Texas teen diagnosed with life-threatening disease after working out too much

HOUSTON — A 17-year-old teen from Texas was diagnosed with a life-threatening disease after hitting the gym too hard.

Jared Shamburger, of Houston, said he first started feeling sore after lifting weights for 90 minutes at the gym, news station KTRK reported.

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“Everything hurt,” Shamburger said. “It hurt to the touch. It was swollen.”

Shamburger, who had recently received the gym membership, said he was trying to “go hard fast” to compete with his dad and older brother, both of whom had been into bodybuilding for years.

When the soreness did not go away, his mother, Judy, researched the symptoms online and contacted a doctor to comfirm what she suspected was rhabdomyolysis.

Her suspicions turned out to be right and he was hospitalized for five days with the life-threatening condition.

Rhabdomyolysis causes a breakdown of muscle tissue that releases a damaging protein into the bloodstream. The condition, which is caused by injury, infection and strenuous exercise, can cause kidney failure, and if not treated, can lead to death.

“If he hadn’t caught it, if he hadn’t told me, if we had just gone out of town about our way,” his mom said. “I can’t even imagine. And I don’t want to, about what could have happened.”

Shamburger is expected to make a recovery and says he plans to go back to the gym when his body is ready.

Cox Media Group