![\"Self-portrait](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/discover-deadly-disease-breaking-muscles-985940753.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n4<\/p>\n
Gemma, who also loves the gym, is sharing her experience to warn other fitness fanatics about the conditionCredit: Kennedy News and Media<\/p>\n
When the mental health ward manager noticed she was passing very dark urine that \u2018looked like cola\u2019, she was rushed to A&E where blood tests revealed she had rhabdomyolysis.<\/p>\n
The serious illness is a life-threatening condition caused by high-intensity exercise which causes muscles to break down and release harmful substances that can cause organ failure and death.<\/p>\n
Keen gym-goer Gemma, from Ayr, said: \u201cI first noticed something was off when I couldn\u2019t move my upper body to get out of bed the next morning.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought I\u2019d just over done it a bit at karate but the pain was disproportionate to the workout. I always get slightly sore muscles after exercise but certainly not as intense.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I noticed my urine was very dark I looked online and I was alerted to the condition rhabdomyolysis.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s something that can happen to anyone and what doctors said was that I wasn\u2019t hydrated enough while doing an intense workout. I should have been drinking more water before.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt felt really scary, it can be life-threatening so I panicked.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat gave me the motivation to go to A&E because obviously I didn\u2019t want to die.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gemma is now resting at home and drinking plenty of fluids as recovery can take months depending on complications.<\/p>\n
Despite being out of danger, Gemma said her muscles are still sore and the experience has left her feeling drained.<\/p>\n
\u2018I\u2019m obsessed with it\u2019, cries fashion fan as she tries on major dupe from Dunnes Stores \u2013 and it\u2019s just \u20ac8<\/p>\n
She is now warning others to stay hydrated before working out and to watch out for symptoms of rhabdomyolysis.<\/p>\n
Gemma said: \u201cThey said treatment can take a few weeks or a few months depending on complications.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m currently resting – no exercise at all for at least three weeks – and drinking plenty of fluids.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really important to know the symptoms, which are muscle pain, weak muscles and dark urine.<\/p>\n
\u201cMake sure you\u2019re hydrated before any workout, it doesn\u2019t matter how intense it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
WHAT IS RHABDOMYOLYSIS? (Info from NHS)<\/p>\n
Rhabdomyolysis is a potentially life-threatening condition caused by the rapid breakdown of damaged muscle with the release of the intracellular muscle contents, including myoglobin, creatine kinase and various electrolytes, into the bloodstream and extracellular space.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A KARATE student thought she was just sore after an intense class – only to discover it was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21036,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4322],"tags":[6335,443,1630,444,105,426,302,218,211,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-21035","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-ayrshire","9":"tag-diet-nutrition-and-weight-loss","10":"tag-fitness","11":"tag-fitness-and-exercise","12":"tag-health","13":"tag-health-warnings","14":"tag-heart-disease","15":"tag-mental-health","16":"tag-nhs","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114340091986101474","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Karate](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/KNM_KARATE_NEARLY_KILLS_STUDENT_1.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"IV](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/KNM_KARATE_NEARLY_KILLS_STUDENT_8.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"IV](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/discover-deadly-disease-breaking-muscles-985940726.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n