HOUSTON (KTRK/CNN) - Many people experience muscle pain and soreness after an intense gym session, but a Texas teen's workout landed him in the hospital with a life-threatening issue.
Jared Shamburger, 17, got a new gym membership with his family. His dad and older brother have been lifting weights for years.
He felt the need to go hard to "catch up to them," he said. But after an intense arm workout last week the soreness and swelling weren't going away.
"It was super-duper sore," Jared Shamburger said Wednesday. "Everything hurt. It hurt to the touch. It was swollen."
Judy Shamburger, Jared's mom, searched the symptoms online. She said she knows that can sometimes cause more harm than good, but this time it paid off.
"The mama bear in me kind of took over and I called the pediatrician and said, I really think my son has rhabdo," she said.
She was right, and her son was hospitalized for five days with rhabdomyolysis. It can be caused by many things including injury, infection and hitting the gym too hard.
It causes a breakdown of muscle tissue, releasing a damaging protein into the blood and possibly damaging the kidneys.
"In extreme cases it can also cause death," Jared Shamburger.
Jared is expected to make a full recovery. He said he plans to get back in the gym soon, but his family hopes others will be aware that muscle pain, weakness and severe swelling after intense exercise may warrant a trip to the doctor.
"If he hadn't caught it, if he hadn't told me, if we had just gone out of town about our way, I can't even imagine - and I don't want to - about what could have happened," Judy Shamburger said.
Rhabdomyolysis can also be caused by a fall or auto accident. It also can be the result of a viral or bacterial infection.
Early diagnosis and treatment can lead to successful treatment.
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