Christina Applegate shared the toll multiple sclerosis has taken on her body in the form of dozens of hospital visits since her diagnosis four years ago.
The “Dead to Me” star spoke on the March 18 episode of her “MeSsy” podcast with co-host Jamie-Lynn Sigler about the effects the condition has had on her. Sigler, a former “Sopranos” star, also has the disease in which the immune system attacks the central nervous system.
Applegate, 53, and Sigler, 43, were answering listener mail when the subject of side effects of MS came up.
“For three years, since I was diagnosed, I have been in the hospital upwards of 30 times from throwing up and diarrhea and pain that is unimaginable,” Applegate said. “They’ve done every test known to man on me, put so much radiation into my body, from CT scans to everything else. Literally just in the last month, I have figured it out.”
Applegate urged the listener to talk to her doctor about “motility issues” in her colon.
“I have noticed that — and I’m going to be really honest — if I have to poop, I puke,” Applegate said. “And when I puke, I get all the pain. And then all the things happen.”
Applegate said she is going for a colonoscopy on March 20 and plans to speak with her doctor about those specific issues.
“I know you guys are saying I’m crazy and I’m coming in here for no reason, and now I’m seeing a pattern,” she said about her doctors. “There’s got to be a correlation here. And I’m not a doctor, so I’m not giving medical advice. I’m just saying, just think about that.”
Symptoms of MS can include fatigue, memory difficulties, mood changes, mobility issues, numbness, pain, tingling and vision impairment, according to the National MS Society. Diarrhea is not usually associated with MS and constipation is more common, according to the organization. Fecal incontinence can be another symptom of MS, research shows.
Sigler joked that experiencing diarrhea and vomiting at the same time is called the “double dragon.”
“Always have a little trashcan next to your toilet so you can do both without being messy,” Applegate advised.
The “Anchorman” star shared in 2021 that she had been diagnosed with MS after experiencing symptoms during the final season of filming Netflix’s “Dead to Me.”
She told ABC News on March 13 that she may have first experienced symptoms up to seven years before she was diagnosed. Applegate shared that her legs would occasionally give out while filming the first season of “Dead to Me.”
