[quote]Chef Lisa Marie wrote:
tigerbalm wrote:
i’m proud of my accomplishment and I’m ecstatic that I can finally be back in the gym doing what I love. I look and feel so much better.
You SHOULD be proud!
This is VERY inspirational… thanks for sharing your story.
Can you tell more about how you reversed your condition? Was it through nutrition and training?
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Thank you so much Lisa! You’ve always had kind things to say to everyone, you’re an awesome addition to T-Nation! My condition hasn’t actually been reversed. It is more “under control” if you will. One of the biggest problems I had when I first started training after the layoff is that my body wasn’t used to anything physical at all. I would go into the gym and after a workout that wasn’t even that intense, my body would literally cramp up and swell very badly. I was SOOOOOO sore that I could hardly move my body.
Because I didn’t have glucose to use as energy my body literally was using the protein in my body (a.k.a. my muscles) as the energy source. So in essence I was destroying muscle tissue. After a workout I would urinate myoglobin. Myoglobin is basically broken down muscle tissue and other wastes in my body. It would be so bad that my urine was literally the color of cranberry juice.
The danger in this is that if too much waste is produced too many times, the kidney’s can’t filter it and a condition known as rhabdomyalosis occurs. The kidney’s will shut down and you can die. It has happened before to other people. So needless to say I was a little scared! To take control I had to make sure I ate at least 200 grams of protein a day. At least that, more was better though.
Also, I had to be able to read my body and make sure that if I was pushing too hard I would back off. And one of the most important things, if not the most important, was to make sure I drank at least one gallon of water a day to help flush my kidney’s. After I had started training for awhile, my body would find different sources of energy (not just muscle I already had). After some time the myoglobin started going down.
The swelling and excruciating pain (I was actually hospitalized on one occasion for three days) I experienced started going down. And now after a few years I’m relatively safe in the gym. Although occasionally I do have a bout with the disease it is much more under control.
The thing that is funny to me is that to control the disease, I basically just have to be doing the things that everyone SHOULD be doing anyway. It’s just that in my case, I HAVE to do it or risk some serious consequences. Very very long here but I hope it clears up a few questions. Thank you once again for all your support. I really take it to heart. Even though I’ve only recently posted, I really do feel like I’m close to many of you, like one big, happy, rowdy, perverted, ripped up family 
