Christina Applegate lived with multiple sclerosis for around six or seven years before receiving an official diagnosis, and the first symptom she experienced was easy to dismiss entirely: tingling in her toes.
What she noticed, and ignored
Applegate first noticed something was off while filming the first season of Dead to Me in 2019, when her leg would occasionally buckle mid-scene and her balance would fail without warning. She told Good Morning America's Robin Roberts that she put it down to tiredness, dehydration, or the weather, and that the symptoms would then disappear for months at a time, making them easy to overlook. By the time filming began on a later season, she was being brought to set in a wheelchair, unable to walk far, and had to tell her colleagues what was happening so she could get support.
How she was finally diagnosed
It wasn't a doctor who first suspected MS, but Applegate's Sweetest Thing co-star Selma Blair, who had been diagnosed with the condition herself in 2018. When Applegate described her symptoms, Blair immediately recognised them and urged her to get tested. Applegate was officially diagnosed in 2021, and production on Dead to Me shut down for nearly five months while she began treatment.
The symptom itself, and why it's often missed
Multiple sclerosis is a chronic autoimmune condition in which the immune system attacks myelin, the protective coating around nerves in the brain and spinal cord, disrupting communication between the brain and body. Symptoms can include numbness or tingling in the limbs, fatigue, muscle weakness, coordination and balance issues, vision problems, slurred speech, and tremors. Most people first experience symptoms between the ages of 20 and 40, and the condition is roughly three times more common in women than men.
The tingling sensation Applegate described, often felt in the hands or feet, is one of the earliest and most commonly overlooked signs of MS, frequently mistaken for poor circulation or sleeping on a limb. Doctors say the key distinction is persistence: if the sensation recurs over weeks or months, particularly in the same area, or appears alongside changes in balance, coordination, vision, or fatigue, it's worth raising with a doctor rather than dismissing.
Where she is now
Applegate, 54, has spoken openly about the severity of her condition, describing periods of intense pain and a hospitalisation in August 2025 following a flare-up. Reflecting on the years before her diagnosis, she told the New York Times: "I wish I had paid attention. But who was I to know?"
