The actress, who has overcome breast cancer a few years ago, told her Twitter account that she was diagnosed with this autoimmune disease
Christina Applegate is 49 years old and has a great career in film and television, including comedies like The Sweetest Thing and series like Married... with children or Dead to me. Throughout her career, the actress has been telling about some of the evils that have stalked her, and this time she used her Twitter account to share that a few months ago she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
“It has been a strange journey. But I have received so much support from people I know who also have this condition. It has been a difficult road. But as we all know, the road continues. Unless some asshole blocks it. As one of my friends who has multiple sclerosis said: 'We woke up and took the indicated measures'. And that's what I do“, the Emmy winner expressed on the social network. In addition, the actress asked for privacy while she goes through this process.
Multiple sclerosis affects the central nervous system and is considered an autoimmune disease, in which the immune system attacks its own healthy cells. It affects quality of life and can be disabling, and although there is no cure, there are palliative treatments to control symptoms and adapt to new lifestyles after diagnosis.
The disease begins when a person's immune system attacks nerve fiber sheaths throughout the body. These protective nerve sheaths - made up of myelin - aid in nerve communication. When myelin is destroyed, it exposes nerves, slowing communication between these cells. The signs and symptoms are related to the amount of damage the immune system has caused.
Applegate and her health problems
It is not the first time that Applegate's health has made headlines. She has had to deal with some illnesses of late, and she has always testified to her battles. In 2008 she was diagnosed with breast cancer, a disease for which she underwent a double mastectomy. Nine years later, she underwent a new operation in which her ovaries and fallopian tubes were removed preventively, since she has the BRCA1 genetic mutation that causes a higher risk of developing cancer; in 2018 she had her menopause induced by surgery and, in addition, she has a long battle to combat insomnia.
About the mastectomy she said on the Oprah Winfrey show, in 2008: “I cry at least once a day about this, because it's hard to ignore when you're standing in front of the mirror. When you look down, it's the first thing you see. That constantly reminds you of this thing, this cancer thing that you had."
However, having suffered from this disease pushed her to become a voice on social networks. "If you have a voice to do it, and we [as actors] are fortunate to have this platform to say, 'I'm like you, I can't sleep, I feel like shit most of the time, but I want you to feel good about that and don't be embarrassed and get information about it so you can have a better quality of life,'” he had told People while promoting his Why So Awake? campaign. "And the same goes for my battle with cancer," she said.
Initially, 10-year-old Sadie's mother was hesitant to go public with her cancer diagnosis, but she eventually decided to take advantage of social media to deliver a message. "When I found out about my breast cancer, I didn't want to talk about it, but I had to, because young women were getting it and people didn't understand it," Applegate told People. “They didn't understand that 36-year-old women had breast cancer, or 28-year-old women had breast cancer, and they chose not to have an MRI when they were at high risk. That was how my activism came to light," she added.
Applegate, who became known for her role on the sitcom Married... with children [the American series on which Married with Children was based], won an Emmy for her role as a guest actress on Friends in 2003. She was also nominated for an actress principal for her work on Samantha Who? in 2008 and 2009, and in 2019 and 2020 she was nominated again in the category of leading actress for her role in Dead for me.
