-Warning this post ended up being long…haha-
Well I talked with my Dr again and things sound a lot better than previously thought. My levels are very high but she talked with some other physicians and they said that IV could be administered but they believed it would be of no use as it’s too late. They said that there are cases where cpk levels of 100,000 cause no kidney damage even without treatment.
In fact there is reason to believe that after a resistance workout cpk levels regularly reach 20,000 to 30,000. Her initial 2500 being high was far too conservative. They also said elevated levels typically last no more than 10 days. Since I’m on day 9 and my kidney function is still fine it means I likely avoided a serious issue. This is also why her colleagues believe an IV is no longer a need.
She also did some research and read a current sports medicine journal about exertional rhabdo. She said it was very extensive and it also suggested that cpk levels can normally reach 20,000 after a heavy workout. She said the report also said that intense sessions of pull ups or push ups are the highest reported cause of raised cpk levels and swollen arms. I did both in one cycle.
So the final verdict. My kidney function is still fine, my heart is fine and the swelling is completely gone. Stronger again today than yesterday which is good. If I had to guess I’m at 75 percent strength. Where on saturday I would say I was probably about 20 percent. I could not crush an empty water bottle with the lid off saturday afternoon. Because of these reasons she said that an IV is not needed especially this late in the game.
Had my kidney function showed an abnormality or if my urine tested positive she would obviously push the IV. It also does not appear as though I have an underlining condition from the other lab results. She said to monitor my urine closely, drink plenty of fluids, and come in thursday (day 11) to have lab work done again to see if my cpk level is back to normal.
If it had not been a weekend situation that caused my lab results to take longer on the retest I probably would have been called in to run an IV. She actually said if I had come in the first day of swelling my lab results would have been in early and I would have been hooked up to an IV without a doubt. So she pointed out that I was very lucky and next time anything swells up don’t be a typical male and come in right away. She also said if I continue working out the way I do that icing after every workout might not be a bad idea. Or at least after intense elbow joint routines such as ones with pull ups. I seem to have past the danger zone as my doctor said. However I still need to drink high amounts of fluids and continue to check my urine for another week.
And pat…the creatine question I’ll ask about. A cool thing is…I was able to get the email address of the doctor that did the research and posted the report in the medical journal my doctor cited. So I’m going to see if I can’t get in contact with them and get some more information.
I did read that ATP depletion might be a leading pathway as to what causes the condition. It had to do with calcium levels changing due to sodium changes when ATP is depleted which sets off a reaction in muscle cells…which leads to muscle decay and dumping toxins into the blood stream.
Creatine would probably allow you to work longer before failure sets in…but from everything I know creatine allows you to put up a little bit more weight and put up one more rep or so. So i would imagine it would only mean I could go a little longer before atp is depleted. And if I did work to ATP depletion I probably was able to do more damage to my muscle which might make things worse in the long run. So as a complete medical idiot I would say it might make it harder to do but worse once done.
I am however going to look around and email that doctor and see if I can’t find a person who has extensive experience with exertional rhabdo and see if they can’t run some tests to find a genetic condition. I really don’t want to do this again but I don’t want to be nervous every single time I do pull ups. If I have a condition I want to know. But beyond that I want to know for sure that I don’t have a condition. I need to know I don’t have a problem. I need to know if this was a one time thing that can be avoided if I take a good amount of time building up to higher reps.
I will take it slow and not hit the pull ups for a while but I love training. I love pushing myself hard. I enjoy working out because it is hard. Because it is so demanding. If it was easy I would probably do it but I wouldn’t enjoy it half as much. Does that make sense?
Thanks again for the posts guys! The first of the year started off with a little snag but I’m hoping things pick up and run smoothly.
And I wish my first posts on this board were a little more positive…haha.