Bixby Man's Workout Lands Him In The Hospital With Rare Illness

A Bixby father will tell you, you can have too much of a good thing.

Mikey DeSirey loves the benefits of working out, but when he overdid it last year he landed in a hospital bed for a week.

DeSirey had a rare condition that he didn't even know he had until several days later.

DeSirey and his wife, Lindsay, stay busy raising two kids in Bixby, but staying fit is a top priority.

Last fall, he was doing pull-ups after recently scaling back the intensity of his workouts.

"There was no sudden flash of 'oh my gosh, I've done something wrong,’” DeSirey said. “But I knew that I was kind of past my capacity and that I had probably overdone it."

He kept feeling worse until he finally went to a doctor to see what was wrong.

"And pretty much immediately they said, 'you need to be in the hospital right away,'" DeSirey said.

DeSirey was admitted at Hillcrest South where he stayed for seven days as his enzyme test levels continued to skyrocket.

He was diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis, or rhabdo for short, a rare illness that can develop after you go too hard during a workout.

"Injured muscles break down and release a protein into your bloodstream,” according to the Mayo Clinic.

That protein can block your kidneys and the conduits that produce urine.

And his enzyme levels peaked at almost 400 times what normal levels should be.

DeSirey’s levels came down in a few days and he's back to being a dad and husband and he’s is still passionate about staying fit.

He's learned, though, no matter how experienced you are – listen to your body.

"What I blame this on is my pride, right?” he said. “I blame this on the fact that even when my body was telling me to slow down or stop I didn't. And that's on me."

Click here for more information on Rhabdo from the Mayo Clinic, and signs to look for to see if you have it.