'I wasn't ready to go public until now': Sopranos star Jamie-Lynn Sigler reveals tragic news that she has been battling multiple sclerosis for 15 YEARS... just days after her wedding

Jamie-Lynn Sigler has revealed she has been battling multiple sclerosis for the past 15 years.

The Sopranos actress, 34, was diagnosed with the degenerative disease when she was just 19-years-old, ahead of the show's fourth season.

Jamie-Lynn, who has a two-year-old son said she wasn't emotionally prepared to reveal her condition to the public until now, just days after her wedding to baseball player Cutter Dykstra, 26, on Saturday in Palm Springs, California.  

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Speaking out: Sopranos star Jamie-Lynn Sigler, pictured above with new husband, Cutter Dykstra, has revealed she has been battling multiple sclerosis for the past 15 years

Happy: The 34-year-old's health revelation comes just days after she walked down the aisle with her baseball star beau in California

She told People magazine in a teary interview at her Hollywood Hills home: 'I wasn't ready until now. You'd think that after all these years, somebody would be settled with something like this, but it's still hard to accept.' 

Jamie-Lynn said she first realized there was a problem when she experienced a tingling sensation and heaviness in her legs, but the diagnosis of MS came as a shock and she automatically thought she would be to confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life.

Multiple sclerosis is a typically unpredictable and disabling disease of the central nervous system.

The disease disrupts the flow of information within the brain itself, as well as between the brain and the rest of the body.

The Sopranos actress portrayed Meadow Soprano throughout the HBO show's six seasons and she said she confided in a few cast members, including her on screen father, the late James Gandolfini, who 'was very aware and protective in general, but especially after I told him. '

Shortly after her diagnosis, she married her first husband, manager Abraxas (A.J.) Discala in 2003 - the pair divorced three years later. 

Jamie-Lynn said she came off the MS medication before and during her pregnancy (pictured) and was in remission until Beau's birth, although she is hopeful the pair will be able to have more children

After divorcing Abraxas Discala in 2005, her condition worsened and she said: 'I was having a lot of weakness in my right side and things that are awful and embarrassing like incontinence

She told People that after their split, her health deteriorated and she became reclusive as a result.

'I was having a lot of weakness in my right side and things that are awful and embarrassing like incontinence.'

The 34-year-old actress has since appeared in stage productions of Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast, but says her symptoms have become worse over the past decade, adding: 'I can't walk for a long period of time without resting.

'I cannot run. No superhero roles for me. Stairs? I can do them but they're not the easiest. When I walk, I have to think about every single step, which is annoying and frustrating.'

Many people with MS say stress can often make the symptoms of the condition worse and it has been a testing few years for Jamie-Lynn. 

The actress was left devastated in November 2014, when her older brother Adam died suddenly from a brain hemorrhage. 

Just a year before her close friend James Gandolfini died in Italy from a heart attack at the age of 51.  

Jamie-Lynn said she told her new husband, Cutter Dykstra, of her conditio a week into dating after they were introduced to each other by actress JoAnna Garcia Swisher and her husband, pro baseball player.

Cutter is the son of former MLB player Lenny 'Nails' Dykstra, 52, who won the World Series with the New York Mets in 1986.

He was signed in mid-December to a minor league contract with the Washington Nationals and was assigned on December 31 to their Triple-A minor league team the Syracuse Chiefs. 

Dykstra, who proposed in 2013, told People: 'I know she was nervous in telling me. But I just wanted to make her not feel so alone... to know that I would always be there.'

Jamie-Lynn told the magazine she has tried a wide range of medication for the condition and she is now on Tecfidera which she takes twice a day.

She said she came off the medication before and during her pregnancy and was in remission until Beau's birth, although she is hopeful the pair will be able to have more children. 

Many people with MS say stress can often make the symptoms of the condition worse and it has been a testing few years for Jamie-Lynn. The actress was left devastated in November 2014, when her older brother Adam (both pictured) died suddenly from a brain hemorrhage

She said her son does not any difference yet in his famous mom and it just 'takes me a few more seconds to get up than other moms' when they are playing. 

On Saturday Beau walked down the aisle holding a sign reading: 'Here comes my Mommy.'

The pair were joined by a congregation of 150 friends and family, with the actress wowing guests in an Oscar de la Renta dress.  

Jamie-Lynn has previously opened up about another health battle she faced in 2000 when she was temporarily paralyzed after contracting Lyme Disease, a bacterial infection transmitted by ticks.

Revealing her feelings of paralysis, she said: 'It was such a life-altering experience.

'I realised it could all be taken away in a moment. It's hard to explain, when you sit there and can't move anything...'

Jamie-Lynn also revealed that in her early days on the Sopranos she was in the grips of an eating disorder.

Speaking about her struggle - and subsequent recovery - in 2002, she said: 'I was wearing basically children's clothes. It was hard to find clothes that would fit.

Staying strong: The mum of one reveals she hasn't felt ready to reveal her health battle until now - and admits to finding it hard to walk up stairs and no longer runs

Secret: The Sopranos actress was diagnosed with the degenerative disease when she was 19 years old, ahead of the show's fourth season

'Every week I would see my reflection of my back and see more bones coming out, more ribs and more hip bones. It was awful.

'I thought that that was my life. I was set. This was the way I was going to have to live my life. And knowing that I was able to overcome it and be healthy and happy again is amazing.' 

She lost so much weight between shooting the pilot and the first season in the summer of 1998 that producers began to audition other actresses for the role because they were concerned she was too weak to take it on.  

But she was determined not to let go of the role and gained the weight within a year - the show ran on TV from 1999 to 2007 and won numerous awards during its run, including the prestigious Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series twice.  

Other famous people with the condition include former talk show host Montel Williams, Jack Osbourne and country singer Clay Walker.

MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS: AN UNPREDICTABLE AND DISABLING DISEASE 

Multiple sclerosis is a disabling disease, where the body's immune system attacks the central nervous system - the spinal cord, brain and optic nerves

Multiple sclerosis is a typically unpredictable and disabling disease of the central nervous system.

The disease disrupts the flow of information within the brain itself, as well as between the brain and the rest of the body.

MS is where a patient's own immune system directs an abnormal response at the central nervous system - made up of the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves.

Scientists still do not know the exact antigen - or target - that the immune cells are sensitised to attack.

Within the central nervous system, the immune cells attack myelin - the fatty substance that surrounds and insulates nerve fibers, as well as the nerve fibers themselves.

The damaged myelin forms scar tissue - sclerosis, which gives the disease its name.

When any part of the myelin sheath or nerve fiber is damaged or destryoed, nerve impulses travelling to and from the brain and spinal cord are distorted or interrupted.

As a result, sufferers of MS experience a wide range of symptoms that vary from patient to patient.

Scientists believe the disease is triggered by as-yet-unidentified environmental factors, in a person who is already genetically predisposed to the disease.

There are four different forms of MS.

Relapsing-remitting MS is the most common type and is characterized by clearly defined attacks of worsening neurological function.

These attacks - also called relapses - are followed by complete or partial recovery (remissions), during which symptoms improve partially or completely, and there is no apparent progression of the disease.

Other forms of MS are secondary-progressive MS, primary-progressive MS and progressive-relapsing MS.

Patients diagnosed with MS typically experience four stages of the disease, which range from mild, moderate to severe.

Common symptoms of MS include:

• Fatigue 
• Numbness or tingling of the face, body, arms and legs 
• Weakness 
• Dizziness and vertigo 
• Sexual problems 
• Pain 
• Emotional changes 
• Difficulty walking 
• Spasticity, or feelings of stiffness and muscle spasms 
• Problems with vision 
• Bladder and bowel problems 
• Cognitive changes 
• Depression 

There is no cure for MS.

Treating the disease involves careful management of individual patients' condition.

Source: National MS Society