‘Married… with Children’ Star Christina Applegate, 53, Recalls ‘Unimaginable’ Number of Times She Was Hospitalized Amid Multiple Sclerosis

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Applegate continued, on the podcast episode which marked one year since it’s inception, “Maybe this isn’t what’s happening, but I’m just going to tell you this … Talk to your doctor about motility issues.”

“Because one of the things with MS is that it slows down our organs. Not like completely, but there is a slowing of the function of your organs.”

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The “Dead To Me” star addressed her stomach issues while answering questions from fans, ultimately noting that she believes she understand the cause of her recent issues with vomiting and diarrhea.

Applegate, who will soon get colonoscopy to make sure all is well down there, added, “I have noticed that … and I’m going to be really honest, if I have to poop, I puke.”

Further commenting on how she often feels the need to vomit and use the toilet at the same time, she advised listeners like herself to, “Always have a little trash can next to your toilet, because you can do both without it being messy. I had one yesterday.”

RELATED: “Body Not By Ozempic” Says Actress Christina Applegate, Making Light Of Her Multiple Sclerosis Diagnosis After Emotional Standing Ovation At 2024 Emmy Awards

Applegate’s Health Journeys With Multiple Sclerosis

Christina Applegate has been living with multiple sclerosis since August 2021. The diagnosis came more than a decade after she dealt with breast cancer in 2008.

“With the disease of MS, it’s never a good day,” Applegate previously wrote on her Instagram.

“Having MS f—ing sucks…You just have little s— days,” she said.

She explained how her symptoms are impacting her daily life, including everyday activities like taking showers, using stairs, and carrying things.

Applegate began experiencing symptoms of the condition long before she had answers. She actually said she felt off balance during a dance sequence that occurred way back in season one of her dark comedy “Dead to Me.” She later noticed her aptitude for tennis started to fail.

“I wish I had paid attention,” she previously told The New York Times. “But who was I to know?”

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It took several years of worsening tingling and numbness in her extremities before her diagnosis arrived while on set. This life-altering realization wouldn’t stop Applegate from finishing her portrayal of Jen Harding, but she did need a break. Production of the final season ceased for about five months as she began treatment.

“There was the sense of, ‘Well, let’s get her some medicine so she can get better,’” Applegate said. “And there is no better. But it was good for me. I needed to process my loss of my life, my loss of that part of me. So I needed that time.”

Applegate admits she’ll never fully “accept” her condition, but she did learn how to work with it. And she’s previously talked about how the show was a cathartic outlet and safe space.

“I had an obligation to Liz [Feldman] and to Linda [Cardellini], to our story,” she said of the show’s writer and her co-star respectively. “The powers that be were like, ‘Let’s just stop. We don’t need to finish it. Let’s put a few episodes together.’ I said, ‘No. We’re going to do it, but we’re going to do it on my terms.’”

Applegate wasn’t able to work as hard or as long or in the heat without her body giving out, but she found pride in her self-sufficiency. With the help of some adjustments to the schedule, she powered through. Nicole Vassell, a writer for The Independent, says other programs should learn from the way Applegate’s “physical changes [were] seamlessly incorporated into the show.”

“This is the first time anyone’s going to see me the way I am,” Applegate said. “I put on 40 pounds; I can’t walk without a cane. I want people to know that I am very aware of all of that.”

However, on the most recent “MeSsy” podcast episode, Applegate revealed she has since lost those 40 pounds naturally, without any anti-obesity drugs. She said, someone jokingly, that she lost that weight by dealing with stomach issues associated with the medicine she takes amid her MS battle.

Applegate’s Breast Cancer Journey

Christina Applegate’s breast cancer battle began in April 2008 at just 36 years old.

“I went through five weeks of work without telling anyone that this was going on in my life,” she said during a CNN interview.

Applegate said she had dense breasts and would need more thorough examinations for her routine mammogram screenings.

“He suggested that I get an MRI,” the actress said.

When Applegate underwent an MRI screening, something was off. “They found some funky things going on [in one breast],” she said.

A biopsy confirmed her diagnosis, but luckily, the cancer was caught early. Despite her prognosis, she was still very concerned with her diagnosis.

She then turned her worry into determination, and she focused her efforts on beating the cancer. She underwent a lumpectomy, which is a procedure that removes the tumor and some of the surrounding tissue.

For early-stage breast cancer, studies have shown that lumpectomy plus radiation is as effective a treatment in preventing breast cancer recurrence as mastectomy (the removal of the breast).

Applegate then underwent six weeks of radiation, using high-energy beams aimed at the cancer cells to kill them. During treatment, she learned she tested positive for the BRCA gene, increasing her risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer.

“That sort of changed everything for me. Radiation was something temporary, and it wasn’t addressing the issue of this coming back or the chance of it coming back in my left breast. I sort of had to kind of weigh all my options at that point,” she explained.

The harmful variant of BRCA1 or BRCA2 is inherited from either or both of your parents. So, each offspring of a parent who carries the mutation has a 50% chance of inheriting it.

The actress’ doctor gave her treatment options, but she ultimately opted for a preventative double mastectomy, which removes both breasts to reduce cancer risk. When a woman undergoes a double mastectomy, it is a personal and emotional decision that impacts how they feel about themselves.

“It just seemed like, ‘I don’t want to have to deal with this again. I don’t want to keep putting that stuff in my body. I just want to be done with this,’ and I was just going to let them go,” she explained.

Understanding Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis causes the immune system to attack cells that form the protective sheath that covers nerve fibers in the spinal cord. The disruption leads to communication problems between the brain and the rest of the body.

Once the protective barrier is damaged, the spinal cord struggles to send messages to the arms, legs, and other parts of the body to function normally.

The National Multiple Sclerosis Society outlines the different types of multiple sclerosis:

• Clinically isolated syndrome (CIS): This is when an individual experiences a single neurological episode lasting 24 hours or less. CIS is what MS is diagnosed as until there is a second episode.
• Relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS): The most common MS among the million people battling the disease in the US, RRMS is marked by sudden flare-ups, new symptoms, or worsening of symptoms and cognitive function. The condition will then go into remission for some time before reemerging with no known warning signs.
• Primary progressive MS (PPMS): These individuals have no flare-ups or remission, just a steady decline with progressively worse symptoms and an increasing loss of cognitive and body functions.
• Secondary progressive MS (SPMS): This is an almost transitional form of MS that progresses from RRMS to PPMS.

In addition to balance issues, numbness, and tingling in the limbs as Applegate experienced, other common MS symptoms include vision and bladder control problems. Mood changes and mental and physical fatigue are other symptoms people living with MS may experience according to the National Institute of Health.

Treating Multiple Sclerosis

There is no cure for MS, but MS warriors battling the disease do have methods to manage their symptoms.

Common tools MS patients use to improve their quality of life include wheelchairs, canes, leg braces and some medical treatments called disease-modifying therapies (DMTs).

A study in American Family Physician found DMTs “has been shown to slow disease progression and disability; options include injectable agents, infusions, and oral medications targeting different sites in the inflammatory pathway.”

While chemotherapy is widely known as a cancer treatment that uses drugs to kill cancer cells, it is also effective at slowing down or stopping disease activity in MS. Applegate’s actress Selma Blair previously underwent chemotherapy as part of her treatment for MS.

Questions for Your Doctor

If you are diagnosed with MS or may be concerned you have the chronic disease due to symptoms you’re experiencing, consider asking your doctor the following questions.

• Although there’s no cure for MS, which treatment option to manage my symptoms do you recommend for me?
• Are there any potential side effects of MS treatment?
• What if the treatment to manage symptoms doesn’t work?
• Will exercise or therapy help my symptoms?
• Are there any MS support groups you recommend to help me cope?

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Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff

Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.