Kristen Johnston Reveals ‘Rare Autoimmune Disease’

It seemed like 3rd Rock From The Sun’s Kristen Johnston had kicked all of her demons, but now the actress reveals she has a new health scare to be concerned about. According to a Facebook post Johnston made yesterday, the TV Land actress revealed that she has a rare autoimmune disease.

Johnston has been dealing with fatigue and extreme muscle weakness that made it difficult for the actress to walk, or even pick her head up. Such an illness seemed to puzzle up to seventeen doctors, and took a whopping four months to be diagnosed.

Although Johnston didn’t reveal the name of her rare autoimmune disease, she did explain her time with the illness, and the specificity of what it involves.

In a post on Facebook, the actress shared with her fans what she was holding off on revealing:

“I’ve been really, really sick since early Sept. Full body muscle weakness to the extent that just walking difficult, stairs impossible and I even need a neck brace to hold my head up. Lying down I’m fine, which is great for writing or killing time on social media (thank you all!!), but it’s kind of disastrous when you’re in a sitcom that requires tons of physical comedy.”

She explained to her fans that she doesn’t want anyone to overreact about her disease, and that she also would like privacy and doesn’t want to be diagnosed by anyone on the internet.

“My immune system has decided to go rogue & attack my muscles. The good news: I’m finally on the right treatment, feeling better & back at work! I didn’t mention it because I didn’t want people overreacting (on twitter & FB?? NOO!!). I know many of you have experienced similar issues or know people who have, but please try to refrain from diagnosing me. (I do it too!!)

“The best way you could help me is not to ask me how I am or tell me about the radish diet cure all or the like. ‘My cousin ate only radishes for 6 months & it really worked!’ isn’t really most helpful to me right now.”

Seeking privacy during this time is understandable of Johnston considering how serious some autoimmune diseases can be. As it is, Johnston has been pretty open to the media in recent years. Johnston opened up in her memoir titled Guts in 2012 about her drug addiction.

During an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Johnston opened up about her memoir.

“You can’t tell anybody, ‘I’m so bummed you gave me an Emmy.’ You can’t be sad when you’re being celebrated. So it was a big conflict and there’s no shrink that can understand it. You see it happen to every person, almost. There’s, like, a year when they become super famous that they either succeed and they move through it or they fail and became a drug addict or die or whatever. Or an a–hole! Somebody told me once that fame makes you more of what you already are and I think it’s true.”

These days, you can catch Kristen Johnston on her TV Land show The Exes.

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