falling apart

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

ok i feel pathetic for posting this, i think i may have aquired some kind of problem.

ok im going to keep this short i dont know how to put it… so

about a month and a half ago i tore my forearm doing sandbag training… i havn’t been lifting at all, decided to give my body a break.

i recently started doing something like the “dont diet”, nothing drastic, just want to shed some of the fat i put on when bulking…

and recently, i’ve suffered all kinds of injuries… doing absolutely nothing, im starting to worry…

for example in the last week it got worse:

  1. somehow i strained my pec really bad, feels like a tear

ok somehow my post seems to have gotten messed up with my browser, anyway 2) somehow i strained something in my left hip/quad, 3) my right knee is all of a sudden very painful, 4) i get a dull achy pain (kinda feels like another strain feeling) in my neck, when chewing/moving it etc, blah these have been the worst of it and i just dont get it, im not doing anything physically that would bring this about… any of you with any type of medical knowledge or any idea of what this might be? did a search and found things like “Myoglobinuria” and weird muscle problems… anyway it seems like every day now im getting a new injury im going to have to take out a loan or something to get fucking checked out… THIS SERIOUSLY SUCKS AND I FEEL LIKE SHIT ANY HELPFUL COMMENT I WOULD APPRECIATE. peace

2

ps: they aren’t just small injuries… im not walking too good (limping around pretty bad), and my pec straing thing makes moving my left arm extremely painful…

now i know everyone is like wtf go see a doc, well, i got no insurance, and like usual, im riding this out for a bit to see if this is just some twisted 3 week unlucky streek, before i bust out the life savings on some bigtime checkup…

also got this ear ache/sore throat that comes and goes since last friday, anti biotics didn’t fix it…

also ive been eating tons of veggies/flax (EFA’s) and protein/water for past 3 weeks, so i’ve been eating pretty good…

i just dont get it

thanks bye

3

Arrggh, I don’t get it either.

Man this is messed up, I just wanted to give you a big good luck, and hope things turn up.

Hopefully someone around here can chime in on what might be happening.

4

Hey.

Were you on the juice? Mag-10, perhaps. Were you training on ephedrine/caffeine? Did you suddenly load creatine? Did you suddenly transition from high volume work (GVT, for example) to high-intensity or neural training? All these things make it possible for you to mess yourself up pretty bad, in terms of strains on connective tissues, muscle, etc.

There are a few ideas here:

  1. Rest dammit… training over an existing injury, like a strained hip-flexor, alters your biomechanics, causing you to sub-consciously shift loading and strain to other areas, which may become overloaded… hence injuries often happen in groups. Take a week or two off.

  2. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatories will help with tendon problems. Plenty of human products are available from your doctor or pharmacist. If you need something more, there’s a veterinary product called Cartophen Vet (Pentosan Sulphate) which you can use as a bullet-proofer to help heal injuries and re-inforce joints, either as an intra-muscular or site injectable. (safety?) Also, some Glucosamine and Chrondroitin are good ideas in general, and are safe for long-term use.

  3. Juice will help heal the muscle problems faster, but they also introduce side-effects. If you don’t already use it, don’t start.

  4. Devote more training time to functional excersises and things like rotator-cuff work. Also, don’t go lifting awkward objeccts till your wrist has healed. No clubbells or kettlebells, dude, promise me. Once it’s healed, you can use them (gently) for rehab and prevention.

  5. Sports massage / deep muslcle massage helps for the spasms that one often gets after heavy lifting. Calcium, magnesium and other salts are also helpful.

  6. Ask a doctor or a physio or someone… very few people on an on-line forum are qualified to give you advice on what may be a very specific set of injuries requiring a set of treatment.

5

the same shit happened to me a little while ago, I took a little time off and got the neck pain and my knee started to hurt(right leg) even when I walked, It was a bitch to bend down. I also aggravated a shoulder injury but that is becuase I was playing football.

Honestly I felt beat up to, I just gave it some time and it went away, I put Ice, Hot packs on my knee and this hot pack thing that has beads in it around my neck, got a weeks rest and started training easy then it went away. I am young though so I dont know if that has anything to do with it. This probably dosent help you that much but I just wanted you to know it has happened to other people,
I say just rest your body, try not to let things get you too stressed out and relax.

6

I’m curious what your age is, and how long you’ve been training? Could that be a factor?

In my own experience, I was lucky to avoid serious training injuries for over 20 years (besides the occasional pull or strain) but after I reached a certain age, I started to accumulate small injuries. Now I can tell (just by feel) that if I don’t train properly with adequate warmup, perfect form, keeping a sane level of aggression, etc, I could potentially injure myself seriously.

7

Well I am by no means a doctor or an expert on, well, anything. But as for me, I know that when I have to stop being active due to an injury, it totaly affects my mood, and when I am feeling low, my body responds in kind by not working as well, and it all kind of snowballs until I start being active again, which in turn puts me in a good mood and everything starts falling back into place for me.

So if I were you, I would find out what exercises you can do, and start doing them. Make sure that you watch out for the forearm, take it light for the first bit. The other injuries may just need to be worked out slowly with some limbering up and exercise.

by the way, none of these problems were present when you were lifting right? That alone would make me think that just by doing some resistance training you could expect to see some repair. Just take it light and listen to your body.

and once again, I am not a professional anything.

-Dave

8

Sorry to hear about your physical problems. If I were you I would get to a competent doctor and try to figure it all out.

In the mean time there are supplements that can be taken to help joint pain. I am sure that you have read about them on the forum before. MSM, Fish Oil and Glucosamine.

Good luck, and if there is anything else that I can do to help you, you only have to ask!

Zeb

9

thanks for the replies…

im 22, never did any form of steroids/pro hormones, no fat burners/mag 10 etc…

and yes none of these injuries occured while i was lifting (i was lifting really hard for 6 months and made big progress/weight gain)…

so these injuries have just started popping up everywhere, anyway, i’ll continue to rest/ice/EFA’s/good diet/glucoesmine and see if it goes away by the end of the week…

if that doesnt work ill see a doc :), and thanks again for replies

peace

10

Sounds like overtraining.
Rest. Get well. Then Get back under the iron, bro.

11

everyone here had some great ideas as to what you can do…

something else to consider… whether your diet is perfect or not, you said you just came off antibiotics. so, your digestion is totally SHOT!!
you can’t even get all the nutrition out of your food right now! so your body can’t even begin to deal with the stress of exercise. plus, if you were sick enough to get antibiotics (and without insuance like you said, you must be pretty sick) you should have probably rested more.

first, stop training. if it hurts, put ice on it.

second, fix your digestion. FIX meaning take probiotics (bacteria in a pill form, and yogurt etc.) for a month or so, get some digestive enzymes and eat clean. (nothign fried, overcooked, full of sugar etc.).
that’s the basics, theres way more you can do. also, support your immune system, which has issues or else you wouldn’t have gotten sick, and you wouldn’t be killing yourself now.

maybe in a week or two you can go back to some nice walking, light bodyweight stuff, work back slowly into some exercises. you sound like you just got down into a rut and you need to come back out. not to mention, like some other poeple said, it’s mentally rough. see if you can learn to relax and so some things to support your body (yeah, it’s cheesy sounding, but take baths, vitamins, walking, drink tea, you know girlie shit).

let me know if you want more info on anything i mentioned. good luck!

<–/— the seminole medicine woman has spoken (aka, seminole chick :wink:

p.s. good luck, i feel for you!

12

Good advice from everyone here. What has helped me is to layoff for a while and let your body heal.

Go to a good doc. If you haven’t gone and don’t have insurance here’s what you do. I sell health insurance for a living. In your state you can probably get a guarenteed issue blue cross major medical plan. DON’T GO THROUGH AN AGENT! CALL BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD DIRECTLY AND ASK FOR A NON-GROUP ENROLLMENT KIT. At your age the cost would be about $100 a month. It may not cover doctor’s office visits but it will cover any lab work, (blood, xrays, mri’s, etc.,)

IF YOU DON’T HAVE INSURANCE NOW, GET THIS PROGRAM BEFORE IT GOES ON YOUR RECORD. OTHERWISE YOU WILL HAVE A 6 MONTH WAIT ON ANY PREEXISTING CONDITIONS.

I’m speaking from Michigan law of course. Your state will have different rules.

There are other carriers too. If you want more info PM me sometime I’d be glad to help.

walleye

13

Stress, certain drugs, and injuries all disrupt the motor programs that control your movements, making you vulnerable to injuries. Have you taken Cipro lately? Cipro weakens tendons for a long time (9 months in one study) after the course is over.

14

hi, seminole-chick just to clear something up, this started happening before the anti-biotics, and the ear-throat thing, i had no cold/flu symptoms but it was very bad, so i went to a doc and he prescribed anti-biotics for my throat, didnt really help at all (until i stopped taking it, now it’s getting better it seems)
and im not training, havn’t been for a +month… :/, “girlie stuff”, im going to have to try that (either ive got a major problem or im a complete sissy :slight_smile:

walley thanks man !! im looking into that right now… i definitely need to get a plan (miss cleo predicts mri’s/xrays in my near future :slight_smile:

andersons the only thing i have taken is “zithromax” for this throat infection

ok peaceeee

15

well, you still took the antibiotics, and therefor your gut is virtually devoid of the natural bacteria that are extremely important to have. you cna’t even produce all the vitamins your body needs without a healthy level of them in the gut. so, i would still look into some good bacteria, plain kefir if you can do dairy (kefir has very little lactose, the culture eats it for you) at all is a good alternative if you drink enough of it. good luck! hope you recover. let me know if you have any other questions.

16

You know what? If you’re going to take the next 2 weeks off, i highly recommend a fast. It sounds like your body is beat to crap, and is having a hard time healing itself.

I and my mother have recently done fruit and veggie fasts, and they’re not as bad as you might think. Fruit and veggies are ridiculously easy to digest, so you can eat away to your pleausre. Trust me, you will feel great.

To prove it to yourself, just eat fruit in the morning,as much as you want, and hold off til noon or so til you eat anything else, and tell me you don’t feel better and full of energy.

DO it for a few days. If you get nervous about that length of time, just do a 1 day fast, w/no food or only f&v.

You can also just have some chicken broth if you get hungry on a 1 day fast.

(I bought a juicer and increased my f&v intake Big time, and lowered my liver levels by 40%, no sweat. )

17

sonny, doesn’t the body heal better with more calories? or am i wrong

also what kind of fast do you mean, by f&v im assuming you mean eating tons of f&v and no animal products/meat etc… ???

also with a f&v fast like you talk about, adding in fish oil/flax oil would be great or no (i dont want to stop taking the EFA’s)? any idea?

so could you please ellaborate on what kind of fast you are talking about

its weird though, i ate steaks every day, all kinds of meat, of course with lots of fruits/vegetables, but i been getting some “feeling” to lay off the meets recently, like since this all started kinda…

this has been the wierdest month of my life… heh

18

Sonny - Yes, the body needs calories to heal. DUH!

Fruit and veggie fasts are nice if you happen to be hard drinkers and/or suffer from gout, I suppose… but is it wise for an overtrained, injured strength-athlete? I think not.

No offense, but this is what one of my friends (a devoted T-Forums lurker) had to say on reading that post: “Bull-F’ing-Shit! Restricting calories and protein while removing all training stimulus? Gimme a break dude! WTF is he trying to do, look like an Ethiopian refugee or something?”

As harsh as that statement was, I understand where he was coming from when he spntaneously spewed forth that tirade. Sounds like something a Virgin Active “Fitness Consultant” would say.

Seminole Chick - Good call on the probiotics. I missed that one.

iamnobody - See a doctor. 'Nuff said.

19

a fast or cleanse would be good for everyone who eats BIG for a long period of time, to allow the digestive system to rest, the body to detoxify and all that. i would NOT recommend it (a fruit/veggie only cleanse) when you’re feeling sick. wait till you’re feeling better. adding veggie juice to your diet is good, but a fast/cleanse would not fix all your joint problems now. most things you need to heal are in animal products (homemade bone broth, quality protein, vitamin A etc.) you can do a fast while still working out, which you should do so you don’t lose muscle. i did a 3 week cleanse (mostly veggies, some whey protein etc.) and lost a few pounds but kept my strength and still lifted. it doesn’t have to be that long though.

i would NOT do that now. not till your body is recovered. detox is stressful to the body and can cause some illnesses to come forth (as part of the healing process). this was my doctors advice to me.

although, i would say that anyone would benefit from getting a juicer and adding vegetable juice to their diet. fruit juice is a definate NO-NO except after a workout. just my opinion…

glad to see such advice on here though! Sonny S, why did you have your liver tested? just curious.

20

Iamnobody, I didn’t mean you should fast for 2 weeks, just for a few days, or even 1 day, out of those 2 weeks.

So don’t worry about looking like an Ethiopian.

Re the body needing calories, why is it that we are NOT hungry when we are sick?

Why is it we can’t stomach heavy foods?

Why is it that all we can stomach are simple foods such as soup, or some plain rice or pasta?

Right; the body is saving its energy for healing, not for digesting food.

Seminole chick, conventional advice agrees w/ most of what you said but I found the oppsite to be true. I felt GREAT, my energy skyrocketed, and I didn’t feel sick at all.

However, I also wasn’t sick at the time I started it, so its prob. moot.

I had high liver levels thanks to a medication I was taking