Christina Applegate votes after saying she 'screams' from MS pain

Christina Applegate didn't let her struggle with multiple sclerosis (MS) stop her from voting in Tuesday's presidential election.

The 52-year-old actress — who revealed she had been diagnosed with the autoimmune disease in 2021 — was spotted on election day as she headed to a polling place while clutching another woman's arm for support. 

Applegate's civic outing followed her admission on her podcast that the pain from her MS symptoms often leaves her 'screaming' in agony as she lies in bed.

She was dressed casually in a T-shirt for the band The Police, which she covered up with a long, flowing charcoal cardigan.

She stayed comfy in black sweatpants and classic black high-top sneakers, which matched the black mask she wore.

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Applegate had a cane — which she uses to help her walk since being diagnosed with MS — in one hand, while she held the other woman's wrist with her other hand. 

The film and television star — who revealed she had been diagnosed with the autoimmune disease in 2021 — shared on her Messy podcast released earlier that day that she is often wracked by such intense pain that she has trouble getting out of bed.

Christina and her co-host, Sopranos actress Jamie-Lynn Sigler — who has also been diagnosed with MS — were joined on Tuesday's episode by Rory Kandel, a bakery owner suffering from the same condition.

'I lay in bed screaming — like, the sharp pains, the ache, that squeezing,' Christina admitted during the conversation.

It was an unfortunate symptom that Kandel shared, and she described her own pains as feeling like 'knives' stabbing her in her stomach.

When Kandel asked if Christina had a similar experience, she replied wearily: 'Every single day of my life.'

The Anchorman star said she sometimes tries 'to go get my phone or get my remote to turn on the TV' but can't lift the light objects because the shooting pain has 'traveled into [her] hands.'

'I can’t even hold them,' she continued, adding that she 'can’t open bottles now.'

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Later, Christina compared her condition to a high-stakes game of the children's game 'the floor is lava,' though now the pain is far from fanciful when she tries to get out of bed in the morning.

'I put my feet on the ground and they’re hurting, like, extraordinarily bad to the touch,' she said.

Christina joked that when she encounters that burning pain she thinks, 'Yep. Gonna get back in my bed and pee in my diaper because I don’t feel like walking all the way to the damn bathroom.'

However, she quickly clarified: 'I actually don’t lay here and pee in my bed diaper. That’s just a joke. But it’s like it’s so freaking painful and so hard and so awkward.'

The intense symptoms of her MS cause daily pain and discomfort for her, and Christina revealed last year that she will likely never take a professional acting gig again after wrapping up her Netflix dramedy Dead To Me due to her pain and mobility issues from the disease. 

Multiple sclerosis is the most common immune disorder affecting the central nervous system. 

Although the mechanism of the disease is still not fully understood, it occurs when the myelin sheaths around neurons, which help signals quickly pass through the brain and the rest of the body, are either attached or not properly produced.

Suffers develop lesions or plaques in the brain and spinal cord.

During a chat with Dax Shepard on his Armchair Expert podcast from March, Christina revealed that she had developed '30 lesions on [her] brain' since she was diagnosed with MS.

'My biggest one is behind my right eye, so my right eye hurts a lot,' she said, while going on to call her MS diagnosis the 'worst thing' that had ever happened to her.

WHAT IS MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS?

Multiple sclerosis (known as MS) is a condition in which the immune system attacks the body and causes nerve damage to the brain and spinal cord.

It is an incurable, lifelong condition. Symptoms can be mild in some, and in others more extreme causing severe disability.

MS affects 2.3 million people worldwide - including around one million in the US, and 100,000 in the UK.

It is more than twice as common in women as it is in men. A person is usually diagnosed in their 20s and 30s.

The condition is more commonly diagnosed in people of European ancestry. 

The cause isn't clear. There may be genes associated with it, but it is not directly hereditary. Smoking and low vitamin D levels are also linked to MS. 

Symptoms include fatigue, difficulty walking, vision problems, bladder problems, numbness or tingling, muscle stiffness and spasms, problems with balance and co-ordination, and problems with thinking, learning and planning.

The majority of sufferers will have episodes of symptoms which go away and come back, while some have ones which get gradually worse over time.

Symptoms can be managed with medication and therapy.

The condition shortens the average life expectancy by around five to 10 years.