I'm new to the forum, so please excuse me if I've posted this in the wrong area or I say something I shouldn't.
I started working out about two years ago. I never played sports in high school or college, so I don't really have any old joint injuries to nag. I'm 6'3" and about 270 Lbs. I could barely deadlift 225 when I started and now I'm up to 415. I was going to compete in my first USPF event just over a week ago and really wanted a 1000 Lbs. total for my first meet. I figured if I added 10 Lbs. to my deadlift max, hit my max squat of 325 and add 5 Lbs. to my max bench of 245, I could make it.
Until recently, I've only taken protein, creatine and sometimes an NO pre-workout. I usually work out four days a week early in the morning. I have a great workout partner who has been doing this for almost 20 years and is very much into researching different lift methods, workout regiments, etc. I have really low test from complications of a surgery 12 years ago (not a vasectomy).
A friend offered me the rest of a bottle of Trenapro, about 48 pills. He suggested I increase water intake, but that was it. He's always given pretty good workout advice before, so I took his word for it. He thought that cycling onto it 2-3 weeks before the meet should help me hit my goals. Otherwise, I followed the directions on the bottle: one pill in the morning and one at night. I started taking it about March 7th. On the 14th and 15th I had a fever of 102 and felt nauseated, but still went to work. That Thursday the 15th I woke up feeling better, so I went to the gym. I was pretty upset when I maxed out on my deadlift at 265. My workout partner said not to sweat it from having been sick the day before. The fever came back later that day. On Friday the 16th, a knot developed in my lower-right quad, just above and to the outside of my knee. It was about the size of an egg and made it really painful to bend my leg. I work as a telephone company network technician, so I have to kneel on the ground a lot at work. This felt like having a really bad charley horse. I iced it, heated it, kneaded it, soaked it, stretched it, but nothing really helped it get better. This was eight days before the meet, so my workout partner advised backing out. He's been at this much longer than I have, so I took his advice. This was also the day I quit taking the Trenapro.
On Saturday the 24th, I got nauseated again. This was worse. I fought it off for about six hours, but eventually exploded. That evening I noticed my wrists were really hurting, but I assumed it was just from playing too much on my iPod Touch the day before. The next day, Sunday, I was in bed or in the bathroom most of the day. I called out sick Monday and Tuesday. Diarrhea is not something you want to battle when you're working in a rural area and the nearest bathroom could be 10-15 miles away. My wrists continued to get worse and started to look swollen. My grip, however, seems to be as strong as ever, as long as my wrists are straight.
I very rarely get sick, so getting sick twice in two weeks is pretty much unheard of for me.
Now my elbows, knees and left ankle are all hurting and feel stiff most of the time. On Monday the 26th I managed to get a bottle of fish oil 600mg capsules and have been taking those (2 in the morning, 2 at night) for a week now. No change that I can detect.
Tomorrow I have a scheduled day off work, so I'm going to the gym with my wife. I'm planning to lift very light and very carefully. With her there, if I do something to make things worse, at least she can drive me home. That's not an option at my usual workout time of 5:30 AM.
The "charley horse" in my quad is much better, but not totally gone. Everything else is pretty much the same or slightly worse over the past week.
I hope that someone out there has been through something similar and has some advice. I figured my odds of getting an intelligent/informed answer are probably better here than they are at the doctor's office. Going forward, the only workout supplements I think I'll ever take again are protein and NO. If I can't get there with those and hard work, then I can't get there. I'm not going to force it at the expense of my health, comfort or flexibility. I need to be able to climb ladders and kneel down for at least another 30 years and also meet my goal of someday being the strongest 80 year-old man on the planet. Why beat the competition when you can just wait for them to die? :-) HaHa! Just kidding (sort of).
I appreciate any feedback! Thanks!
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Originally Posted by warren916
