Gerrard Kaonga
Selma Blair has opened up about a symptoms she has had for decades that simply went overlooked by her doctors ahead of diagnosis.
Actress Selma Blair has been open with her fans about how she has suffered at the result of her diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.
For years, the actress dealt with immense fatigue and unexplained pain for years only to be diagnosed in her 40s back in 2018.
According to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, almost 1 million people in the United States are living with the chronic autoimmune condition. According to the Cleveland Clinic, there is no cure for the condition but with treatment the symptoms can be managed.
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“Multiple sclerosis (MS) damages the protective cover around nerves called myelin in your central nervous system. It can cause muscle weakness, vision changes, numbness and memory issues”, they state.
For Blair, she explained that she had one symptom from childhood that was missed by doctors.
Speaking on a recent episode of the UK daytime show, This Morning, Blair said that she had issued with her eyesight from a young age.
She told the hosts: “I’ve had symptoms for as young as I can remember with my eyesight.
“I had optical neuritis and we never really diagnosed it. [They] just said ‘Oh, it’s turned into a lazy eye.”
She has previously added that many of her symptoms were missed for much of her life.
Speaking at the Flow Space Women’s Health Summit, she said: “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.”
The Mayo Clinic has gone into greater detail of what optical neuritis is, saying that is swelling that damages the optic nerve, with common symptoms including pain upon eye movement and temporary vision loss in one eye.
Speaking about the uncomfortableness of the eye issue, Blair added: “It can be painful in the eye, pressure, and the eye nerve gets quite inflamed, so you can accrue damage the longer that stays.
“It can go away, so it can be tricky, I think with doctors, especially when you’re young and quite capable.”
As well as this, Blair has said she suffered from chronic headaches and fever, as well as a drop leg and ticks in her youth.