“How hard could it be? It’s just riding a bike, right?” was what I said to my friend when she invited me to go with her to one of UConn’s spin classes. However, I could not have been more wrong.
When we made it to the spin class at exactly 5:30 p.m, we were chastised by the woman at the door for not making it fifteen minutes early. The class was just starting so my friend adjusted her bike and hopped on, but I had no idea how to adjust the bike so I just got on hoping for the best.
I made a huge mistake.
The seat of my bike was too far away from the handlebars, so I spent most of the spin class figuring out how to balance my body weight without slipping off.
So then, it began.
The instructor told us we would do ten minutes, and switch from “saddle position”– which just means sitting down– to “third position”– which means standing up and leaning forward– every minute. While this doesn’t sound hard, it was probably the worst ten minutes of my life. “Lower the resistance if you need to, but don’t forget to push yourself!” our instructor told us.
I looked at the resistance knob and turned it to the right. I twisted and twisted and twisted…. And nothing was happening. The more I twisted the harder it seemed to cycle. Maybe I was just turning it the wrong way? So I tried turning the knob the other way, and nothing. Was. Happening.
I was freaking out, the resistance was killing my legs, but at the same time, I didn’t want the people there to judge me if I stopped and adjusted or switched to a new bike.
“What if they think I’m unathletic? What if they judge me?”
With those thoughts in my head, I just powered through my high-resistance, unadjusted bike workout for the rest of the 45 minutes as we switched from saddle, to standing, to third. My eyes were on the timer the whole time, wishing I looked like Ariana from the “Side to Side” music video:
But I probably just ended up looking like this:
After the workout, I could not stand. Not in an “I’m so tired, I can’t stand” way, but in a “MY LEGS AREN’T WORKING, WHY AREN’T MY LEGS WORKING” way. I didn’t want to put too much attention on myself, so my friend and I walked outside the spin room and I slid to the floor. I felt sick. I felt like I would never walk again. I thought my blood sugar was low so my friend got me a smoothie, but instead of drinking the smoothie, I ended up throwing up everything I had eaten that day on UConn’s gym floor. It was probably the most embarrassing moment of my life.
We left the gym, my friend and I hobbled to my dorm (which was on the other side of campus), and I thought the nightmare was over.
It wasn’t over. It had just begun.
I woke up the next morning with intense pain in my legs. I felt like every time I moved my legs, my muscles were being torn apart and just could not put themselves together again. I didn’t want to tell anyone because I knew what they would say, “You took a spin class, your legs are just hurting because you haven’t exercised in a while.” So I just kept it to myself. I felt like my legs were screaming all the time, and I couldn’t do anything to block the noise.
I went to the bathroom and noticed my urine was a dark orange. I decided I’d drink a lot of water and hopefully it would go away, so I continued my day– albeit painfully. I was basically waddling to all my classes. I had to pull myself up staircases and I realized how inaccessible UConn is. There are buildings that do not have elevators and buildings with stairs but no ramp. It was eye-opening. #MakeUConnMoreAccesible
The next day, my urine was still dark and the pain would not go away. I had to tell someone, but whenever I complained, I was told I was being dramatic. “You just need to stretch, trust me, I’m an athlete, my legs hurt too, you just need to stretch.” I couldn’t tell her that I used to be an athlete too, I know what post-workout leg pain feels like. This wasn’t post-workout leg pain.
I called the Advice Nurse on campus, and she laughed at me, told me to take 3 Advil, and then hung up.
But it started getting to me. What if I am being dramatic? What if I go to the doctor and they laugh at me? So I didn’t say anything. I skipped my morning classes for the whole week because I was in so much pain. Then I did what doctors often say you aren’t supposed to do. I Googled my symptoms.
I typed “intense leg pain after spin class” into the search bar, and after scrolling through fitness forums about how “great” the burn feels, I stumbled upon an article in Vogue about a woman who had the same symptoms as me, and who ended up going to the hospital and was diagnosed with Rhabdomyolysis — the breakdown of muscle cells.
I quickly typed “rhabdomyolysis” into the search bar and skimmed the WebMD page about it. The symptoms all match… But I’m just being dramatic. So I didn’t do anything, but I called my mom. And I cried.
“It hurts but everyone is telling me that I’m being dramatic, but what if I’m not being dramatic? And I want to go to the doctor but what if it’s nothing and they think that I’m one of those people?”
“Who cares about other people? Make an appointment tomorrow, if it’s nothing it’s nothing, but what if it’s something?” she told me.
The next day, I made an appointment with Health Services. I scheduled it during one of my lectures, because they refused to give me an extra fifteen minutes to get there. When I got there, she asked me what was wrong.
“My legs are really hurting, I took a spin class–”
“It’s just muscle pain. Do you have pain in both legs or one leg?” she had cut me off.
“Both legs”
“It’s just muscle pain, you’ll be fine. If it was something else, you would only have pain in one leg.”
“But it really hurts, I’ve never had pain like this before… and I’ve been drinking water but whenever I go to the bathroom it’s orange.” I said
“Maybe you just weren’t as in shape as before then. We’ll do a urine test, but trust me, you’re fine.”
Maybe you weren’t as in shape as before then. These words rang around my head. Maybe I wasn’t in shape then. Maybe I’m just being dramatic. Dramatic.
And then the urine test came back.
“Huh…” she looked at me. Then she smiled. “Is your period coming soon?”
This was my chance. It was coming soon, but I knew if I said yes, she would brush me off. “No,” I lied.
“Huh,” she stopped smiling, “I think… you might have a kidney stone. There’s a good amount of blood and protein in here.” My mind flashed to the WebMD article on rhabdomyolysis: Breakdown of muscle cells and buildup of protein in kidneys.
I knew it wasn’t a kidney stone. That would be too much of a coincidence. I was almost sure it was rhabdomyolysis. I didn’t say anything though– doctors hate when you say they’re wrong, so I just nodded.
“Would your parents be able to pick you up and take you to the hospital for an ultrasound?” My parents were an hour away and it was almost 5:00 p.m. I was going home anyway though for an old friend’s birthday party that weekend, so I asked if it would be okay if I just went to my doctor at home or a hospital I’m familiar with.
“Yeah, that’s fine. It’s not urgent. Just take 3 Advil every six hours for the pain. But trust me… this has nothing to do with your legs.” she said.
The next day, my dad came and picked me up, and right when I got home, I went to the doctor’s office. The doctor called the ER, and over there, the doctor said they were almost completely sure it was rhabdomyolysis, but wanted to take some blood tests to make sure and to find out what my kidney levels were.
So, what is rhabdomyolysis? Rhabdomyolysis is basically when the fibers of your muscles die, break down, and release themselves into your bloodstream, generally caused by muscle trauma. Your kidneys are not able to filter the protein that comes from your muscles (creatine kinase), and therefore the build-up of the protein can potentially block your kidneys and cause renal failure, or even death. However, quick treatment usually produces a good outcome.
When the blood tests came back, my creatine kinase (CK) levels were at 120,000. Normal CK levels are between 24-100. Mine had built up from the 5 days I didn’t do anything about it and to top it off, my liver was swollen as well.
I was admitted to the hospital right away and it was so embarrassing when a doctor would come into my hospital room and say, “So…. spin class?” They asked me if I took any painkillers and when I told them how I was advised to take 3 every 6 hours they said, “Yeah… we generally say to stay away from painkillers. They can affect your kidneys and your liver, which is exactly what we don’t want.”
I spent four days in the hospital and I missed my friend’s birthday party as well as two exams. Luckily, I didn’t need any medication, just fluids. I was plugged into an IV 24/7, and I ended up watching my friend’s party through Snapchat.
When I was released, my CK levels were at 7000 — still higher than normal, but low enough to be managed at home.
As for the recovery? Walking up stairs still feels like I’m climbing Mount Everest. I had to teach myself to not put pressure on my knees because I was so used to waddling. Any type of leg pain scares me so much that I chug down water. For those who don’t know me, I hate water. I hate liquids. I hate drinking things. So it was hard having to drink 3 liters of water every day.
But I’ve learned a lot from this experience. The first thing is that you know your body more than anyone else. If you think something is wrong, get it checked out. If I had waited any longer, I would have been in the hospital for a lot longer and it could have gotten much more serious.
The other thing I learned is that I shouldn’t have worried about what other people thought of me at the spin class. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have even been in this situation. If you need to stop, then stop. Who cares about the haters?
And while I’ve been cleared to exercise again, let’s just say for now, I’m gonna stick to my original low-exercise regimen.