Actress Selma Blair reveals MS diagnosis: 'I hope to give some hope to others'
"Cruel Intentions" actress Selma Blair revealed that she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis on her Instagram this weekend.
"I have #multiplesclerosis," she wrote in a caption. "I am in an exacerbation. By the grace of the lord, and will power and the understanding producers at Netflix, I have a job. A wonderful job. I am disabled. 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."
"And I laugh and I don’t know exactly what I will do precisely but I will do my best," she added.
Blair, 46, said she was diagnosed on Aug. 16, thanking her friends and family for support and adding that: "I am in the thick of it but I hope to give some hope to others."
The "Legally Blonde" star said she struggled with a myriad of symptoms, so in a way the diagnosis came as a relief, as does speaking about it openly.
It wasn't until Blair went to see a doctor that she said things changed.
"I have had symptoms for years but was never taken seriously until I fell down in front of him trying to sort out what I thought was a pinched nerve. I have probably had this incurable disease for 15 years at least," she wrote. "And I am relieved to at least know. And share."
MS is a disease of the central nervous system that interrupts the flow of information within the brain and between the brain and the body, according to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS), a nonprofit advocacy group that aims to raise awareness about the disease.
Symptoms of MS vary widely based on the individual but some of the most common include fatigue, numbness or tingling, weakness, dizziness, vertigo, walking difficulties and more, according to the NMSS.
Though there is no cure for MS, there are ways to treat and manage most of the symptoms, the NMSS says.
