I was wondering if you guys can help me clear up a conundrum I’ve been having.
I’m a VERY active person who besides lifting 3-4 times a week regularly participates in other athletic activities. I’m 33 at 225 lbs and 6’ 5’', father of two. I really like lifting weights, so I’d venture to say that the hardest thing for me is taking a week off.
Barring illnesses and vacations, I’ve been a gym regular for the last 15 years.
Couple of months ago, I noticed that my lifts started dropping, especially the bench. I didn’t consider it a big deal, since I’ve had some minor shoulder problems a while back.
I also noticed that I had a slightly elevated heart rate when going to sleep but thought nothing of it.
Anyway, 10 days ago I’ve been awaken with what seemed a bout of nighttime sweating. After 10 minutes or so I experienced a full fledged panic attack, lasting around 5 minutes.
During the last week, I’ve had issues with sleeping, mostly sudden bouts of nighttime sweating, and the occasional panic attack, not to mention two trips to the ER. I don’t have a history of panic attacks so these experiences were truly horrible for me.
Anyway all heart-related tests came back clean (ECG, ultrasound, spirometry, tropomin).
My doctor was worried about some results from my blood work - mostly increased creatine kinase (CK) (4x normal) as well as liver enzymes (ALT, AST). I knew that CK increases as a result of resistance training, so I didn’t consider it important. Thyroid problems, diabetes and everything else was ruled out. Basically, except for these increased enzymes I was completely healthy.
My doc blamed it on “abusing steroids” so I had a hard time persuading him that I don’t use them.
Searching on T-Nation I stumbled upon Dr. Lowery’s article
which pretty much describes most of my symptoms. The only thing missing was the part about panic attacks?
Has anyone experienced something similar while suffering from (undiagnosed) overtraining syndrome?