Overview
- Applegate said her doctor told her she does not have multiple sclerosis after living with the diagnosis since August 2021 and publicly announcing the reversal in late October.
- Despite the diagnostic change, she continues to experience severe symptoms, including limited mobility that requires a wheelchair for appointments and long delays getting out of bed.
- Clinicians have returned to 'square one' and are running stepwise differential testing for conditions that can imitate MS, specifically rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and Lyme disease.
- Applegate described intense emotional fallout from the reversal, saying she feels like a 'fraud' and is struggling to shed an identity built around the MS diagnosis, but she pledged to remain active in the MS community.
- Medical experts note that MS has no single definitive test and can be misdiagnosed; doctors in her case are rechecking prior results, pausing some earlier treatments, and using updated testing to seek an alternative diagnosis.