Christina Applegate Floats Breast Implant Theory After MS Misdiagnosis
After years of living with a multiple sclerosis diagnosis, Christina Applegate has learned she doesn’t have the chronic neurological disorder. The actor discussed her complex feelings about the misdiagnosis in her October return to her MeSsy podcast after a lengthy hospital stay and hiatus from recording. Now, she’s opening up about the medical mystery and a new theory she is floating to doctors and specialists. Applegate is curious about whether her breast implants might be linked to her declining health.
Christina Applegate shared her medical frustration in a recent podcast episode
Christina Applegate shared her MS diagnosis with the world in 2021 and spent years as one of the condition’s most outspoken advocates. Then, on an October 20 episode of MeSsy, she dropped a bombshell: she doesn’t actually have MS. She learned of the misdiagnosis after months in the hospital for an undisclosed reason.
She recalled her doctor walking into her room and telling her, “Congratulations, you don’t have MS.” Applegate admitted her doctors and supporters expected her to be happy, but she wasn’t. There was nothing to celebrate. Applegate said she still has every symptom of someone with MS, and in some ways she has gotten worse. “I’m back at square one,” she said, adding that the news sent her into a deep depression.
The news didn’t cure her or make her better. She said, “I still have to use wheelchairs when I go to the doctor’s office.” Now, though, she doesn’t know why she’s sick, whereas before, she had a diagnosis attached to her symptoms.
The breast implant theory
The misdiagnosis has Applegate looking at all the potential causes for her symptoms yet again. While doctors are testing her, one by one, for diseases that mimic multiple sclerosis, she’s floating a theory of her own. Applegate wondered aloud if her breast implants might be behind all of her recent medical troubles.
After someone sent her a study about leaking implants causing symptoms that look like MS, she revisited a worry she’s had for about five years. “What if they’re leaking and they’re like poisoning me?” she said during her most recent MeSsy podcast episode. She added that it’s something she plans to look into with her doctors.
Applegate was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008 and underwent a double mastectomy. She learned she carried the BRCA1 gene mutation during her treatment. Applegate later had reconstructive surgery that included implants. She says she never went back to have them replaced. “I am way overdue for having them replaced,” she told co-host Jamie-Lynn Sigler. Medical recommendations on when breast implants should be replaced vary by doctor, though studies suggest they should be replaced after 10 to 15 years in the body.
No new diagnosis has been announced, and Applegate has been clear that implants are just one possibility she wants ruled in or out. Applegate doesn’t yet have a definitive answer and continues to explore additional testing, which she called “overwhelming.”
