Teri Garr's cause of death and symptoms that led to her diagnosis

Teri Garr, the actress who died Tuesday at age 79, was known for her comedic roles, but the star had struggled with serious health problems for decades.

Garr's cause of death was complications from multiple sclerosis, her publicist and friend Heidi Schaeffer told NBC News.

She also suffered a brain aneurysm in 2006 that left her in a coma for a week.

Here's what the actor — who made memorable appearances in “Young Frankenstein,” “Tootsie” and “Mr. Mom” – said about her health:

multiple sclerosis

According to the National Library of Medicine, this nervous system disorder affects the brain and spinal cord, causing damage that affects how the brain communicates with the body.

Women are more likely to develop the autoimmune disease, with warning signs usually appearing between the ages of 20 and 40, explains the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

Garr said she had vague symptoms that began around the time she was filming “Tootsie” in the early 1980s – nearly two decades before she was diagnosed.

“I was running, jogging in the park and just started tripping. “It was just like my toe – I started tripping, and then it went away. Then I got a little tingling in my arm,” she told CNN's Larry King in 2002, when she first made her condition public.

“It's very hard to get a diagnosis and it's very hard to find out – it's difficult to find out if you have something like this because things come and go and things are subtle.”

She began walking with a limp and was told she may have an orthopedic problem or a pinched nerve. Garr went to 11 doctors before she was finally diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1999, she told Closer Weekly.

The exact cause is a mystery, but genetic susceptibility, infectious diseases and environmental factors can trigger the disease, according to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

It lists the following symptoms:

• fatigue
• Memory difficulties
• Mood swings
• Mobility problems
• deafness
• pain
• Tingle
• visual impairment

Garr wore a leg brace to treat her limp and received injections of medication to slow the progression of the disease. She had minimal movement in her right hand and her treatment included steroids, which caused weight gain, the Los Angeles Times reported.

There is no cure for multiple sclerosis, but several therapies are approved for treatment.

People with multiple sclerosis may be twice as likely to die early than their healthy peers, according to a study in Neurology.

Complications of multiple sclerosis that can lead to death include respiratory and urinary tract infections and aspiration pneumonia from inhaling body fluids or other objects into the lungs, researchers said.

Garr's family did not disclose the MS complications that led to her death.

Brain aneurysm

In December 2006, Garr suffered a brain aneurysm that nearly killed her.

“I went to sleep to take a nap and my daughter couldn't wake me up. So, thank God, she called 911 and they rushed me to the hospital,” the actor told CNN in 2008.

“They drilled a hole in my head and wrapped a coil around my brain to stop it bleeding,” she added in an interview with the Los Angeles Times that same year.

Garr was in a coma for a week and then underwent rehabilitation for two months. “I had to learn to walk again, talk again, think again,” she said, noting that she had to undergo physical, occupational and voice therapy.

A brain aneurysm is a bulge or “ballooning” at the weak point of an artery wall that, if it grows large, can rupture and cause life-threatening bleeding, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Brain aneurysms, also called cerebral aneurysms, affect about 5% of the population, the American Heart Association noted.

According to the American Stroke Association, high blood pressure, heavy lifting or overexertion, strong emotions like anger, and certain medications like blood thinners can increase the risk of an aneurysm rupture.

Once an aneurysm bleeds, there is a 40% risk of death, it is said.

Aneurysm coiling involves passing thin metal wires to the site of the aneurysm, where they curl into a mesh ball, explains the National Library of Medicine. Blood clots then form around the coil, closing the aneurysm and preventing bleeding.

Garr called all of her health issues a “strange gift.”

“It makes you stop, calm down and focus,” she told Closer Weekly.