Jessica Johnson found that she suffers from a rare condition.
A South Carolina gym enthusiast was hospitalized after her arms “exploded” while attempting to complete a well-known CrossFit challenge.
Jessica Johnson, a 25-year-old Charleston-based women, spoke with the Kennedy News Agency, via NY Post, following her injury. She was taken to the hospital and found that she suffers from a condition known as rhabdomyolysis.
“I didn’t know what was going on. I was definitely shocked and didn’t know that this could happen.”
[RELATED: Larry Wheels Opens Up About Rhabdo Diagnosis]
The CrossFit gauntlet, known as the Murph Challenge, has participants run one mile before completing 300 squats, 200 pushups, and 100 pull-ups. Following this circuit, it ends with another one-mile run. Johnson was doing 10 separate sets of five pull-ups during the workout. The following day, Johnson claimed that her arms were sore and swollen but wrote it off because she had not done pull-ups recently.
Over the next few days, the swelling continued to intensify and Johnson noticed that her urine was discolored.
“It was darker, almost like an orangery color. I was drinking tons of water but I wasn’t peeing much during the day.”
Johnson was taken to the emergency room where doctors were able to find out what the problem was.
Jessica Johnson Diagnosed With Rhabdo
Jessica Johnson went through different blood tests while in the hospital and she was diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis. This is a condition that caused her arms and hands to swell.
This diagnosis is often accompanied by kidney disease but the doctors found that there was no damage to Johnson’s renal organs.
“They were so surprised. They kept telling me ‘we don’t know how you don’t have kidney damage right now with how high your values are.'”
Rhabdomyolysis is a severe condition where damaged muscle tissue breakdown and releases the protein myoglobin into the blood stream. This release of the protein can damage the kidneys. Constant fluid replacement through an IV can be a treatment to avoid damaging kidneys.
Jessica Johnson spent four days in the hospital and was discharged after making a “full recovery.” She was advised to take a break from training and expects to follow directions of the doctors. Johnson will be taking it easy after this experience and will focus on “gentle, pilates stuff.”
“This was a wake-up call for me to chill out a bit.”
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