Featured Image Credit: Netflix
Topics: Christina Applegate, Celebrity, US News, Health
Rhianna Benson
In a heartbreaking update, Christina Applegate revealed yesterday she'd been rushed to hospital after contracting an infection that left her screaming in pain.
Speaking on the latest, 5 August instalment of her MeSsy podcast, the much-loved actor - who has also battled multiple sclerosis since 2021 - recalled the harrowing experience, claiming it all started on a recent flight home from Europe.
During the long-haul journey, she began feeling unwell, deciding to go straight to the hospital upon her arrival in the US.
It was from this point that her symptoms became much more extreme, after she awoke the following morning with excruciating pains in the left side of her midriff, leading her to believe her appendix may have burst.
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"I'm like, I wanna be admitted," the 53-year-old Anchorman actress began. "I'm staying here because I want answers.
"I want every test that you can possibly think of or ones that you haven't even thought of, and I want them done."
Applegate went on to tell podcast co-host and fellow MS sufferer Jamie-Lynn Sigler: "So much pain. I'm screaming, and they ordered me an emergency CT at two in the morning."
Hospital staff then diagnosed the movie star with a severe infection in both of her kidneys.
Speaking on the podcast, the mother-of-one added that she has since made the decision to remain in hospital until the infection clears.
"I'm just gonna be here," the Dead To Me actress explained. "Because of this kidney infection, I have to have intravenous antibiotics right now. And that's where we're at."
Applegate went on to tell her listeners she was 'holding in a bag of tears', admitting she 'sometimes fall into the nurse's arms like a freako, just like crying'.
Sadly, waking up screaming isn't a new experience for the star, being that she's endured severe and sporadic pain over the last four years due to her MS battle.
The condition affects both the brain and the body, and occurs when the body's immune system mistakenly attacks the nerve cells in the brain or spinal cord for an unknown reason.
According to the NHS: "This damages and scars the sheath, and potentially the underlying nerves, meaning that messages travelling along the nerves become slowed or disrupted."
MS also comes with a wide range of lifelong potential symptoms, such as numbness/tingling in different parts of the body, feeling off balance or dizzy, and vision problems.
Other common side effects of the neurological disease can also include walking troubles, bladder issues, muscle stiffness/spasms and problems with cognition/thinking/learning.
She previously explained: "I lie in bed screaming. The ache, the squeezing – it's like a vice grip that just won't let go.
"I can't even pick up my phone sometimes. The MS has travelled into my hands, and now I'll go to grab my phone or the remote, and sometimes I can't even hold them. It's just so incredibly painful, awkward, and isolating," she continued.