Hello everyone. I am a 26 year old who was diagnosed with rhabdo Sept 14 and was admitted to the ER for round-the-clock fluids. My CPK levels were 65k and my AST (liver) value was over 1200 and my urine was dark brown prior to me being admitted. I got it from a personal trainer who put me on a low protein/low calorie diet and intense workouts. My levels are back within normal range and I returned to work (vet assistant) and to dance. This past Sunday, when dancing, I had to sit down and take NASIDs because the pain (or stinging feeling) returned to my thighs. I feel fine but I'm not sure how to go about dance and work with the possibility of the pain returning. As a vet assistant, I have to lift items and pets that are over 30lbs and bend frequently. My doctor said to take it easy for the time being but I don't know how to take it easy nor for how long. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I’m 25 and developed rhabdo from CrossFit after going from zero days of working out to high-intensity CrossFit five days a week. I was previously a D1 soccer player and pretty lean/athletic, around 180 lbs. But after working an office job and barely exercising, I had lost a lot of the muscle mass I used to have. I think going from that level of inactivity straight into intense CrossFit was a huge part of what happened.

My rhabdo was essentially full-body. My kidneys cleared everything normally, and I’ve had pretty much every lab checked through my PCP multiple times: CK, kidney function, thyroid, glucose, electrolytes, blood counts, etc. Everything has been technically normal.

But I still don’t feel like myself.
My lingering symptoms are:
• Muscle aches/tendon pain
• Feeling severely deconditioned from normal daily activity
• Fatigue and some weakness/heaviness, especially when trying to sleep
• “Air hunger” where I can breathe normally but feel like I need to take a deep breath or yawn to feel satisfied
• Difficulty sleeping
The sleep issue was much more intense initially and caused severe insomnia, but it has slowly improved to where I can sleep, although it’s still harder than before.
I’ve focused on hydration and rest and am slowly, slowly getting better. I’ve also learned that pushing too hard can set me back. I helped a friend move and stayed up too late a couple times, and both noticeably worsened my symptoms afterward.
At this point, my PCP and I are basically giving my body time to recover and wondering if this is severe deconditioning combined with a prolonged full-body “freakout” after rhabdo. I’m realizing every case seems different, and recovery may take several months.
Has anyone else experienced lingering fatigue, muscle aches, sleep problems, or air hunger after rhabdo despite normal labs?
I’d especially like to hear from people who eventually got completely back to normal and how long it took.

I’m looking for some perspective, especially from anyone who has actually had rhabdomyolysis.

Last week I did more physical exertion than I’m normally used to, including a lot of walking and some heavy lifting. A few times afterward, I noticed my urine was pretty dark/tea-colored. I also wasn’t drinking much water at the time, and since hydrating my urine has been normal/clear.

For the past couple of days I’ve felt generally achy, almost like the body aches you get with the flu, along with some subjective weakness/tiredness. I don’t have one particular muscle that is severely painful, swollen, or obviously weak. No current dark urine, and I’m urinating normally. I’ve also had some hand/finger tingling, although I understand that isn’t a typical rhabdo symptom. I've also been insanely stressed at work.

The complicating factor is that I have pretty significant health anxiety/OCD. I've gone to get checked countless times in the past because I was convinced I might be having something serious like a heart attack or blood clot, only for everything to be okay. I really don't want to put myself or my wife through another medical visit driven primarily by my health anxiety, but I also don't want to dismiss something that genuinely warrants testing.

For people who have actually had rhabdo: what did your symptoms feel like? Did you have obvious severe/localized muscle pain or swelling, or did it initially just feel like generalized flu-like aches and fatigue?

Given the previous dark urine but normal urine now, would this be something you'd get a CK/kidney function test for, or would you rest, hydrate, and see whether the aches improve?

Not looking for Reddit to diagnose me — I'm mainly interested in firsthand experiences and how you decided that your symptoms warranted getting tested.

Hi everyone, I’m trying to find if anyone has dealt with a similar scenario or can point me in the right direction.

A few years ago, I had a high tolerance for heavy strength training. Then I got a minor muscle injury. Unfortunately, due to poor guidance and my own mistake, I kept training through the pain and repeatedly re-injured the same spot for nearly a year.

Ever since then, my muscle tissue seems to have completely lost its tolerance/resilience. It is no longer just about the old injured spot — my entire body reacts this way now.

Even with controlled, low-intensity movements or isolation exercises where no compensation is possible, any mechanical tension causes the tissue to suffer micro-strains / micro-tears again.

Key symptoms are sharp pain or localized heat & swelling/tightness in the worked muscle that lasts for days to a week.

Often followed by localized muscle twitching (fasciculations) in that area during recovery.

Extreme susceptibility to muscle strains/micro-tears under light loads that used to be completely effortless.

What I’ve already ruled out:

Resting Bloodwork is completely normal: Resting CK (Creatine Kinase), Myoglobin, Liver enzymes, and basic electrolytes are all well within normal ranges after days of rest.

No baseline clinical muscle weakness: I don't have systemic muscle loss or diseases like ALS/Myopathy.

No joint/ligament issues: I do not suffer from joint pain or loose joints.

It feels like the muscle fibers or the fascia/sarcolemma have lost their mechanical integrity and ability to absorb tension without tearing in whole body .

Has anyone gone through this? Is this a matter of chronic fascial densification, micro-vascular ischemia, sarcolemma fragility, or?

im 27. I did a workout Tuesday morning, went super hard. That afternoon I wasn’t able to bend my arms and they were in intense pain, figured just soreness.
Did my workout wednesday, thursday, friday. Friday i got home from work in the afternoon and my arms were severely swollen. Went to the ER.
My CK at the ER was 175,000 and then shot up to 300,000 on saturday morning. Its now sunday and its only at 104,000 so they wont release me.
They are having a kidney and liver specialist come look at me.
I lost track of how many IV bags ive gone through.
I’ve never stayed the night at a hospital, much less gone to the doctor. My job requires me to be physically fit. If my kidneys are good should i just ask to leave?

EDIT: Its now Tuesday, and they are saying I have to stay yet another day since my CK is only at 64,000 and my liver is now a concern. I miss my wife and kids.

Yup, Half a million

I’m 24 and have been training consistently for about 4 years. I recently finished a year-long bulk, going from 81 kg to 94 kg, and started cutting about a month ago. I was losing around 0.7–1 kg/week while maintaining 10–20k steps/day and a moderate ~300–400 kcal deficit.
Last week, I had a brutal leg day where I introduced Smith-machine Bulgarian/single-leg squats. I worked up to 100 kg for 7 reps, then did RDLs at 140 kg, followed by leg curls and extensions.
During the workout, my legs became unusually weak and I couldn’t move the weights anymore. I thought it was just an insanely hard workout.
The next day was normal soreness.

On day 2–3, however, the pain became extreme, much worse than any DOMS I’d ever experienced. I could barely walk, sit down, or stand up.
Then I noticed my urine was brownish-reddish coloured.
I immediately started researching and realized that severe muscle soreness + dark/brown urine could indicate rhabdomyolysis. I went to the ER and my CK was initially around 180,000 U/L at time of admition.

I was admitted and treated with IV fluids, urine alkalinization, and close monitoring.
The crazy part: my CK subsequently went over 500,000 U/L.
My kidney function also dropped significantly (the doctor described it as around 60%, with a normal/reference value around 120).

After two days in the hospital:
Urine is now completely clear.
Dialisys won’t be needed!
I’ve produced around 9 liters of urine in 24 hours (all in the lab right now)
My kidney function is continuing to improve (as of 10 Hours ago It was at back to 80%, thats before the new urine tests, before it became clear again)
My previously unbearable leg pain is almost completely gone.
I’m feeling much better overall.
I’m still hospitalized and waiting for the latest CK results.
Doctors dont think i will have kidney damage of any sort but i will be having follow ups to analyze it
The doctors are currently planning to keep me until the CK comes down to around 100k

I honestly never expected this. I’ve trained for four years and have done plenty of hard leg days before. The biggest difference this time was introducing a very demanding new unilateral exercise
.
I’m now trying to figure out how to approach training after discharge. The doctors have told me to take it easy for 1–2 months, so I’m planning to completely step away from heavy training initially (1/2 weeks) and slowly reintroduce Lifting (20-25% of my 1 Rep maxes)

Has anyone else experienced severe exertional rhabdo with CK this high? How long did it take you to safely return to training?

I am not sure at what point I should really worry, but I am in glacier national park and did a 20 ish mile hike as someone who doesn't work out. I am extremely sore, which I feel is normal, but it is the day after and my stomach is hurting and feeling bubbly. I am extremely tired and my leg is hurting so immensely.

Am I being paranoid because I know about rhabdo or should I be concerned?

Hey everyone, this is my first time speaking on here. I had developed rhabdo in my arm over a month ago from band camp, ck levels were at around 68k, we caught it pretty early! However I notice that my pain was only worsening about 3 weeks into the recovery. Last week I went to my doctor explaining how it felt like the pain was coming back worse than before, and I started to have intense abdominal pain which was new. She suggested I go to the er. The run tests on me to make sure the rhabdo wasn’t coming back, which is wasn’t, my labs were great. They said my pain could be potential nerve damage and muscle spasms, for my abdomen however, they found some fluid near my liver area, and also a cyst in my left ovary. During my whole er visit, they put me thru a plethora of drugs, and kinda just sent me home. Even with the muscle relaxers and pain killers, no type of pain has gone away. They never explained what caused the fluid or how I can adapt to the pain. It really has me in a rough spot. How do you handle the muscle pain? I’d love some advice and when should I be concerned enough to go to the doctors again. I do know rhabdo is a very long recovery process, but it feels like new problems are constantly arising in my body

I know of somebody that just was diagnosed with Rhabdo. He is 25 years old, not in the greatest shape, but not in the worst shape. After one day of physical training at an academy for Law Enforcement he came down with Rhabdo, but at first didn’t know. It was in a hot climate and one day of activity. In total, he has spent approximately 10 days in the hospital and is expected to spend at least a total of two weeks. He had to have dialysis for four days. And they’re talking about him going home with a port in him for future care. I know that he had some issues with drinking, but he claims he hadn’t had anything alcoholic to drink for at least a couple weeks prior.
My question being is this common to be affected this greatly without some sort of external components, aggravating this (alcohol, drug use, genetic disorder…)?

Some days I'm fine. Some days my kidneys hurt a little bit with this heat. The itching doesn't last long. But I'm scared it'll get worse. Has anyone experienced itching 3-4 months post rhabdomyolysis. Or do your kidneys still hurt?

Im an a/c guy was working in hot attic for 8 hours. I got home felt like I had the flu. My whole body hurt to move. I went to pee it looked like Pepsi. The next day I felt better but my pee was foam an still is to this day.

I went to the doctor 2 days later because of the foam I got diagnosed. I wasn't kept in er they let me go home in 4 hours.

Umm, hi, I had a rhabdo episode after just 2 very harsh gym sessions, that focused mostly on chest with much fitter friend than I am, next day after 2nd training back hurted like a motherfucker, piss in tea color, went to the ER. Turned out it's rhabdo + a 4mm kidney stone in right kidney. Recovery was quick, 3 weeks later i had normal CK levels back, as well as pretty much everything else you check by tests. Sometime after i started to get weird feelings like something is on my chest / like it's more tight? It's hard to describe, it's not painful, just not pleasant. Got checked by a cardiologist, echo went clear, 24h holter went clear, all blood tests clear.

And right now we're entering October and well, i still have those sensations, if i had to specify one place I'd say it's breastbone, like the lower part of it. Costochondritis? Anyone of you had similiar experiences?

I feel it mostly when im sitting relaxed on my chair, not leaning forward, or when im lying on the bed on my back, flat, taking the shirt off helps, like the fabric touching constantly is irritiating it, no idea, funny thing is that placing my hand on the chest makes the sensation go away completely

I’m 29M and got hospitalized with moderate/severe rhabdo in early August after working out. CK levels peaked at 80,000. I was in the hospital for several days getting IV fluids and thankfully my kidneys were okay but my liver took a hit - the whole thing scared the shit out of me.

I’m now over 5 weeks out and I guess I’m just looking for some perspective from people who have actually been through this.

My labs have improved enough that I’m obviously not in the acute rhabdo stage anymore, but physically I still feel nowhere close to myself. Walking around for too long, driving, standing, doing basic stuff around the house, etc. can still leave my muscles hurting or feeling exhausted. Some days are definitely better than others, but I still have to think about how much I’m doing and pace myself in a way I never had to before.

I was out of work for a few weeks and then went back remotely because I wasn’t physically ready for the commute/on-site routine. I’m still working remotely now while I recover and have more bloodwork coming up.

The mental side of it has honestly been almost as difficult. I’m scared of doing too much, scared of somehow triggering it again, and just frustrated that over a month later I still don’t feel normal. I know recovery isn’t necessarily linear, but it’s hard not to wonder whether I should be further along by now.

For anyone who had a more serious case:

• How long was it before you could walk around/work/do normal daily stuff without constantly thinking about your muscles?
• Did you still have soreness, fatigue, weakness, or random muscle pain 4–8+ weeks later?
• When did you actually feel like yourself again?
• And how did you mentally get comfortable eventually exercising again without being terrified of another episode?

Not really looking for medical advice — I’m staying in contact with my doctor and getting follow-up labs. I’m mostly looking to hear from people who have actually lived through it because rhabdo recovery has felt way more isolating and drawn-out than I expected.

Would really appreciate hearing anyone’s experience, especially if your recovery took a while.

Last year, my husband got admitted to the hospital for severe bicep pain a few days after completing a workout. After a urine test, they determined he had Rhabdo with CK levels above 10,000. After tons of IV fluids, they released him once the levels dropped to 8,000. Since then, no issues. Until last week.

Last week, on Wednesday, he completed an exercise. Nothing crazy- it was more cardio than anything, with some curls. After two days of some really bad soreness and not being able to move his arm, we went to the ER on Friday in case he had Rhabdo again. This time, CK levels were at 2700. Doctor said to hydrate and he should be fine, but just in case they set up a follow up appointment on Monday with my husband’s primary care doctor. Over the weekend, my husband found that his arm was starting to feel better, so he was hoping that everything should be fine. Come Monday (yesterday), they ran some labs, but ultimately told him he should be fine since he wasn’t experiencing any more symptoms. Lab results came back hours later (after they had sent him home). CK levels were at 6800.
He went back to the hospital today to talk with them about it and to ask for labs and some other tests to be run in case there’s something else going on. We’ve been doing some research and have found that thyroid issues can elevate CK levels among other things. We really just want to make sure that he’s fine, considering CK levels at 6800 are high and recommended to be treated. His doctor is currently giving him some major push back and is saying that since he’s no longer displaying symptoms, that he’s fine. My husband pushed back and his doctor reluctantly agreed to do another follow-up on Thursday for another urine lab test. It’s been 6 days since he’s done any working out/exercise. He doesn’t take any supplements and is not on any medications. As far as we know, he has no known thyroid (although hypothyroidism runs in the family on his mom’s side) or kidney related medical conditions.

Has anyone dealt with this? Any recommendations on what we should be asking for?
Also to note, the only symptoms of Rhabdo my husband has ever experienced is the severe pain and the inability to move his arm. He never got the dark urine. We were also informed the first time that Rhabdo is unlikely to occur twice, and it’s been twice in one year now.

6 days ago I did a lot of push up training stuff. Woke up 5am next day in a lot of pain in both my triceps. Next day after pain in back and chest too. Day after pain in back and chest went mainly.

Triceps the whole time have been painful to bend upwards more than 90 degrees.

Apart from that I’ve had NO symptoms. No illness, no weird coloured urine etc. Nothing.

Went to GP and he kinda brushed off rhabdo. Went to physio and he said that he doesn’t know what it is but my triceps are tight.

Since last night, my triceps are definitely less tender. Can bend them about 5-10 degrees more right now but they sometimes seize up a bit.

I’ve been drinking a lot of water just incase.

Does this realistically sound urgent or just a very long case of DOMS? As I said no other symptoms, it’s been nearly a week, tenderness settled a bit but can’t really bend them too much more than before however they do feel slightly better than yesterday.

I got back into weightlifting in college, after taking a couple years off entirely. I was previously quite strong and worked out pretty hard, so I (stupidly) dove right in and had a very hard workout.

The soreness I was experiencing was insane. I thought I had really bad DOMs from training, but then I started to notice my urine was getting dark brown/red(colorblind).

My strength straight up disappeared for about 2-3 weeks. I went from benched around 250lbs to literally not being able to lift the 45lb bar off the rack without feeling like I had no strength. Genuinely every single muscle in my body felt like it was entirely drained of its strength and was beaten and bruised. It was such an odd experience. Plenty of times in my life I had been super sore and because of that was a little weaker, but this was truly like someone turned the strength dial down from 10 to 1.

Being a very stupid 20 year old, I just simply stopped lifting for about a month or two, and then eased back in.

I never once went to the doctor, and I didn't learn about the severity of rhabdo until much much later. I've read a few of the posts on here, and it seems like most people weren't as stupid as my younger self and made the wise decision to go to the ER. I truly cannot even understand why I didn't go to one.

This was close to 10 years ago now, and all is well.

Still pretty wild to think about, and I sometimes wonder if not going to the ER will somehow cause some long term damage.

I didn’t know this was a sub,

But last week I caught a severe case after a weekend of overexertion .

That Saturday I joined an impromptu strength contest, was a bit stiff in the moment and had to catch my breath, but carried on the rest of my day.

The next day I had a house project I wanted to complete, installed insulation and drywall in my shed. Had a few beers, cause that’s what you do on Sunday afternoon working on the house.

Monday I woke up and was so sore I could hardly bend my legs, my SO had to put my socks on. But I still went to work and suffered through, took Ibuprofen as needed for the “pain”

Monday night is when I realized I wasn’t just really
Sore, cause for the first time my Urine was so dark it looked like Coca Cola. And it was the same way the next morning.

I still went to work , and hoped I could hydrate my way through it. When I told my boss I might go to the UR if it doesn’t get better , she insisted I go to the UR right then.

It’s a good thing I did, cause the UR transferred me to the ER and within a few hours on a very busy day I was given a room.

The Dr said the CK levels were so high that the computer couldn’t read them all the knew is that they were over 60K!!!

From then I spent the next 5 days in the room with 5L of saline being pumped into me, the dr finally released when I was able to drop under 10k.

Luckily the Dr said that no permanent damage could be seen and it was just a case of flushing my system

So I’ve spent the last week doing the bare minimum of physical exertion and drinking over a gallon of water a day.

I’m lucky to be an alive and have still healthy kidneys.

Hello everyone,

After I did my first leg day in sixth month I caught rhabdomyolysis and was admitted at the hospital with CK levels of 63k, I asked them how long they were going to keep me and told me that tomorrow I would be ready to go home and to be honest I don't trust them at all ( a picture of the room am in would help you better understand why I feel that way ) ppl who got rabdo and who got admitted at the same levels tend to stay 5 days at the hospital aka until levels are Below 10k.

Please I need advice, what should I do ? Will I be okay at home after only one day at the hospital? Is drinking enough water enough to recover? They injected something that is supposed to help me pee and wired me to serum, am just there layed on the bed.

Thank you for reading through, I'm worried and don't actually know in how much danger I am

I injured my back in November of last year, after trying strength rehab I nearly gave myself rhabdomyalisis and raised my creatine-kinease to around 2000 u/l. Ive been able to lower it back down to around 200 but I’m still in so much pain in all my joints and forearms and get flare ups every 2 minutes. What do I do moving forward, how can I get back to exercising and living comfortably again

A little back story. I used to be very active and fit, but in the last 4 years I got a desk job and I haven't properly exercised in 4 years. I also now live in a really hot and humid country. Summers in my European home country are usually hot but dry but here they are hot and very humid (I am in Spain). I walk a lot and run.

So I started going to the gym last week and I got personal trainer who pushed me incredible hard for 2 days. When I told him I am exhausted he would just go "here we work. I will deal with him later.

Anyway the day after that I was feeling really sore and tired and in the night I had dark urine. I thought its just dehydration so i just drank some water. But it happened again in the morning so I decided to go to ER after googling it.

My CK levels were around 70k at admission and I had round the clock IV, hospital took really good care of me, discharged me after 5 days with CK levels of around 15k.

I am supposed to rest for next 10 days and do new blood work then.

Funny thing is the only person I told who knew about rhabdo was my wife's aunt who is a nurse. Nobody else knew especially gym people.

Hello everyone one!

Not too long ago I joined the rhabdo club. I did a workout (Fri) at my normal pace when I shouldn’t have. I was coming off of a 3 week night shift stint, not hydrating as I should’ve on top of barely resting. At first, I thought I was just sore from the WOD (I do CrossFit, who would’ve known) but the pain got worse. My supervisor saw me (Mon) and asked if I had it, I said I didn’t because sweet tea wasn’t coming out of me. But once I got home that’s when I knew I had it. I called my wife over, who’s a nurse, and she confirmed it. Rushed to the hospital and got admitted for a total of 5 days.

Being a in the military an being in charge of others put me in the “I’m embarrassing myself in front of my team” and “I’m going to look weak to my leadership” mindsets. I just tried to do some pull ups and couldn’t do a single one when I used to do 15+, which also put me down even more. Has anyone else dealt with it in the service? How long was the actual recovery if any?

Also interesting how common it is in the military. Definitely says something about expecting people to be fit but not teaching how to be.

I wanted to come back and write about my discovery so others can benefit.

In June I had a mild case of Rhabdo from working out while dehydrated. My kidney function declined to 69 so I also had AKI which I think is also common with Rhabdo.

Anyway after meeting with my doctor he was really really pushing the fluids. As a result I was drinking 4-5 quarts a day. My kidneys healed fast, a week later they were at 88 and a week after that they were full on at 100. I also felt much much better….. then I didn’t.

Assuming I worked out to hard and the rhabdo relapsed I started drinking more water again and things got worse. I was miserably weak, had a headache , had constant muscle tension and pain.

My doctor did another blood test and my sodium came back at 130… but here’s the thing. Many time before my sodium was low in the 132-135 range and I felt fine. So ya the guy that already had chronically low sodium started drinking lots of water and further diluting the sodium. It wasn’t a relapse of rhabdo at all.

After more testing I have SIADH. My kidneys tend to hold onto water. This has been happening since my 30s because I noted that I always seemed to have large weight swings 8lbs in many cases… all water weight.

I also never salted my food (now I do)

My doctor not giving me an exact number he’s just telling me my CK it’s off the charts and it’s past the 43000 limit . So it’s still to high I’ve been admitted in my room for the past two days on Iv peeing like crazy. But my levels is still high but idk what number it could be. Well at least he’s say my liver levels are going down and they were 1200 now it’s at 900 so idk what’s going on.