American actor Selma Blair has revealed that she has multiple sclerosis. The 46-year-old Jewish star said that though she had only been officially diagnosed in August, she had experienced symptoms for years.

In an Instagram post, she wrote: “I am disabled. I fall sometimes. I drop things. My memory is foggy. And my left side is asking for directions from a broken GPS,” she wrote. “But we are doing it. And I laugh and I don’t know exactly what I will do precisely but I will do my best.

“I am in the thick of it but I hope to give some hope to others. And even to myself. You can’t get help unless you ask. It can be overwhelming in the beginning. You want to sleep. You always want to sleep. So I don’t have answers. You see, I want to sleep. But I am a forthcoming person and I want my life to be full somehow.”

MS is a lifelong condition which is more prevalent in women than men and is usually diagnosed in people in their 20s and 30s. It can cause various symptoms, including problems with vision, arm or leg movement and can affect the brain or spinal cord.

Born into a Jewish family in Michigan, Blair attended Hillel Day School, a Jewish day school in Farmington Hills. She has appeared in films including Cruel Intentions (1999), Legally Blonde (2001) and The Sweetest Thing (2002). She will appear in the Netflix series Another Life later this year.

She has said that she was inspired to speak candidly about her condition because of costume designer Allisa Swanson.

“[S]he carefully gets my legs in my pants, pulls my tops over my head, buttons my coats and offers her shoulder to steady myself. I have #multiplesclerosis,” she wrote.

Blair also spoke of the support she had received from her producers:

“By the grace of the lord, and will power and the understanding producers at Netflix , I have a job. A wonderful job.”