Christina Applegate has revealed that she was misdiagnosed with multiple sclerosis five years ago, an emotional development that has left her searching for answers while still enduring debilitating symptoms. The actress discussed the discovery Tuesday on her “MeSsy” podcast, as reported by Page Six.

Through tears, Applegate, 54, recalled the moment her doctor delivered the unexpected news. “[My doctor] came into my room and said, ‘Congratulations, you don’t have MS,’” she said.

Applegate did not share the relief others around her appeared to feel. “I was, like, not happy at all. Everybody else was so happy.”

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The “Married… with Children” alum explained that having the diagnosis reversed did not make her physical struggles disappear. “You don’t get misdiagnosed and then all of the sudden I’m better,” she said.

Her condition has not improved despite the discovery, according to Applegate. “I haven’t gotten better. If anything, I’ve gotten worse.”

The actress said she is now “back at square one,” with the cause of her health problems still unknown. Her doctors are expected to investigate what has been happening since 2021 and why it occurred.

The original diagnosis dramatically changed Applegate’s life, and she became emotional while describing everything she believes she lost during that period. “I’ve gone through a great depression because of it. But I lost everything. I lost my job.”

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Applegate said she still requires a wheelchair when visiting her doctors and cannot walk from her car to the examination room. “Nothing magical happened when she said, ‘You don’t have MS.’ Nothing magical happened.”

The “Dead to Me” star also spoke about the complicated emotions surrounding her former place in the MS community. She said it felt as if she had disappointed people after becoming one of the condition’s “poster children.”

Losing the diagnosis also meant losing what Applegate had understood as the explanation for her daily pain and limitations. “I had a reason. I had a f—king reason as to why my day sucked every day. And now I don’t have a reason and it’s very unnerving and it’s very confusing for me.”

Applegate described herself as still being in a “state of shock” and called the misdiagnosis a “mindf—k.” She cohosts “MeSsy” with actress Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who has MS.

The “Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead” star had not appeared on the podcast since March. She said she stepped away to “process” the misdiagnosis while also handling “some health stuff.”

During her return across two podcast episodes, Applegate and Sigler welcomed Dr. Marwa Kaisey, an associate professor in the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Department of Neurology. Kaisey explained that MS misdiagnoses are “fairly common” because “we don’t have one single test for MS.”

Kaisey compared the diagnostic process with a pregnancy test, explaining that MS instead involves a list of criteria. “Almost one in five of these people who’d been told they had MS, some for decades, didn’t actually have it,” she said, adding that most had received medication to treat MS.

The health update followed Applegate’s discharge from the hospital last month after a stay that began in March. The reason for her admission remained unclear, but her representative said she had “a long history of complicated medical conditions that she has been refreshingly open about.”

In April, Applegate thanked fans for their support without providing details about the situation. “Health issues are a constant for me, but I’m a strong chick and I’m getting stronger and better every day.”

The hospitalization followed other medical difficulties in recent years. In August 2025, Applegate told “MeSsy” listeners that a kidney infection had left her “screaming” in the hospital with “so much pain.”

During a February interview with People, Applegate said she was generally confined to bed but continued trying to take her daughter, Sadie LeNoble, 15, to school. She called that trip her “favorite thing to do.”

“I tell myself, ‘Just get her there safely and get home so you can get back into bed.’ And that’s what I do,” Applegate said. Her reversed diagnosis has not removed those daily challenges, leaving her without an explanation for symptoms that continue to control her life.

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