Christina Applegate recently opened up about how her debilitating symptoms from multiple sclerosis have affected her ability to maintain personal hygiene.
During Tuesday’s episode of the “MeSsy” podcast, the 52-year-old actress revealed that she has been suffering from a “pretty bad” flare-up during her battle with the disease. chronic diseaseaffects the brain and central nervous system.
“Honestly, I haven’t showered in three weeks, so I need to buy Cottonelle,” Applegate told co-host Jamie Lynn Sigler, who also has MS.
Christina Applegate has opened up about her struggle to maintain personal hygiene while battling multiple sclerosis. (Gilbert Flores/Variety, via Getty Images)
She continued, “Because I can’t stand to take a shower. There’s no way I can use a shower.”
Christina Applegate looks to her future as an actress despite being diagnosed with MS
“I have a very small bench, but lately it has gotten so big that I can’t sit on it and I feel like I’m going to slide off it,” she added. “So I’ve been cottonelling myself.”
The Dead to Me star admitted she wasn’t sure if the wipes were “doing all that good.”
“It smells so bad. And it’s the worst. Thankfully, I’m always alone so no one smells me except for Thades,” said her daughter Sadie, who lives with husband Martin Lee. He talked about (12). Noble.
Christina Applegate and her 12-year-old daughter Sadie are pictured here. (Amy Sussman/Wire Images/Getty Images)
At the beginning of the episode, the “Married… With Children” alum detailed the severity of her symptoms and how they affect different parts of her body. She explained that there was “severe pain” in her leg and she was unable to go to the bathroom for fear of falling.
Applegate went on to say that she was suffering from an “unusual tingling sensation” that spread from her back to her body. She told Mr. Sigler that she was unable to sleep because she was having trouble moving one of her eyes.
“I haven’t been able to sleep for 24 hours because my eyes are doing weird things. Every time I close my eyes to go to sleep, my right eye starts moving like this,” she said.
After researching online, Applegate said she learned the eye problem could be a symptom of multiple sclerosis, which results from possible damage to the optic nerve in her right eye.
“I couldn’t sleep because every time I closed my eyes, my eyes would go crazy,” she explained. “That means you’ve been awake for more than 24 hours.”
The actress said she was experiencing a “pretty bad” relapse. (Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Critics Choice Association)
When Ms. Sigler asked her podcast co-host if she had contacted her doctor during the relapse, Ms. Applegate said she had not yet been able to do so.
“I have to go see someone because it’s kind of scary and I’m freaking out because my eyes are going to pop out of my face or something,” she said. “So I’m a little worried about that. It’s the first time my leg has been this bad so I don’t know what’s going on. It’s like I don’t have any energy. The leg is just done. ”
“We’re not getting circulation numbers,” Applegate added. “You can’t make their pain stop.”
The Emmy winner told Mr. Sigler that she fell into a “deep depression” after returning from her “winning” break.
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“You just lie in a dark room watching TV and wishing everything would go away. And that’s kind of where I am right now,” she admitted.
Applegate revealed that she was diagnosed with MS in 2021. (Photo by Leon Bennett/Getty Images)
In August 2021, Applegate announced that she was diagnosed with MS months ago. Production on the final season of Netflix’s hit show “Dead to Me” was halted for about five months while she began treatment.
“I got the diagnosis at work and called everyone and said, ‘I have multiple sclerosis, everyone. I was like, oh my god –!'” she told Variety in November 2022.
“And it was kind of a learning experience. We were all learning what I was going to be able to do. It had to be cold, because heat is our kryptonite. 18 hours. You can’t work every day of the week, can you? That was impossible.”
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Applegate said in 2022 that she only realized the warning signs of the disease had been present for years. (Reuters/Mario Anzuoni)
During an appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show in 2022, Applegate said filming the third and final season of Dead to Me was “the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
She went on to tell Clarkson that looking back, she realized there were red flags that she had MS all these years ago.
“I started thinking about the past four years, and I had very small symptoms,” she said. The Emmy winner added that she thinks it’s important for people to know that.
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“People should stop being hypochondriacs and running to the doctor when their legs are weak,” Applegate said. “But this happened to me on set four years ago, and I said, ‘I think you’re tired, you know?’
“That is, until things got as bad as they were a few years ago.”
