Christina Applegate Hospitalized for Double Kidney Infection: 'So Much Pain'

The Married... with Children alum revealed on Tuesday's episode of her MeSsy podcast -- which she co-hosts with Jamie-Lynn Sigler -- that she was hospitalized with a kidney infection that had spread to both kidneys, leaving her in excruciating pain.

"So much pain. I'm screaming," the 53-year-old actress shared from her hospital bed in L.A., where she recorded the episode while still receiving treatment. "Of course, my brain's like, 'Oh, my appendix is bursting.'"

In a statement to PEOPLE via her rep, Applegate confirmed, "I'm home and have been treated for the kidney infection. As far as my ongoing stomach thing, it's a work in progress. I was there 7 days."

Applegate said the pain began while she was visiting family in Europe, and intensified during her flight home. Rather than wait, she went straight to the hospital.

"I'm like, I wanna be admitted," she said. "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."

By the next morning, the pain had escalated.

"The pain was radiating from the back to my front. So much pain. I'm screaming, and they ordered me an emergency CT at 2 in the morning," she said. The scan revealed a kidney infection -- and it had already spread to her other kidney.

"Because of this kidney infection, I have to have intravenous antibiotics right now. And that's where we're at," she added.

While doctors initially suspected a urinary tract infection, Applegate was shocked when they questioned her hygiene practices.

"Like, what am I back-wiping? Like, seriously, I'm 53," she said, laughing through the pain. "I have the cleanest vagina … I'm a clean girl down yonder."

Despite trying to keep things light, Applegate admitted the experience has taken a toll.

"I'm holding in a bag o' tears right now," she confessed. "I sometimes fall into the nurse's arms like a freako, just like crying."

The Dead to Me star has been candid about her ongoing health battles, including her multiple sclerosis diagnosis. In a new interview on SiriusXM’s Let's Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa, Applegate shared that her daughter, Sadie, has served as her motivation throughout her health challenges. "I get up because of her," she said. "She's the reason I'm still here and trying."

At the same time, that brutal honesty of teenagers can sometimes prove hard to hear, which was definitely the case when Sadie said something that Applegate says led to "a big thing the other day." between them.

"Sorry, Sadie, but it has to be said," Christina said, before dropping the bombshell: "She said, 'I missed who you were before you got sick.'"

"That is just like a knife to the heart because I miss who I was before I got sick too. Very much," Applegate continued. "Every day of my life is at such a loss."

As she got emotional recalling the conversation, Applegate added, "See, now I'm gonna cry. See, this is my problem. I'm either like, extremely traumatic and crying, or I'm cracking myself up. So I'm never in between."