Christina Applegate tested for lupus and Lyme disease after MS misdiagnosis

Anchorman actress Christina Applegate has said she is being tested for lupus and Lyme disease after being misdiagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS).

Applegate, also known for starring in the drama series Dead To Me, 54, announced in August 2021 that she was diagnosed with the autoimmune condition in which the immune system mistakes the body for a foreign substance and attacks it.

Last month she revealed on her podcast, MeSsy, which she co-hosts with The Sopranos star Jamie-Lynn Sigler, that she had been misdiagnosed and was “back at square one”.

The actress is now being tested for a number of different diseases which share similar symptoms to MS including rheumatoid arthritis (RA) – an autoimmune and inflammatory disease.

In the latest episode of her podcast, she said: “We’re going in to square one, just doing some testing and going one by one of the sister of diseases.

“You’ve got RA and you’ve got lupus and Lyme disease and all these things that can mimic MS.

“So now I’m being tested for all that stuff, slowly but surely.”

Applegate, who has become a vocal advocate for the MS community, said she feels like a “fraud” since discovering she was misdiagnosed for so many years.

She added: “I lived with as a person with MS for almost six years.

“It’s hard for me to try to shake that identity because it’s been my identity for so long.”

Despite this, she said she has made lifelong friends through the MS community and that she will continue to be a part of it “in one way or another”.

Applegate was filming the third and final series of Dead To Me when she opened up about her diagnosis, and said at the time that the role was likely to be her last.

Applegate is also known for starring in Bad Moms, The Sweetest Thing and Married With Children.