Selma Blair on how doctors dismissed her early pain, illness

Actor and advocate Selma Blair opens up to “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker about doctors dismissing her illness at a young age and details how she opted to ease her pain.
» Subscribe to NBC News: nbcnews.to/SubscribeToNBC
» Watch more NBC video: bit.ly/MoreNBCNews
NBC News Digital is a collection of innovative and powerful news brands that deliver compelling, diverse and engaging news stories. NBC News Digital features NBCNews.com, MSNBC.com, TODAY.com, Nightly News, Meet the Press, Dateline, and the existing apps and digital extensions of these respective properties. We deliver the best in breaking news, live video coverage, original journalism and segments from your favorite NBC News Shows.
Connect with NBC News Online!
NBC News App: smart.link/5d0cd9df61b80
Breaking News Alerts: link.nbcnews.com/join/5cj/bre...
Visit NBCNews.Com: nbcnews.to/ReadNBC
Find NBC News on Facebook: nbcnews.to/LikeNBC
Follow NBC News on Twitter: nbcnews.to/FollowNBC
Get more of NBC News delivered to your inbox: nbcnews.com/newsletters
#SelmaBlair #Health #Doctors

[@Coco-nh1mn]

Her speech is so much better!!! Than it was a few years back!!🙏🏼

[@wizardkumaanimations9984]

Watching this after watching the abc news video is so... Optimistic It just makes me feel so happy for her

[@ciaralovebug360]

I’m so happy to see her better it was heartbreaking to see her in such pain and unable to speak the last few years

[@kristinstrickland1038]

Yup! If people can't see your pain, they don't believe it. I'm glad she is talking about it - God bless her in her struggle.

[@kristineanderson4983]

U.S. Pain Foundation calls it "Invisible Diseases." You can join/write and get their publications.

[@user-wj4yk8ly1d]

Pein Is felt , not seen

[@johnhouse8736]

and if they do see your pain, they tell you to just go to a doctor. Which means they are tired of hearing about your pains...

[@user-wj4yk8ly1d]

@@johnhouse8736 Mylene Farmer says "what a loneliness to not be aware of what eyes cannot see" in Dessine Moi UN moutton .

[@user-wj4yk8ly1d]

@@johnhouse8736 but one may wish or not anything , things Are not obliged to be the way others see it , if my AIM Is reasonable , then the reluctance of others must fade , if not , it s a consoiracy , Thus law inforcement will Step Inn at some Point and we LL go to jail , houppefully , all .

[@bkzone8]

I have MS that took about thirty years to diagnose. When my doctor told me that I had optic neuritis, and that it could be the first symptom of MS, my mother and I went online and researched.. we knew immediately that I would be diagnosed with MS sooner or later. I picked the first symptom I had, just the feeling of a string around my toe, and went back to the doctor and got my diagnosis. Everyone has their own mountain to climb, and mine is multiple sclerosis. Thank you, Selma Blair, for speaking out!

[@kristineanderson4983]

I completely understand! I am 71 and still deal with non-belivers. When I was 30, one doctor told me I was too pretty to be sick. It's a nightmare every single day.

[@emspiredliving7422]

Same!😢

[@coleengoodell7523]

Medical gaslighting is very real and very common especially as a female. This is just one story, their must be millions just like hers. I've been through the ringer myself and now I always try to find a female physician or refuse to even try to get medical issues addressed. You get worn down and start thinking, perhaps I don't have value and am not worth medical tests and treatment. Thankfully not in excruciating pain anymore. So there's that.

[@rhyothemisprinceps1617]

Unfortunately, women doctors are not immune to stereotyping patients. My daughter (age 19 at the time) almost died because during one night of her hospital stay, the pediatrician on call (a woman) dismissed my daughter's episode of neuroleptic malignant syndrome as a 'panic attack' and advised us to allow the Dr to give our daughter another dose of Reglan to 'make her tummy feel better'. My husband and I are not doctors, but we both have advanced degrees and knew our daughter was having an adverse drug reaction. The next morning the resident assigned to her case told us it was NMS. I suspect a second dose of Reglan would have killed my daughter.

[@rhyothemisprinceps1617]

What I think is needed is for more people with chronic health problems and disabilities to become healthcare professionals. This is difficult at present since physician training is so physically grueling - it is biased in favor of people who are particularly robust. Perplexingly, this system is not good for either patients or young doctors as it compromises the health of both. Doctors have a higher risk of developing Parkinson's, for example, and I can't help but wonder if the combination of sleep deprivation and stress during medical school and residency training factors into this. Another issue is the cost of medical education. Suggestion: fully fund the entire college education of doctors and nurses, provided they work for a couple of years in community hospitals or the VA after. That way there will be more diversity in terms of the economic background of health care providers and perhaps it will also reduce the proportion of people who are doctors just because that's what their mom or dad wanted (or pressured) them to become.

[@sarahjane4908]

Earlier this year I developed numbness and tingling on one side of the body, then a short time later had sudden blurring of my vision. The neurologist immediately ordered an MRI to rule out MS (thankfully it wasn’t that). I’m so glad I received better care than this woman. 😔

[@user-wj4yk8ly1d]

Don t let other people or doctors to rulle upon your life Because disease Can sometimes be a mere pretexte to get read of somebody

[@gr2763]

My daughter was just treated the same by a neurologist saying she must see a psychiatrist. So heartbreaking and demoralising and creating self-doubt with her pain and symptoms once again.

[@rikkiechambers4959]

This is so relatable .. I can remember odd symptoms as young as 9 but no one ever heard me .. now almost 57 and dx with RA on top of fibro and the Drs still do not hear me 😞

[@7654wolfie]

😢❤

[@christinevandyk5026]

I can relate. She explains this so beautifully.

[@MeghanLundstrom-pf1kh]

Love your book and your courageous honesty !!! Keep fighting you rockstar!!!!!

[@escape2064]

She is so inspirational to me

[@larryc1964]

Great actress! Love her movies.

[@mrs.nyc79]

LORD, please hear us! My illness started as a adult but the pain is unbearable. Ive had Dr. Tell me "to exercise ""when I almost hemorrhage, due to Endometriosis Cyst and needed Surgery, I never been the same Since. ONLY worse. Now I had C 19 at least 6x . N Long Covid. N Chronic Migraine Attacks 💯 plus many other disabling B$ that if I wasn't as strong and God's Favor, Im even alive 🙏

[@user-wj4yk8ly1d]

Don t undergo surgery , remember Bob Marley thinks Doktor should not touch patients

[@Whoyouwishyouwere]

I'm glad Selma is doing so much better. I had crush on her when I was 12-13, it's great to see her back to form.

[@oscarp4328]

Can we get Selma back on the Silver Screen?!? Gorge!

[@emmab4155]

Selma Blair’s looks good & rather it’s good to see her. Rooting for her & others dealing w/MS❤

[@robertmarley8852]

I loved her in cruel intentions

[@gingervsginger7305]

Great. Love to see this Selma

[@therealdjap]

She is amazing

[@user-wj4yk8ly1d]

Rebecca Black in. TGIF by Katy Perry

[@Flyingtaco82]

Amazing woman!!!!! ❤

[@user-wj4yk8ly1d]

Daien Feinstein 🙂👋👏🇺🇲

[@mychinapig]

That would be good but ms comes and goes with symptoms and fatigue. It's hard to be dependable and keep a work schedule, remember she is better but still has MS

[@brendaechols5929]

Wow! She looks great! Wonderful!

[@ThankfulAndGrateful]

Powerful

[@cactustree505]

gender bias is real and a very serious issue in medicine

[@coleengoodell7523]

Yep

[@itsjeninMass]

This happens to women ALL THE TIME. If you, as a woman, go to the doctor for pain and fatigue, the first this you will hear are what Selma mentioned, they were hysterical, it they'll tell you that you are fat and/ or depressed. It IS a gender bias, and it's rampant, even in the 21st century! It's disgusting. It took me ten years to get a diagnosis (fibromyalgia,) and even then I had to travel to a town three hours away!

[@TacShooter]

Beautiful woman, inside and out. She exchanged comments with me as equals. She seems very humble, honest, and transparent.

[@dougler500]

This woman has my full support

[@logancallahan6087]

Her voice has improved. I’m so glad cause I love her, especially in Hellboy.

[@khon6339]

it's always better to get a 2nd opinion from another dr. or maybe more

[@Daysfreak57332]

same Selma, same. xo

[@sammysworld5485]

When a Dr tells you it’s all in your head… run as fast as you can out of that office. Only an incompetent fool will say something so spineless w/o properly investigating in one’s health. I have my own medical trauma experience. This is why I only seek a functional medicine Dr.

[@mychinapig]

I have been labled drug seeking and down right crazy. I see a mental health counseling, meds, evaluations. No one there lables me as crazy. But none phyic professionals do.

[@imanilukellalovehopefaith1355]

❤️❤️❤️

[@mychinapig]

I have been reading the comments. I love listening to SB and watching her progress. But many of use just need to be stong and keep fight for a DX and meds to help

[@schroederra1]

Brave to let everyone see how it affects her speech.

[@baronghede2365]

To anyone who finds my comment that is suffering from multiple sclerosis: speak to a chiropractor, try Herb's like turmeric, ginger and Asian ginsing and try the Mediterranean diet, Blessed Be.

[@user-qu1pp8kc2w]

I want her back on Anger Management. She was my favorite female character besides Lacy. I love her with long black hair too. She looks good.

[@carmenpastor1420]

Yo inicie con esclerosis multiple en febrero de 2018 y ella creo en agosto de ese mismo año y me identifico mucho con ella pues al igual yo tengo un niño que depende solo de mi, y aveces no poderse levantar por el dolor que se produce, no solo corporal sino emocionalmente lo bota a uno, aveces uno no ñogra conciliar el sueño por noches enteras que la voz se vaya de la nada o se empiece uno a ahogar sin un factor y otras muchas mas cosas que soporta uno dia dia me hacen sentir que ella es mi reflejo en otro lugar de como convivir con la EM batallando un dia a la vez

[@SusanKay-]

Bring someone with you when you visit the doctor, preferably a man.

[@coleengoodell7523]

My aunt once told me that even if I had to pick up a homeless person from the side of the road, to never go to an emergency room alone. lol. Dramatic and funny, but unfortunately the reality.

[@josephtravers6721]

And those of us with Pernicious Anaemia have doctors who are SURE we have MS (which we don't).

[@boogitybear2283]

The show Anger Management was great when Selma Blair was on the show. Just like Charlie Sheen not on Two and a Half Men, well it was the same outcome when she wasn’t on Charlie Sheen’s show anymore.

[@MultiPleaser]

Typical medical people. As a child with an immuno defficiency I figured out that your white blood cells don't work below 98.6, and it took another 20 years before the AMA figured it out, and after that even doctor Carfagno on the Weather Channel denied it and made a video trying to prove it's not true. My own mother would deny it, a nurse of 45 years. When I finally diagnosed myself with celiac disease, she denied it for years, then finally accepted it, but took her many years to even understand it. Now, trying to convince everyone in my family that they also have it is impossible. It's hard watching them suffer horribly when I cured myself a decade ago. And my Dad asically died of it on purpose, like a slow, ten-year suicide. And now that RFK Jr says 30% of us have it, but don't suffer from it thanks to our gut bacteria, makes me hate the medical community all the more. All shills for big pharma.

[@MrsScott-bx8sb]

If someone like a gorgeous, talented, and wealthy celebrity gets medically gaslit and told she's crazy, then what hope do those of us further down the social totem pole have?

[@kendalltaylor2644]

She sounds better

[@SajjadKhan-nt2nl]

why is this has been never was actor even being interviewed? at this rate i got a stain that would be more interesting than this thing

[@dougler500]

Cry more

[@edwardkrall2454]

Moral of the story...what the fick do foctors know???

[@mizzhllywd]

She must be in remission here.

[@ryp6627]

Racist

[@Joschtony]

It is the need of the literal health that by impartial rights are from the Creator, such is challenged by muscular dystrophy, - that is the reason of the glad to comment. Had you been in please to continue, thankfully, your time & consideration. The benevolence of impartial goodness sake, is literally for each individual of humanity to receive the needed help 🙏. In the Name of the Lord God, YHVH, Name thereof, the Name of the Holy Spirit of truth, Who Jesus of Nazareth called the Spirit of truth, the Helper, and the Name of Jesus of Nazareth, the inspired testimony for challenged of the human being person, God gifted to be in the image & likeness of God. Thank God for the blessings, of today of days, the Creator being Eternal God.

[@Joschtony]

BTW, the impartial benevolence of the Creator, Granted my inherent rights, and this is a public literal *online* social comment. This, of course, by ubiquitous knowledge, only a public needed, as common knowledge, this, of course is not a personal invitation, only for the needed security in the life God Granted me, and the needed security God Granted you. God gives blessings, 📜🏕️🕊️

[@Joschtony]

In literal reality the Creator Granted the impartial rights to me, and those rights in the Name of Jesus of Nazareth are inherent & inalienable from me. God being Eternal is the Creator being Eternal God, the Holy Spirit of being the Spirit of truth has been called the Helper by Jesus of Nazareth, in the Name of Jesus of Nazareth, this, of course, obviously Under God, not an invitation to Selma Blair or a man or a woman, Under God, thank God, so help me God, be the gift of grace from God only God merits being the Creator one Eternal God. God has the blessings 🙏, for challenges in real life, during the lifelong sojourn. Be safe and keep treated in your personal life, Selma Blair. Under God, in the literal freedom only the Creator gives in the impartially of God's Granted confidence God keeps my personal life, and I decide my personal life decisions. Simply true, no other human being person being an individual has that Creator Granted right over another human being person individual. Thank God 📜🙏🏕️🕊️.

[@ifishforfoodnottrophys7483]

Is this the chick that came out in the exorcist ?

[@kristineanderson4983]

What?

[@turquoisenoise1131]

No, that was Linda Blair.

[@thomasfaucette1660]

luv u selma blair God bless you God loves you