Selma Blair reveals why it took years before multiple sclerosis diagnosis
Selma Blair opened up on her multiple sclerosis (MS) diagnosis last Feb. 26 on a US morning show.
Selma Blair arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party on Sunday, Feb. 24, 2019, in Beverly Hills, California. Image: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease with no cure and which affects the brain and the spinal cord, as per Mayo Clinic. Because no two people will have the same symptoms, it is difficult to diagnose it. Early symptoms include fatigue, vision problems, depression, numbness in limbs and pain.
In the interview, she spoke with tremors in her voice, a symptom of neurological disorder spasmodic dysphonia, which affects the voice muscles in the larynx.
The “Legally Blonde” actress, 46, revealed that she had been experiencing symptoms for years but doctors disregarded her complaints. She said they attributed her symptoms to being an “exhausted” single mother or a “dramatic” actress.
“Ever since my son was born [in 2011], I was in an MS flare-up and didn’t know, and I was giving it everything to seem normal,” she said.
To deal with the pain from symptoms that included neck pain, severe vertigo and a loss of feeling in her leg, Blair resorted to taking steroid shots, as per her Vanity Fair interview last Feb. 26,
Blair assumed that she had a pinched nerve and got herself checked by a neurologist in Los Angeles. She was diagnosed last August after an MRI showed lesions on her brain.
“When I got the diagnosis I cried with some relief. Like, ‘Oh, good, I’ll be able to do something.’”
Blair said her own doctors encouraged her to bring the disease to light so that more research could be done.
She said, “I was a little scared of talking, and even my neurologist said, ‘No, this will bring a lot of awareness because no one has the energy to talk when they’re in a flare-up,’ but I do, because I love a camera.”
She hopes her honesty could inspire other women. She admitted that with a previous doctor, she pretended that she was doing better than she felt.
“I had been so embarrassed by some events in my life, whether it was drinking or immature behavior, that, as a mother, I wanted to prove I was great even when I was telling someone I had problems,” she told Vanity Fair.
The actress is working with the Tisch MS Research Center in New York for her treatment, an intravenous-drug therapy that will manage her symptoms and help her regain some of her abilities. Niña V. Guno /ra
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