Health problems got me on the bench for a while.. inspiration please!!!

OK bros..I will start my story from the beginning.

About 2 weeks ago I went out of town on business... my last day before I flew out I developed horrible crippling abdominal pain that radiated to my back and made it impossible to function.. Finally the pain subsided and I flew back and remained naseus for 4 days afterwards. I assumed it was severe gas pain and wrote it off and continued to lift but I felt lethargic and weak in the gym.. then while I was lifting with my friend at the gym he commented that I had a yellow tinge to me.. I looked in the mirror and to my horror the whites of my eyes and my skin had yellowed quite a bit. I made a doctors appointment the following day. In that amount of time I grew increasing jaundiced and would wake up in the morning and vomit.. it felt as if my food was not digesting.

When I went to the doctor he looked at me flat out and started scaring the crap out of me telling me the possibilities of hepatitis... so he gave me a full blood screening and I came up clean.. Then he sent me for a cat scan of my abdomen for the pain I was experiencing... The results told that a Gallstone was stuck in my Common Bile Duct and causing obstruction to my liver and pancreas. I was rushed into the hospital for emergency extraction of the gallstone from my bile duct. Then they kept me over night and lapriscopically removed my gallbladder the following moring. Now I cannot lift for 6 weeks and I am losing my hard earned muscle sitting on my ass taking vicodins... I can do cardio in 2 weeks but will not help me much.

I need inspiraration from some of you bros who were forced out of the game for a period of time from health problems.. Will it be easy to get my muscle back?? Will six weeks reak havoc on all my results?? Help bros!!!

Eddyflash

You will gain it back very quickly. Muscle memory is a wonderful thing. I am glad it was caught in time or it could have been much worse. I wish you the best of luck but right now forget about losing gains and spend some time with those you love. The gym will be waiting.

Yeah they said if I would have waiting a little while longer it would have got infected and spread all over my body and could have resulted in death.. I gotta say it was a very sobering experience.. Thanks Rickson

Any Docs on here who have seen that problem in 23 year old fit males before??

I had a similar situation however it wasn't as severe as your yours, and it was mostly my fault. After about 3 years of training I got a pinched nerve in my neck and at the same time my father was killed. I got depressed, stopped training and over the following year and a half I gained weight (100+ lbs) and lost alot of my hard earned gains. I looked like shit. I did it to myself though. After returning to the gym it took probably 5 months before my strength and mass returned to what it was. Problem now is that I am alot heavier than I was before. I also noticed that I didn't stop at the brick wall that I was at before I quit the gym earlier. If I hadn't let my diet go to shit I would be bigger, stronger, and leaner than I was before the accident even though I took a 1.5 year vacation. Keep your head up bro. I understand what you are going through. Just keep in-tune with your diet and everything will be fine. Just beware of the weight gain. Its a ton easier to gain back lost mass then it is to lose gained weight. Good luck bro and I hope that everything works out for you.

always look on the bright side bro...despite the extended time away from the gym this situation will be resolved and in due time...don't forget that other components of your life outweigh lifting and that there are people out there who would do anything for you at the drop of a hat.

an injury like this is only a temporary setback since in 6 weeks you will be able to hit the weights again. imagine if the doctor told you that you could never do it...things could be much worse.

just remember that there is light at the end of the tunnel and that this experience could be a life changing one or carry a defining moment in it with all possibilities.

you need to remember that for every opportunity missed 2 more come along...all that is needed is discretion on which to choose. so make the most of your time off and we will see you in the gym sooner than you know.

thanks daem.. that is good advice bro

I'm in a similar pinch now (though nowhere as severe as what you are going thru!).

I've been out of the gym for 2 weeks now and it's driving me completely insane. I pulled my neck pretty badly when play-fighting with my kid... you'd think "how much dammage can a 9yo do?"... :D Well, more than I thought! I must have done something wrong and pulled muscles or nerves in my neck and now major pain! :P

Went to my doctor, told me it would pass but NO STRAINING... ugh... he even wanted me to wear a neck brace... I think not... :)

Oh well... hang in there bro... time will fix all.

Red

Thanks for the kind words Red.. My only hope is when I get back in there I will be so fueled and full of fire from waiting that I will explode and break past my previous goals...

I completely understand what you're going throug. Or what you will be, rather. The main thing is keeping your metabolism where you want. When I shipped out to Parris Island, I was the biggest recruit in my platoon, 246 lbs, 9% bf -all natural. I could bust out 26 pull ups like it was nothing. The 13 weeks of bootcamp and the restricted intake of protein broke me down to about 215, 17%! And my pullups were at 17. (Strenght in the corps is pretty much measured by pullups).l I was furious when I got home and saw my buddies only to be greeted with "you went to MARINE bootcamp?!" Needless to say, I had been restricted to cardio myself. I was really down and it would still be another 2 months before I was able to manage my own time and get into the gym. It's been a little over 2 months and I just put up 6 wheels on bench again (I was repping with 315 just before shipping out). So, I'm gradually making my way back. But if you ask me, with all the focus on cardio, ultimately, yeah, I was set back, but really, I feel like all the time to focus on cardio and diet, I ended up learining more. Learn to compensate where you can. All of the dieting techniques I had learned prior to shipping were solely for gianing and cutting when I wanted to. But as most are saying "look at the bright side". I know it sucks, I feel for you. But your muscles will ALWAYS remember where they were. And it won't take half the time it took to get there to get back. So, don't worry, you'll be back in no time. And your body will pretty much start from scratch with shock principals.

So I will be able to re-shock my muscles more easily when I get back into the gym?? All the old techniques I have put aside becuase they stopped working will start to work again?? That sounds cool..

Yep! I'd say that and having to be a little more creative will be the biggest benefits. I forgot to mention the one draw back that you wouldn't think about off hand, though-Time management. I was horrible the first month or so. It was hard to find time in the gym because I had gotten out of the habit of putting it first. No matter how important it is to you, it's not number one for however long. So making it a priority again can be a challenge depending on what you substitute for it while you're away.

It won't be hard to make it a priority again bro.. the gym is my Church and my Psychiatrists office.. I don't have to deal with emotionally weak people or any other bullshit when I am there... it is my fortress of solitude