to pick up objects.
Christina Applegate is not shying away from sharing the reality of living with multiple sclerosis.
The Anchorman actress, who was diagnosed with the autoimmune disease in 2021, revealed on Monday’s episode of her MesSy podcast with co-host Jamie-Lynn Sigler that she continues to deal with painful, physical symptoms of her condition every single day.
“I lay in bed screaming,” Applegate said. “Jamie and I have different — everybody has different ways of it showing up. I lay in bed screaming. Like, the sharp pains, the ache, that squeezing.”
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Christina Applegate in 2020The Mayo Clinic defines multiple sclerosis (MS) as a disease that occurs when the "immune system attacks the protective sheath that covers nerve fibers, known as myelin." It notes that symptoms can often include "numbness, weakness, trouble walking, [and] vision changes," but that they can vary depending on "the person, the location of damage in the nervous system, and how bad the damage is to the nerve fibers." There is no current cure.
Applegate's symptoms came up on the podcast as part of her and Sigler's conversation with guest Rory Kandel, a California bakery owner who has also been diagnosed with MS. The Rory's Bakehouse founder noted that her own symptoms often "manifest in pain" that feels like having "knives in your spine" that prevent her from moving at times.
"Do you feel like that?” She asked, to which Applegate responded, “Every single day of my life.”
The Married… With Children alum continued, “I can't even pick up my phone sometimes, because now it's traveled into my hands. So I'll try to go get my phone, or get my remote to turn on the TV [and] sometimes, I can't even hold them. I can't open bottles now.”
Still, Kandel noted that no matter how painful their symptoms are, they all still appear outwardly healthy to the rest of the world. Applegate added, “Because it's the beauty of the invisible disease.”
Later in their discussion, Applegate explained that she can always tell what the day is going to feel like for her based on how easy it is to get out of bed.
“Jamie knows that I just lay in bed all the time. I mean, I worked for almost 50 years, so I'm kind of okay with it,” she said. “But if I put my feet on the ground and they're hurting like extraordinarily bad to the touch, I was like, ‘Yep. Gonna get back in my bed and pee in my diaper because I don't feel like walking all the way to the damn bathroom.’”
And, before anyone says anything, Applegate clarified that her last comment was made in jest. “I actually don't lay here and pee in my diaper. That's just a joke,” she said. “But it's so freaking painful and so hard and so awkward.”
Listen to Applegate reflect on her symptoms in the podcast above.
