Christina Applegate’s MS Misdiagnosis Highlights the Challenge of Diagnosing Autoimmune Diseases
- Christina Applegate shared that she was previously diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, highlighting the challenges of distinguishing autoimmune diseases with overlapping symptoms.
- Autoimmune diseases occur when the immune system mistakenly attacks healthy cells, tissues or organs, with more than 80 recognized autoimmune conditions.
- Fatigue, pain, weakness, joint or muscle symptoms, and rashes can occur across multiple autoimmune diseases, making diagnosis challenging.
- Tracking symptoms and treatment responses can help patients and doctors reassess an initial diagnosis and determine whether further testing is needed.
The recent news that actress Christina Applegate was misdiagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) has brought attention to the difficulty behind diagnosing autoimmune diseases.
Autoimmune diseases happen when the immune system mistakenly attacks the body’s own healthy cells, tissues, or organs. There are more than 80 recognized autoimmune diseases, including MS, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, type 1 diabetes, celiac disease, and autoimmune thyroid diseases.
These diseases are very different from one another, but they can have a lot of overlap in how they affect people.
Fatigue, pain, weakness, joint or muscle symptoms, and rashes occur across multiple autoimmune diagnoses.
Another challenge is that autoimmune diseases don’t always affect just one part of the body. Symptoms may come and go, change over time, or involve multiple organ systems. In some cases, patients may see several specialists for individual symptoms before the connection between them becomes clear.
While an autoimmune diagnosis takes time, patients can play an important role by keeping track of symptoms and sharing any changes with their doctor. When symptoms don’t fit the initial diagnosis or treatment isn’t producing the expected results, discussing the next steps, or seeking a second opinion, may be appropriate.
If you’re experiencing symptoms that you suspect are related to an autoimmune disease, talk to your doctor and ask them to refer you to a rheumatologist, a type of specialist who treats autoimmune diseases and inflammatory disorders. To schedule an appointment with a Jackson Medical Group rheumatologist, call 305-585-4564. For more information, visit JacksonMedicalGroup.org.
Image credit: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
