Here’s a little story about how I started working out and ended up admitted into the hospital for the first time in my life.
Let me start this by saying I am in my 20’s. I have never been admitted to stay overnight in a hospital. I’m fairly healthy and newly active in the gym. I say all this to say; you truly never know when your body will play you.
I decided to start a Twitter thread on my experience to make it easy to keep my friends and family updated. When I initially noticed the swelling in my arm I just assumed I maybe overdid it on arm day the day before and needed to rest.
I wanted to get some feedback before heading to an Urgent Care center for just a sore muscle. Imagine having to pay $200 just for the doctor to tell you to ice and elevate? America really needs better healthcare options but I’ll save that for another article.
I’m writing this — in addition to the thread above to raise awareness about Rhabdomyolysis. According to the CDC, Rhabdomyolysis (often called rhabdo) is a serious medical condition that can be fatal or result in permanent disability.
Rhabdo occurs when damaged muscle tissue releases its proteins and electrolytes into the blood. These substances can damage the heart and kidneys and cause permanent disability or even death.
What made me concerned?
I worked out Monday evening and did my normal arm workouts. You can watch that video here. I woke up Tuesday feeling muscle soreness, but nothing more than normal for a gym newbie.
Yesterday evening as I was driving home from the happiest place on Earth, Target, I noticed my right arm looked a little off. I didn’t really notice how swollen it was until I parked and compared my left arm to my right arm. For a moment my dumb behind just thought I was getting gains overnight. Yeah, I know.
I decided to go to the gym and use the massage chair. I figured if my muscles were swollen and sore maybe the massage would help. I was wrong. If anything the deep massage just made me realize how tender my arms actually were. I finally make it home around 7:00 and decide to do what any responsible millennial would do — I googled my symptoms.
Google led me to believe I either would just need ice and elevation, I had Rhabdomyolysis, or my arm was going to fall off in my sleep. Someone on Twitter recommended that I call a nurses hotline before going all the way to the ER for nothing. Smart idea and thank you to you kind internet stranger.
Again, I hit up my bestie Google and find a free nurses hotline at a hospital local to me. After speaking to the nurse she recommended I go to the ER or Urgent Care within the next four hours. She mentioned if it wasn’t for the fact my arm was increasingly getting bigger and bigger, she would have recommended me just take a rest day from the gym and elevate my arm.
But from the time I noticed my arm looked odd to the time I made that call my arm had doubled in size. What made it even more weird is that it only was swollen in one area of my arm. Plus it was only the one arm when I worked out both arms the night before.
After considering a possible allergy or even a bug bite I decide to find a Urgent Care to go to. I was hesitant, but spoiler alert — I’m glad I went. My friend Jacqueline comes to the rescue as the virgo queen she is and picks me up. We make it to the hospital and wait about an hour before being seen. I finally get a room in the ER at 9:00 pm.
At this point I have received tons of responses to my thread about what possibly could be going on. I mentioned to the doctor that I was concerned about Rhabdomyolysis, but she was “very confident” that I wasn’t experiencing that.
She said Rhabdomyolysis presents very differently than my symptoms. The fact that I wasn’t in pain (just in discomfort) and my pee wasn’t dark was enough for her to rule that out.
At the ER they had me do a X-Ray just to make sure I didn’t fracture or break anything. I did an ultrasound to make sure there were no blood clots. Both tests came back negative.
Around 11:00 I had to give blood for CPK and BNP testing. I had to stuck multiple times because I have “rolling veins” and I have a huge fear of giving blood and getting shots so I was not happy to say the least.
After the blood tests come back, I was officially diagnosed with Rhabdo. It should be noted that this can happen to anyone and even after activities you have done in the past without a problem. I guess you can say God has a sense of humor.
Since I was on an IV to start flushing my body with fluids I had to take the ambulance over from the ER to the hospital. The machine that tests creatine kinase levels at the ER only goes to 5,000 and I maxed out. Once I arrived at the hospital they tested me again and confirmed my CK levels were well over 8,000.
The higher the CK levels, the greater will be the renal damage and associated complications. The goal per my doctor is to have the CK levels at 3,500- 5,000.
I will need to be poked again to give blood to test my CK levels at 4:00 am every morning that I’m admitted in the hospital. The hope is that by tomorrow morning my numbers are at 5,000 and I can go home. All my other testing came back good so they were able to catch it before it affected my kidneys or anything else.
I will have to take a month off of lifting weights completely. Once I’m ready to get back in the gym I will need to see my primary care physician and give blood yet again to confirm my CK levels are back to normal. Then I can slowly get back into lifting weights.
This has been a super stressful experience but I’m grateful I made it to the hospital before any permanent damage was caused. I will be fine and now I’ve learned about something new. Toxic optimism is my current toxic trait.
Below I’ll try to answer a few questions I received online the best I can in case you were wondering the same. If you have any other questions feel free to comment them below. Share this article with your friends, family, and across social media to spread the word.
FAQ
- Did protein powder cause this? I asked the doctor and they confirmed that protein powder did not cause this. It should be noted I do not even take protein powder but this question was asked a lot.
- Did pre-workout cause this? The doctor confirmed my pre-workout did not cause this. I take vegan pre-workout for a boost of energy before each of my workouts.
- Did creatine powder cause this? I don’t take creatine powder so it did not cause this. However, the doctor did say they don’t recommend taking creatine supplements. Especially with me now experiencing Rhabdo. I personally take vegan BCAA powder for my muscle recovery and hydration.
- Are you able to workout ever again? Yes, I will be able to head back to the gym after at least 30 days of resting and getting cleared from my doctor.
- Did you take anything for the pain? I was given Morphine for the pain earlier this afternoon. I wasn’t in pain when I got to the ER but after being poked so many times with needles my arm and hand are super sore. Plus the swelling in the right arm is very uncomfortable.
- Is this a common diagnosis? No. Having Rhabdo is rare. According to my BFF Google there are fewer than 200,000 US cases per year.
- Is there anything I can do to help? Sadly all I can do is rest and hydrate so I won’t be able to make new content for awhile. You can help me out by sharing my content and tagging your besties across my platforms to help me grow while I get better.
Read my update after being released from the hospital.
Wow I am so sorry you had to go through this! But thank you so much for raising awareness. Have you ever been tested for sickle cell? People with sickle cell trait are at higher risk for rhabdomyolysis
I got it too!!
I was sore/in pain all over. I couldn’t even sit or lay down in the bed without being in pain
I did one work out and the next morning it happened. I didn’t want to do anything but my family convinced me of going to the ER. I was so uncomfortable and had so much pain by getting out of bed, dressing, walking to the taxi, getting in and out, walking to the entrance, sitting and standing and walking everywhere.
I also had to be poked many times for blood
I did not have swelling
It was not fun