LIFESTYLE

A look back: Celebrities Christina Applegate, Selma Blair share struggles with MS

Steve Dorfman
Palm Beach Post

Editor's note: This originally published in Sept. 2021.

Two A-list actresses...and two very different stages of their journeys with multiple sclerosis. 

Last month within a week of each other, Hollywood stars Christina Applegate and Selma Blair put MS in the national spotlight with revelations about their respective conditions.

First, came Applegate’s disclosure via tweet that, “a few months ago,” she’d been diagnosed with the disease. 

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Christina Applegate at the 25th annual Critics' Choice Awards in January 2020. Last month, Applegate, 49, a breast cancer survivor who underwent a double mastectomy in 2008, announced on her Twitter feed that "a few months ago" she'd been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

"It's been a strange journey. But I have been so supported by people that I know who also have this condition. It's been a tough road. But as we all know, the road keeps going. Unless some [a--hole] blocks it," she posted.

Applegate, 49, is a breast cancer survivor, having been diagnosed at 36. She underwent a double mastectomy in 2008. 

Blair, also 49, originally revealed her MS diagnosed in 2018 and was open about the physical limitations the disease imposed on her. On Instagram three years ago, she posted, “I fall sometimes. I drop things. My memory is foggy. And my left side is asking for directions from a broken gps. But we are doing it."  

To show the public she was strong in the face of her diagnosis, she appeared on red carpets with a stylish cane to help her stay balanced. 

Just days after Applegate’s disclosure last month, Blair appeared on a virtual Television Critics Association panel to promote her new documentary, “Introducing Selma Blair” — and share some exciting news: She’s in remission.

Selma Blair at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in 2019. Last month Blair told the Television Critics Association that she's in remission from multiple sclerosis after undergoing stem cell transplantation. The 49-year-old actress was diagnosed with the disease in 2018.

Blair credited stem cell therapy with playing a vital role in the improvement in her disease status. 

"My prognosis is great. I'm in remission. Stem cell put me in remission," she said. “It took about a year after stem cell for the inflammation and lesions to really go down." 

Her documentary — which is scheduled to premiere in select theaters on Oct. 15 and be available on Discovery+ on Oct. 21 — will chronicle what the last few years of living with MS has been like and will include her undergoing both chemotherapy and stem cell therapy.

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Understanding MS 

According to the National MS Society, approximately one million Americans are currently living with the disease. 

Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system that affects the brain and spinal cord. The condition creates chronic inflammation that causes the protective fatty tissue — called myelin — that surrounds the brain’s and spinal cord’s nerves to be disrupted.  

This inflammatory disruption creates lesions in the brain and spinal cord that cause neurological symptoms — such as vision changes (including blurry and/or double vision), numbness and tingling in the arms, feet and face, dizziness, problems with walking, balance or gait and extreme fatigue. 

The symptoms one suffers depend on the location of thelesions and, when they’re chronic and severe enough, can lead to disability. 

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Dr. Buse Sengul, a neurologist and MS specialist with Cleveland Clinic Weston, explains, “The diagnosis of MS is made based on the clinical symptoms, MRI and imaging, and sometimes a spinal tap. Images typically show scarring in the brain stem, optic nerve or spinal cord that could indicate MS. The term multiple sclerosis literally means ‘multiple scars.’”

Dr. Buse Sengul is a neurologist and MS expert with Cleveland Clinic Weston.

Sengul says the medical research community has never been able to definitively determine what causes MS, nor been able to isolate major risk factors. Rather, it’s simply suppositions at this point. 

“But we believe that several factors could contribute to the overall risk of developing MS," Sengul says, "including vitamin D deficiency, childhood obesity, smoking, certain infections (including mononucleosis), genetics and geographical location. For this last potential risk factor, research suggests that those who live in areas that are farther from the equator seem to be more prone to developing MS.” 

Coconut Creek neurologist Dr. Daniel Kantor says that MS is “a lifetime diagnosis” and falls within one of three categories: 

  • Relapsing-remitting. Symptoms flare up and last for a given amount of time, then gradually dissipate and the sufferer’s overall condition improves. This is the most common form of MS.
  • Secondary progressive. This is usually the next stage after the initial relapsing-remitting. A sufferer will have a worsening of neurological function that, while it may improve somewhat, doesn’t improve to a baseline level.
  • Primary progressive. In this, the most advanced stage, there’s a worsening of neurological function that creates an accumulation of disability as soon as symptoms occur. In addition, there’s little to no remission or improvement. 

How doctors treat MS 

With an autoimmune disease like MS, treatment is highly individualized. 

As Sengul explains, “Medical MS treatments — which are delivered either orally, or via injections and/or infusions — are focused on preventing new lesions and treating the actual symptoms the patient has. There are treatments that modify the immune system so that inflammatory lesions are not created around the myelin.” 

Unfortunately, however, there currently are no treatments to permanently replace the myelin or to reverse scars or lesions. 

That said, Sengul notes that “there is ongoing research on remyelination and we are hopeful that new medications to restore myelin will be developed in the future.”  

To treat secondary symptoms, such as those related to balance, gait and lack of energy, as well as emotional ones like anxiety or depression, patients are often encouraged to seek physical therapy for the former and mental health therapy — and perhaps mood-elevating medication — for the latter. 

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Nutrition, exercise and alternative therapies 

Nutrition and exercise can also play a pivotal role in helping control the symptoms of MS. 

Ivy Larson, 45, of West Palm Beach, who was diagnosed with MS at 22, says she’s been able to control the worst of her symptoms through maintaining a super-clean diet and prioritizing exercise and the avoidance of inflammation-inducing stress. 

In fact, Larson and her husband, bariatric surgeon Dr. Andy Larson, believed so strongly in their clean-eating lifestyle that they co-wrote five books on the topic and founded Clean Cuisine — which Ivy describes as “a delicious and easy-to-follow, nutrient-dense, anti-inflammatory nutrition program.”

Ivy and Dr. Andrew Larson of West Palm Beach have been following a super-clean style of eating ever since Ivy's MS diagnosis in 1998. Ivy says that a combination of nutrition, exercise, sleep, yoga, meditation and stress reduction have helped keep the worst of her MS symptoms at bay.

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Larson’s other simple tactics for preventing the “overwhelming fatigue of a flare-up" include “getting sufficient sleep, practicing yoga and meditation daily, getting B-12 and glutathione injections regularly and using hormone-optimizing nutraceuticals.”

After speaking with several neurologists, Larson has also become a proponent of MS patients exploring the usage of prescribed medical marijuana because she and other medical marijuana advocates believe it can act as a neuroprotective agent that can be effective in managing the symptoms of all common degenerative neurological conditions. 

Selma Blair and stem cell therapy 

When Blair’s documentary becomes available in October, it’s almost certain to spur interest in some of the modalities — most notably stem cell therapy and chemotherapy — that she’s used to combat her MS. 

However, Sengul urges caution when it comes to adopting such protocols. 

“This has been considered a controversial treatment approach,” she says. “While stem cell therapy and chemotherapy can be used to treat certain patients with active disease, it is not the treatment approach that is most commonly used. There are ongoing clinical trials that will give us better data to determine the efficacy of this approach.”