For years, Selma Blair battled unexplained pain and crippling fatigue while doctors dismissed her symptoms.
Blair revealed that despite experiencing symptoms since childhood, her multiple sclerosis (MS) wasn’t diagnosed until she was in her 40s.
“I was diagnosed with relapsing [remitting] MS in 2018. It turned out I probably had juvenile MS as my first optical neuritis was when I was about seven, which left me with a lazy eye from nerve damage. But there were a lot of things missed my whole life,” Blair said at the Flow Space Women’s Health Summit, according to Variety.
SELMA BLAIR SAYS SHE’S ‘TRULY RELAPSE-FREE’ AFTER 7-YEAR BATTLE WITH MS
She described years of excruciating pain and countless hospital stays, while doctors brushed off her symptoms.
“I had CAT scans as a kid, and I had doctor visits, and I stayed in hospitals for weeks at a time,” Blair recalled. “I’d have fevers, I have pain, endless, bone-crushing fatigue that I still do have. And my mom would say, why can’t you give her an MRI?”
Blair recalled the double standard she faced growing up, saying, “And they’re like, ‘Oh, she doesn’t need it. She’s probably getting her period.’ But then a boy would come in from my class who had a headache and they gave him an MRI the first thing. Now, they’re not wrong for doing that for him, but it’s like, What? Because I appeared OK, even though I had headaches all the time.”
SELMA BLAIR EXPLORES MS DIAGNOSIS IN DOCUMENTARY
The delayed diagnosis finally explained years of symptoms often dismissed by doctors as mere “growing pains.” Blair described how sharing her experience publicly became a source of comfort and connection for many living with chronic illness.
“I just put it on my Instagram to thank people on a set who were helping me stay at my job, because I couldn’t use my hands well, I couldn’t take my clothes off. I still sometimes struggle with dystonia and with speech and movement, even though I’m relapse-free right now,” Blair continued.
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“But when I did post I saw that there was a whole world that was that felt seen or a part of being seen or could relate to someone having chronic health issues. I realized that was a comfort to a lot of people. And there weren’t a lot of resources out about MS at the time. There was so much I needed to learn. I’m still learning as I live with it, but I did see that it was much bigger than me … It felt good. It felt good knowing people were feeling some comfort.”
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The 53-year-old actress, who first announced her MS diagnosis in 2018, revealed in April she is “truly relapse-free” from symptoms of the chronic autoimmune disease.
“I am doing amazingly well. I’ve been feeling great for about a year,” the “Legally Blonde” star told People at the time. “But I am finally well enough to really, genuinely … I always try to feel my best, but now that I actually have stamina and energy and going out isn’t so scary.”
