Poisoned By My Own Legs

  

Walking around isn't as easy as it used to be for Henry Walben. As I watch him shuffle around the house, straining and sweating, I wonder how it all happened, how a once active Sunday league footballer was now hobbling around like a pensioner.

'I remember when I would run to the shops' says the 26 year old, speaking as though he was now 90 years old. 'I'd always dash around, go and get eggs for my mum, she'd kiss me for my troubles'. In January things took a turn for the worse for Henry when he joined a gym to shed a few of those extra Christmas pounds.

'I joined the gym because I was starting to be a bit porky - I totally over did it at chrimbo. So I decided to work out at the gym for the first time ever, without any induction, without any warm up, having never been before - and it proved to be the most stupidest thing I have ever done.'

Henry, like a kid in a sweet shop, launched himself straight onto the treadmill. Two miles later he was onto the cross trainer, and then quickly onto the spinning machines. He didn't stop there and without taking a break he went straight to the weights room, followed by an advanced zumba class. Still Henry hadn't finished though. 'No pain, no gain' he told himself and determined to make the most of his first time in the gym staggered over to the rowing machines. Finally Henry finished with a swim.

Everything seemed fairly normal by the time Henry arrived home that night. He was exhausted though and went straight to bed. However, during the night Henry awoke screaming! There were pains in his legs and he couldn't lie still - his legs were cramping up and causing him tremendous pain. Henry's Mum - Maude, awoke thinking somebody had broken in to the house. She rushed to his room armed with a pair of hair straighteners as a weapon. What was all the fuss about? Henry was writhing around in pain, crying and pointing down at his legs.

'Ma, my legs are gonna drop off!'

Henry was cursing and rolling around on the floor, clearly in horrendous agony. His face was contorted too - and his eyes and mouth were twitching uncontrollably. Maude stayed calm however. She'd given birth to six children in total and was an experienced mother. She didn't want to take any risks and straight away, although still in her night gown, drove Henry to Accident and Emergency. The Doctors quickly gave him something for the pain, but told him they wanted to keep him in overnight. Henry kissed his mother goodbye - his face still twitching, his eyelids now unable to stay fully open, because of all the twitching.

Prognosis

In the morning the hospital consultant gave Henry and his mother the prognosis.

Henry can't remember that exact terms for the prognosis, he considers them 'scientific' and 'complicated words'. But basically Henry had such a huge build up of lactic acid in his legs that he had actually over dosed on that acid. In other words his legs were so stiff from the exercise, so thoroughly worked, that his own bodily acids were poisoning his legs and now poisoning his body through his blood stream.

The acid was now starting to work its way around his body - making his muscles twitch as it coursed through his exhausted limbs. The Doctor was worried Henry's kidneys weren't going to cope with cleaning it all up.

That morning Henry was to have to have some tests. First up, they wanted to check the efficiency of his kidneys - were they cleaning his blood properly? After some more blood and urine tests, next would be a EMG test on the muscles in his legs (A EMG test probes the electrical activity in the muscles). Then there would be a further renal test whereby they would inject a dye into Henry's veins and see how his kidneys disposed of it.

All this was quite a shock to the system for Henry who was still lying in the hospital bed, still stiff and in pain from his massive workout. When he closed his eyes - all he saw was the treadmill, the cross trainer and all those weights. What a fool he had been!

Test Results

That evening the test results came back. Partly they were inconclusive, but it was mostly good news, his kidneys seemed to be functioning well. He took a strict lecture from the nurse, mostly advice on warming up, cooling down, and not punching above his weight so to speak.

Henry had wasted every bodies time, and for that he was dead embarrassed. With time, his legs and all that strange twitching would eventually subside. In the meantime Henry was advised to avoid caffeine and any further unnecessary stress on his muscles. Henry, though still sheepish and still stiff tells me he has definitely learnt his lesson and has since booked a proper induction for the gym.