The Power of Support
- Prayers are pouring in for Christina Applegate, 53, as she was recently hospitalized with a kidney infection amid her ongoing battle with multiple sclerosis (MS).
- According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease (NIDDK), a kidney infection is a form of urinary tract infection (UTI) that typically starts in the bladder and can spread to one or both kidneys. Though uncommon, if left untreated, it may result in serious health issues. Prompt medical care can help avoid most complications.
- There is no cure for MS, a disease of the central nervous system in which the immune system eats away at the protective covering of the body’s nerves, but some people treat the disease using chemotherapy, medications, or steroid drugs.
- While working through grief and vulnerable tackling of the emotions that accompany it, some find tools like therapy to be helpful. Support groups can also be a benefit for those who are feeling isolated in their feelings of grief. Faith can also be a powerful coping mechanism for some.
Speaking from the hospital on the most recent “MeSsy” podcast episode titled “Live From The Hospital,” which she co-hosts with fellow actress and Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Applegate, the 53-year-old mom of one revealed “things are messy … but I’m going to be ok.”
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Applegate, who was admitted on a Saturday, recounted urging the hospital staffers to admit her, saying, “I’m staying here because I want answers. I want every test that you can possibly think of or ones you haven’t even thought of and I want them done.”
She continued, “Okay, so the next day, I start getting a pain that I’ve never felt before on my right side in my back. Well, first of all, it’s on the right side in the front. So, of course, my brain’s like, oh, I have appendicitis. My appendix is bursting. … It also, it was radiating in the back. So, I hate this word, but the whole flank, from my back to my front is like in so much pain.
“I’m like screaming and they ordered me an emergency CT at two o’clock in the morning. I went in and got a CT and I had kidney infections and so I’m here because of this kidney infection and I have to have intravenous antibiotics right now and that’s where we’re at.”
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Noting how the pain she experienced due to the kidney infections was something completely different than the extreme stomach pain she’s previously had which led her to the hospital, she said, “So now they’re saying it could be from, here you guys go … makes me even more sexy, a UTI. Which is so weird, like what am I, am I back wiping? Like seriously, I’m 53.
“They actually asked me, this was a long time ago when I got a UTI here. They’re like, are you wiping correct? I said, ‘Don’t even say correctly.’ Yes, I love to take my own shit and wipe it into my vagina holes. Freaking morons. So no, and I have the cleanest vagina … I’m a clean girl down yonder.”
She said an infection travelled to her right kidney and ultimate into her left kidney.
So we had to tape an episode and I was in the hospital. So who knows what I said hahaha. pic.twitter.com/piz38rtRdQ
— christina applegate (@1capplegate) August 5, 2025
Referring to how she’s handling her health issues mentally, Applegate aded, “I’m holding in a bag o’ tears right now. I sometimes fall into the nurse’s arms like a freako, just like crying.”
In a statement to PEOPLE, from Applegate’s representative on August 5, Applegate was home from the hospital as of Tuesday afternoon.
“As far as my ongoing stomach thing, it’s a work in progress. I was there 7 days,” Applegate reportedly said.
Fans offered support by commenting on the Applegate’s posts on X, with one writing, “I hope you’re feeling better Christina. Sending a lot of love and affection that I feel for you.”
Another fan commented, “One strong beotch. Right here. I wish I had half your strength.”
While a third said, “Praying you feel better soon!”
According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease (NIDDK), a kidney infection is a form of urinary tract infection (UTI) that typically starts in the bladder and can spread to one or both kidneys. Though uncommon, if left untreated, it may result in serious health issues. Prompt medical care can help avoid most complications.
The NIDDK explains, “Symptoms of a kidney infection may include fever; pain in your back, side, or groin; and painful urination.
“A kidney infection is most often caused by bacteria that infect your bladder and move into one or both of your kidneys.”
As for treatment, the NIDDK says doctors often prescribe antibiotics to treat kidney infections. The institute also advises that it’s important to take the full course of medication, even if symptoms improve before it’s finished. Making simple adjustments to your daily routine can also help reduce the risk of future infections.
Applegate’s Multiple Sclerosis Journey
Christina Applegate has been managing life with multiple sclerosis since her diagnosis in August 2021. This came more than ten years after her battle with breast cancer in 2008.
“With the disease of MS, it’s never a good day,” Applegate once said on Instagram. “Having MS f—ing sucks…You just have little s— days,” she said.
She has opened up about how the condition affects her ability to perform routine tasks, such as showering, climbing stairs, and carrying objects.
Christina Applegate started noticing signs of something being wrong well before receiving a diagnosis. She recalled feeling unsteady during a dance scene in the first season of her dark comedy “Dead to Me.” Not long after, she also realized her tennis skills were beginning to decline.
“I wish I had paid attention,” she previously told The New York Times. “But who was I to know?”
It took several years of worsening tingling and numbness in her extremities before her diagnosis arrived while on set. This life-altering realization wouldn’t stop Applegate from finishing her portrayal of Jen Harding, but she did need a break. Production of the final season ceased for about five months as she began treatment.
“There was the sense of, ‘Well, let’s get her some medicine so she can get better,’” Applegate said. “And there is no better. But it was good for me. I needed to process my loss of my life, my loss of that part of me. So I needed that time.”
Applegate admits she’ll never fully “accept” her condition, but she did learn how to work with it.
On an early episode of “MeSsy” podcast episode, Applegate revealed she has since lost the 40 pounds she gained, naturally, without any anti-obesity drugs. She said, someone jokingly, that she lost that weight by dealing with stomach issues associated with the medicine she takes amid her MS battle.
Understanding Multiple Sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis causes the immune system to attack cells that form the protective sheath that covers nerve fibers in the spinal cord. The disruption leads to communication problems between the brain and the rest of the body.
Once the protective barrier is damaged, the spinal cord struggles to send messages to the arms, legs, and other parts of the body to function normally.
The National Multiple Sclerosis Society outlines the different types of multiple sclerosis:
- Clinically isolated syndrome (CIS): This is when an individual experiences a single neurological episode lasting 24 hours or less. CIS is what MS is diagnosed as until there is a second episode.
- Relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS): The most common MS among the million people battling the disease in the US, RRMS is marked by sudden flare-ups, new symptoms, or worsening of symptoms and cognitive function. The condition will then go into remission for some time before reemerging with no known warning signs.
- Primary progressive MS (PPMS): These individuals have no flare-ups or remission, just a steady decline with progressively worse symptoms and an increasing loss of cognitive and body functions.
- Secondary progressive MS (SPMS): This is an almost transitional form of MS that progresses from RRMS to PPMS.
In addition to balance issues, numbness, and tingling in the limbs, other common MS symptoms include vision and bladder control problems. Mood changes and mental and physical fatigue are other symptoms people living with MS may experience according to the National Institute of Health.
Treating Multiple Sclerosis
There is no cure for MS, but MS warriors battling the disease do have methods to manage their symptoms.
Common tools MS patients use to improve their quality of life include wheelchairs, canes, leg braces and some medical treatments called disease-modifying therapies (DMTs).
A study in American Family Physician found DMTs “has been shown to slow disease progression and disability; options include injectable agents, infusions, and oral medications targeting different sites in the inflammatory pathway.”
While chemotherapy is widely known as a cancer treatment that uses drugs to kill cancer cells, it is also effective at slowing down or stopping disease activity in MS. Actress Selma Blair previously underwent chemotherapy as part of her treatment for MS.
Questions for Your Doctor
If you are diagnosed with MS or may be concerned you have the chronic disease due to symptoms you’re experiencing, consider asking your doctor the following questions.
- Although there’s no cure for MS, which treatment option to manage my symptoms do you recommend for me?
- Are there any potential side effects of MS treatment?
- What if the treatment to manage symptoms doesn’t work?
- Will exercise or therapy help my symptoms?
- Are there any MS support groups you recommend to help me cope?
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Finding Support Through a Health Battle
Feeling support from a friends, loved ones, or coworkers can help you express your feelings and maintain a positive attitude during a your own, or a loved one’s health battle or the aftermath of losing someone.
Licensed clinical psychologist Dr. Marianna Strongin previously wrote for SurvivorNet, that it’s “important that you surround yourself with individuals who care and support you throughout your treatment,” which she said can be an “arduous chapter.”
That being said, it’s very important to know your limits on what you can handle during treatment.
“Going through treatment is a very vulnerable and emotionally exhausting experience,” she wrote. “Noticing what you have strength for and what is feeling like too much extremely important to pay attention to as you navigate treatment.”
It is important cancer warriors in the midst of their fight to have a strong support system. So how can you support a loved on in your life who is fighting cancer? SurvivorNet suggests multiple ways you can do so.
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Dr. Shelly Tworoger, a researcher at Moffitt Cancer Center told SurvivorNet that “there’s a number of common things cancer patients can experience, such as anxiety, depression, financial toxicity, social isolation and sometimes even PTSD.” So helping to ease those feelings is a great way to support your loved one.
You can help complete household chores or running errands during the day, which your loved one may not have the time or energy to do. Or, you can simply lend an ear so patients can talk through their feelings, which can help them cope with what they are experiencing during this difficult time.
Meanwhile, there are some practical tips to help you interact with your loved one in a meaningful way. Our experts suggest to avoid asking how you can help. Instead, be proactive and offer tangible things you can do for them to make their lives easier. That could include bringing them food, cooking them dinner or playing a board game with them, anything that will bring them joy.
It’s important to understand that a support system can be made up of loved ones like family and friends. It can also be comprised of strangers who have come together because of a shared cancer experience. Mental health professionals can also be critical parts of a support system.
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“Some people don’t need to go outside of their family and friend’s circle. They feel like they have enough support there,” psychiatrist Dr. Lori Plutchik told SurvivorNet.
“But for people who feel like they need a little bit more, it’s important to reach out to a mental health professional,” Dr. Plutchik added.
Dr. Plutchik also stressed it is important for people supporting cancer warriors to understand their emotions can vary day-to-day.
“People can have a range of emotions, they can include fear, anger, and these emotions tend to be fluid. They can recede and return based on where someone is in the process,” Dr. Plutchik said.
Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff
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