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So I work out regularly--mostly small stuff I can do in my dorm room (a lot of push-ups, sit-ups, pilates, yoga, and some jogging outdoors).
Lately (past two weeks or so) I've started feeling really sick--kinda nauseous, very weak--immediately after working out, sometimes enduring for a while afterwards. I've reduced my workout significantly, to about half of what is was when I started out. I've also started drinking a lot of fruit juice (I don't like sports drinks) during my workout to keep my blood sugar high.
This has helped a little, but not much.
I thought I was getting better. This morning, I worked out right after waking up, then went to get a shower. I passed out in the hallway.
Even now, I still feel really shaky and my hands are trembling as I type. I'm still sweating uncontrollably.
I don't want to go to the health center unless I can't figure out some small solution instead--after all, I'm not exactly doing well on the monetary front. But my brother had a cancer scare earlier this year, and so suddenly I'm much more cautious about any troubles I have.
So. Any Jatraqueros have a similar problem? Any idea of what the symptoms fit? Any idea of what I could do about it?
Posts: 1735 | Registered: Oct 2004
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posted
First of all, glad to hear you are being cautious. You're right to be concerned, and to take action.
Secondly, do these weak spells happen at any other time, or just after a workout? How is your overall hydration before, during, and after the workout?
I've had this same feeling before, and it's because I pushed things too far. Usually rest, and lots of water helped.
I don't know much about drinking fruit juice during a workout, as I usually only drink water. If this continues, I think it would be worth a trip to a medical professional just to be on the safe side. As a cancer survivor myself, whose cancer was diagnosed because I "just wanted to check someting out" I'm a big supporter of going and getting things "checked out."
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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posted
Um, the second question is a bit more difficult. I work out two or three times a day, walk or jog everywhere on campus, and always take the stairs up to my room, which is on the ninth floor. So I have these occasionally outside an actual decided workout period, but I spend most of my day exerting myself . . .
I take a lot of breaks to drink water. I usually have two bottles of fruit juice with me (either V8 or grape juice), and I make sure I drink regularly.
I am very afraid of going in for any sort of medical tests. I'm a bit in debt right now from paying hospital bills from my car wreck last summer--which I'm sure my parents would help with, but I don't want them to even know about it unless it's absolutely necessary. They worry a lot. College is such a huge whole I'm dumping money in, and I don't know how much it would cost me to get any kind of testing done at the health center. I'm stretched too thin right now.
Posts: 1735 | Registered: Oct 2004
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posted
It's been my experience that most campus medical centers will check you out without requiring a lot of money, even if you're uninsured. At the very least, call the health center and find out what your options are. There's no point in writing off getting checked up when you don't even know for sure whether it's fiscally out of your reach. They may tell you that basic check-ups are covered by your tuition. They may tell you that it costs you an arm, a leg and your firstborn, but if that's the case, what have you lost by asking?
Posts: 4313 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
Good for you, both for exercizing and for checking out your symptoms. As a throw in, don't rule out the oddball. I had symptoms very similar to yours over the course of several decades (lol-much older, but started in my teens). Turned out I have Celiac Disease (can't tolerate the proteins in wheat and related grasses.) Very common. Allergies can do similar things.
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Our health center will see you for free. They only charge for like....pregnancy testing and such, and that is only $5. They will test for UTIs and I don't know what else for free. I think the tetanus shot they gave me when I stepped on glass was also free. I would go check it out before you automatically write it off as too expensive.
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In college, my health center would see students for free. You had to pay extra for tests, but students were never charged for consultations. I think pH and ero are right. Call to make sure that it's free, and then go in and get the advice of a medical professional. It will, at the very least, give you a better idea of how to proceed from here.
Posts: 866 | Registered: Aug 2005
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posted
You know, Joldo, what you're describing really doesn't sound normal. I wouldn't be comfortable recommending a "small solution" to an undiagnosed, new onset activity intolerance. You really do need to see a real doctor, get blood work done and get your heart checked. Fainting, shakes, and uncontrolled sweating? It sounds like the kind of thing that really needs a diagnosis and not just some fruit juice.
Monday morning, go to the student health center and describe what is going on with you. And then, please, post back here (or you can PM me if you'd like) and let me know what they said is going on with you. 'Cause I care.
Until you get this sorted out, give yourself a break from all that exercise. People who faint in the corridors get a free pass from their Tante to take the elevator instead of climbing nine flights of stairs.
Posts: 10397 | Registered: Jun 2005
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quote:Originally posted by GodSpoken: I had symptoms very similar to yours over the course of several decades (lol-much older, but started in my teens). Turned out I have Celiac Disease (can't tolerate the proteins in wheat and related grasses.) Very common. Allergies can do similar things.
Good luck!
So do I! I was anemic for the first 3 and half decades of my life. I had no idea what people were supposed to feel like. Once I was diagnosed, my hematocrit soared into the 40's. Wow, what a difference.
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
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quote:This morning, I worked out right after waking up, then went to get a shower. I passed out in the hallway.
Even now, I still feel really shaky and my hands are trembling as I type. I'm still sweating uncontrollably
First off, I agree with Tante (and others): go see a doctor.
Second, does it occur only after exercise?
Third, to me, it sounds like low blood sugar. You mentioned that you worked out right after waking up, and had an episode of whatever it is that's going on. Did you eat anything prior to working out? Did you have juice before working out right after you woke up?
Juice will cause a spike and then rapid drop in blood sugar, which can lead to the symptoms you're having. Proper nutrition is highly important if you're highly active during the day. Part of it is maintaining a steady blood sugar level. Complex carbs and proteins will provide a steadier blood sugar than simple carbs (like juice).
But this needs to be checked out by the docs. It could be something entirely different, as the symptoms you're having can have multiple (read: nastier) causes, not just low blood sugar.
And even if it is "just" low blood sugar, it's something that needs to be addressed with a medical professional as well.
A trip to the campus health center is way cheaper than a trip to the ER.
Posts: 14745 | Registered: Dec 1999
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posted
Ok, I've set up an appointment to head in tomorrow morning and get some stuff checked out. I'll post when I know what's up.
Posts: 1735 | Registered: Oct 2004
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posted
You might not like sports drinks, but there is a reason they exist. People can die from electrolyte imbalance. I'd second eating something real before working out. It doesn't have to be anything big or fancy. Even some oatmeal would be better than taking juice during the workout. Juice is sort of natural, but if you think about it, it's not really in a form nature ever devised. Also, most of our fruits we have today have been selectively bred for sweetness over the millenia.
Sugar in juice is not in an immediately usable form, so your body has to metabolize it, and if you're in the middle of a workout, that can be a bit of a strain. I'm not actually pro sports drink either. Water is good.
Of course, we weren't meant to live in dorm rooms either. . Glad you're getting it checked out, and hopefully it will turn out to be nothing.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
I once passed out after exercising hard, and it turned out to be because I hadn't eaten anything for about 16 hours (had dinner at 8 the night before, slept till noon, got up and exercised right away--bad idea). I'm glad you're getting checked out by the doc.
Posts: 957 | Registered: Aug 2002
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. Glad you're getting it checked out, and hopefully it will turn out to be nothing.
