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Exertional rhabdomyolysis

Original Post
Medic741 · · Des Moines, IA (WTF) · Joined Apr 2012 · Points: 265

Well worked out so hard I got rabdo. Anyone have experience with returning to athletics/climbing after an event like this?

Stormannorman · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jul 2016 · Points: 10

Jog it out mate. You'll be fine.

Lee Green · · Edmonton, Alberta · Joined Nov 2011 · Points: 51

Sit it out a week or two, and hydrate. A lot. Your muscles aren't your biggest problem, your kidneys are. You'd be best advised to talk to your doc. Seriously.

Josh Hutch · · State of Jefferson · Joined Dec 2008 · Points: 90

Not climbing, but I've had a few friends get it (wildland firefighters). Take More then 1-2 weeks off. Once you feel good, give it another week and start off LIGHT. And talk to a Dr!

Bapgar 1 · · Out of the Loop · Joined Oct 2007 · Points: 90

Is this a self diagnosis?
It's pretty freak'n hard to induce rhabdo in a healthy person, I'd want to make sure that there aren't any underlying genetic issue that contributed.

Back to Lee's advice... see a specialist.

Beau Griffith · · Portland, OR · Joined Sep 2016 · Points: 26

It happens more commonly than you'd think at boot camp. See your doctor and follow his/her advice. Most of the people I know had mild cases but they were able to resume strenuous activity within 2 weeks to a month...but it can be very serious (life threatening) if treated improperly and can also cause serious issues if not recovered from.

Clint White aka Faulted Geologist · · Lawrence, KS · Joined Jan 2015 · Points: 151

Geeznuts! Never heard of ER until now.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exe…

Worth reading the whole write up. It seems like a small case of ER happens with muscle building. I sure have felt the flu like symptoms after some hard climbing or biking days.

Medic741 · · Des Moines, IA (WTF) · Joined Apr 2012 · Points: 265

Elevated CPK, wanted to hear some recovery stories, my teams trainers had a pretty morose 2+ week recovery time. So far feels like I got run over by a trucj

Nate D · · Tacoma, WA · Joined Nov 2015 · Points: 950

Can take a while. A friend had to be airlifted off the backside if Mt Formidable during the Ptarmigan Traverse due to rhabdo. It took him a solid 2 months to be back to performing at his previous level; following docs recommendations. I'm sure if you wanted to roll the dice and depending on the severity you could go for a faster timeline.

Use the excuse to take it easy for a few weeks!!

Carey De Luca · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Oct 2016 · Points: 0

I got exercise induced rhabdo from a workout that included 150 burpees. I think there may have been dehydration and I may have been on the brink of a cold. Whatever the case, I ended up with mild rhabdo, I never peed black, but muscle soreness and nausea. I went to the er and had elevated cpk levels. I may have been okay just hydrating, but I didn't want to risk it. I stayed a night in the hospital given tons of fluids through an IV. The next day I was released. I saw a sports dr, who tested my cpk levels several times in the next 4 weeks until they were back down and my muscles had a chance to recover. I tried to climb around 4 weeks out, I was still too week. Of course my husband was getting back on JTRee 10s right away. I took another few weeks off. It was about 6 weeks total before I went back to the gym to lift. More than the physical hurdle was the emotional and physiological mind f this did to me. I started climbing haRd again within 3 months and working out hard 6 months later. This was all 2 years ago this morning and I'm climbing and lifting harder than ever. But the fear is ALWAYS in the back of my mind. Take all the time you need and get medical advise. Doing permanent damage is never worth it.

Rando Calrissian · · Denver · Joined Apr 2016 · Points: 45

Gotta ask, were you crossfitting??

And to answer your question, depends on how bad it is. Could be 2 weeks, could be 2 months. There are stories of people never getting back to full strength.

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

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