Rhabdomyolysis

My friend invited me to try out crossfit. It was guest week and they put us in groups of 4 and our group had to complete 300 pull ups, 400 push ups, 500 sit ups, and 600 squats. I feel like I'm in pretty good shape and felt somewhat confident in the workout. I knew my arms would be my weakest area. I ended up doing 70 pull ups (which is more pull ups then I've ever done in my lifetime...ever). The push ups were hard also because my arms felt so weak from the pull ups. I did great on the sit ups and squats. After I finished I felt really shaky and felt like I had no control over my arms. It was a weird feeling. The next day was Friday and I was sore but nothing too beyond normal. Saturday morning I woke up and my biceps were very swollen and I couldn't bend or extend my arms. I started researching my symptons and decided to go to the walk in clinic at my doctors office. I was in a lot of pain and she tested me for rhabdomyolysis and gave me a really strong anti-inflammatory. We went to Minersville that weekend for Bret's family Christmas party. Bret had to help me blow dry my hair and he took care of the kids for me. Saturday and Sunday were miserable and my urine turned a brownish color. I knew I was in bad shape, and I spent all day drinking water. Dr. Taylor called me on Monday and said to come back in to get more tests done becuase my CK level was at 10,000 when it should be at 100-300. I was feeling much better on Monday night. Tuesday I went back in and my levels were up to 64,000. He said if I were elderly, I'd be in the hospital with kidney failure. Anyways, he tested my kidneys and liver 4 times total and finally gave me the okay to start exercising/running again after two weeks.

I had no idea I could do that much damage by pushing myself physically. I will be much more careful in the future, and I definately want to go back to crossfit but take it slower. It sucks that this happened to me, but I'm glad I'm aware of it and will take better care of myself in the future.

Also, yes my team won that night and we finished first at 31 minutes. (it wasn't worth it)