CK and Rhabdomyolysis

Medical Q&A [Moderated]
1

I recently started exercising again. I thought i was taking it easy coming back into it but apparently I was not. After a few days of searing pain, I went to see an Orthopedic Doctor. Diagnosis: Rhabdomyolysis. A blood test showed my CK levels at +3800 4 days after exercising. I don’t take supplements. What else could be causing this high level of CK in my blood? Or does this seem like an accurate diagnosis? (The alternative is a heart attack, but there seems to be no other indicator of that considering that I run 1/2 marathons.)

2

Braven,

Thanks for the post and joining the forum! We hope you’re feeling better.

While it’s not possible for us to confirm or deny your specific diagnosis, rhabdomyolysis diagnosis typically requires the combination of some or all of the following elements- though it is a clinical diagnosis:

  1. acute neuromuscular illness (weakness, pain, dysfunction) without other neurological symptoms
  2. pigmented urine (e.g. pigmenturia) associated with myoglobin in the urine, though this may be absent in nearly half of patients
  3. elevated creatine kinase, typically >5000 or 5x the upper limit of normal

I’m not sure that you had/have rhabdo, but I’m not sure you didn’t either.

-Jordan