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jimmybro1

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Saturday 21st November

 

Week 4 Maximal effort squats

 

Back squats 60x1x10, 100x1x4, 140x1x3, 160x1x1, 180x1x1 (light wraps), 200x1x1 (THP wraps), 220x1x1 (Signature Golds), 247.5x1x0 (Signature Golds), 237.5x1x0 (Signature Golds)

 

I arrived back up from the South Island late Friday night and decided to head over to a gym in Te Aroha in the morning for squats. Initially the warmups went well, form was fluid and the bar felt good on my back. Worked up to 160kg without wraps or sleeves then starting wrapping throughout the remainder sets.

 

 

The goal was to squat around 235-250kg on the day and with 220kg feeling fast and smooth decided to take a somewhat ambitious jump to 247.5kg with a little encouragement from the lads at the gym at the time.

 

Things did not go so well. Only managed to drive the bar 3-6 inches out of the hole before I had to dump the bar. A combination of the pressure in my head and the lack of confidence under that weight caused me to fail. Looking at the video it looks as if I may have been able to grind the reverse out if I was not so quick to stop the fight. As soon as the pain in my head became too much I dumped the bar.

 

 

Once getting out of the rack after dumping the bar I had a dull pain behind my right eye, something I had not experienced before and did not think much of it at the time. I took some time to recompose myself for a 237.5kg squat. Once again when walking out the bar the weight felt good on my back but it was a good 10-15 minutes since the last attempt at 247.5kg so body was not perhaps as warm as it should have been.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtyyFBOXRKQ 

 

When descending the squat everything felt fine until I went to reverse the lift. I got a sharp pain in my head that caused me to dump the bar, and immediately my vision was distorted in the corner of my eye. It seemed to be in both of my eyes as I would cover one and see the same pattern in the other. The pattern I saw through my eyes was similar to that below.

Aura_ss.jpg

 

 

 

After a few minutes my entire vision had become distorted and was hardly able to make out anything on my phone. At this point was wigging out a bit as I wouldn’t be able to drive in this state to get things checked out. Closest medical clinic open on a Saturday was Anglesea Clinic in Hamilton (40-50 minutes away). Decided to lay in a dark room hoping that my vision would return to its normal state which it did after 30 minutes or so.

 

 

Was vision came back it was replaced by a massive headache behind my left eye (pain earlier was behind right eye). The pain was constant rather than throbbing and caused me to feel dizzy and feeling of nausea. I decided to call a nurse and was suggested I go to A&E in Hamilton asap, as vision as settled I drove back to Hamilton occasionally pulling over for a dry wrench.

 

 

When arriving at A&E the nurse checked me in and gave me an ear full for driving in my state, after which I had some basic eye and blood pressure tests done. Blood pressure at the time was 110/60 at 78bpm. I was then immediately sent to the doctor at the clinic were more examination was done on my eyes and blood pressure. After which I was sent straight to the emergency room at Waikato Hospital.

 

 

At the hospital I was checked in again and the same tests were done with similar questions over and over again as I was reacting slowly to the questions at the time and my body feel weak all over. I was then sent to have a CT scan for my brain to check if there was a brain bleed which did not show any evidence of one however was told the scan does not give me the clear 100% and a lumbar puncture will have to be taken to give complete assurance. The lumbar puncture would check if there is blood in my spinal fluid that travels from the brain, indicating a bleed.

 

 

As I was already in the hospital for seven hours I wasn’t interested in having it done, this decision was made along with the advice of the doctor who said the likely hood of having a bleed which wasn’t picked up from a scan and recovering in the time frame it did into a competent state was unlikely.

 

 

Come today feeling fine other than a dull ache behind my right eye (were it seemed to originate). Going to see a GP tomorrow as recommended by the ER doctor to have further check-up.  

 

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15 minutes ago, jimmybro1 said:

Saturday 21st November

 

Week 4 Maximal effort squats

 

Back squats 60x1x10, 100x1x4, 140x1x3, 160x1x1, 180x1x1 (light wraps), 200x1x1 (THP wraps), 220x1x1 (Signature Golds), 247.5x1x0 (Signature Golds), 237.5x1x0 (Signature Golds)

 

I arrived back up from the South Island late Friday night and decided to head over to a gym in Te Aroha in the morning for squats. Initially the warmups went well, form was fluid and the bar felt good on my back. Worked up to 160kg without wraps or sleeves then starting wrapping throughout the remainder sets.

 

 

The goal was to squat around 235-250kg on the day and with 220kg feeling fast and smooth decided to take a somewhat ambitious jump to 247.5kg with a little encouragement from the lads at the gym at the time.

 

Things did not go so well. Only managed to drive the bar 3-6 inches out of the hole before I had to dump the bar. A combination of the pressure in my head and the lack of confidence under that weight caused me to fail. Looking at the video it looks as if I may have been able to grind the reverse out if I was not so quick to stop the fight. As soon as the pain in my head became too much I dumped the bar.

 

 

Once getting out of the rack after dumping the bar I had a dull pain behind my right eye, something I had not experienced before and did not think much of it at the time. I took some time to recompose myself for a 237.5kg squat. Once again when walking out the bar the weight felt good on my back but it was a good 10-15 minutes since the last attempt at 247.5kg so body was not perhaps as warm as it should have been.

 

When descending the squat everything felt fine until I went to reverse the lift. I got a sharp pain in my head that caused me to dump the bar, and immediately my vision was distorted in the corner of my eye. It seemed to be in both of my eyes as I would cover one and see the same pattern in the other. The pattern I saw through my eyes was similar to that below.

Aura_ss.jpg

 

 

 

After a few minutes my entire vision had become distorted and was hardly able to make out anything on my phone. At this point was wigging out a bit as I wouldn’t be able to drive in this state to get things checked out. Closest medical clinic open on a Saturday was Anglesea Clinic in Hamilton (40-50 minutes away). Decided to lay in a dark room hoping that my vision would return to its normal state which it did after 30 minutes or so.

 

 

Was vision came back it was replaced by a massive headache behind my left eye (pain earlier was behind right eye). The pain was constant rather than throbbing and caused me to feel dizzy and feeling of nausea. I decided to call a nurse and was suggested I go to A&E in Hamilton asap, as vision as settled I drove back to Hamilton occasionally pulling over for a dry wrench.

 

 

When arriving at A&E the nurse checked me in and gave me an ear full for driving in my state, after which I had some basic eye and blood pressure tests done. Blood pressure at the time was 110/60 at 78bpm. I was then immediately sent to the doctor at the clinic were more examination was done on my eyes and blood pressure. After which I was sent straight to the emergency room at Waikato Hospital.

 

 

At the hospital I was checked in again and the same tests were done with similar questions over and over again as I was reacting slowly to the questions at the time and my body feel weak all over. I was then sent to have a CT scan for my brain to check if there was a brain bleed which did not show any evidence of one however was told the scan does not give me the clear 100% and a lumbar puncture will have to be taken to give complete assurance. The lumbar puncture would check if there is blood in my spinal fluid that travels from the brain, indicating a bleed.

 

 

As I was already in the hospital for seven hours I wasn’t interested in having it done, this decision was made along with the advice of the doctor who said the likely hood of having a bleed which wasn’t picked up from a scan and recovering in the time frame it did into a competent state was unlikely.

 

 

Come today feeling fine other than a dull ache behind my right eye (were it seemed to originate). Going to see a GP tomorrow as recommended by the ER doctor to have further check-up.  

 

 

 

hearty bro

the way you describe the vision disturbance is 100% identical to aura migraine that i get, but only once ever had it in gym, usually just when chilling. had few tests done when i first got them at age 13 but no real cause and they only happen once or twice a year

 

its a possibility but def let them do all the tests they wanna do, to rule out something worse

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12 hours ago, Pseudonym said:

Shit, man. Not good at all. Hope you can get to the bottom of this and get it sorted. Keep us posted.

Cheers mate, still unsure of what has happen doctors have a few theories but none are really putting my mind to rest. 

 

Still having headaches throughout the day I wouldn't say they are painful probably 3/10 on pain scale (where 10 is arm cut off with all nerves exposed) but it is definitely a pain that is lingering and bothering me. 

 

Seen the doctor yesterday he didn't do any testes at all nor examine me just said the pain can persist for weeks. Didn't explain why? or what he thought has happened, nor if it is much of an issue in his opinion so left the doctors office $50 lighter in the pocket with no answers, or explanations.

 

Just been told to take pain killers and NSAIDs. The pain is mostly focused around the rear of my right hand eye but pain occasionally is felt elsewhere in my head. I haven't felt nausea or immense pain since the injury, a good sign I guess... 

 

Been told can continue working out but no breathe holding or pressure to be in head so extremely light stuff until the pain has resolved.      

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With taking on doctors considerations and my past of injuries I have decided to take a break from strength training for at least 6 months to a year. I will return to more isolation based training in two weeks time if I have recovered enough by that stage. 

 

Not an easy decision as I have really enjoyed the training and become more hungry than ever for process. It just seems my body isn't cut out for this shit at the moment. If my injury was elsewhere I would train around the injury but the brain is a bit to close to well the brain! Not something I want to hinder its recovery. 

 

Two days this week I have trained extremely light but left the gym slightly dizzy and with a faint headache and just last night I had another "headache attack" this time pain radiating from the temple on the right side of my head. 

 

I've been doing a bit for reading about headaches with my spare time now and not quite sure with headache best explains my situation as my symptoms seem to over lap a bit. This is what I have found so far. 

  • Cluster headaches - Typically pain felt behind the eye and get "attacks of headaches" at a regular frequency for a few weeks or months  these can go into remission and return at a later date. This condition sounds terrible to more I read into as it is typically on going for life but likely to be differentiating degrees of the condition. Doctor things this is what I am experiencing but I am skeptical as the headache was trigger but strain as opposed to random initiation. I think the doctor is basing this purely on location of pain. 
  • Exertion headaches -   Experienced when the body is under physical stress typical exercises to cause this squats, deadlift and leg press. Also know as weightlifters headache. This pain is typically felt at the temples of the head and back of head. Its thought the pain can last for seconds to an hour. There are no mentions of visual disturbance for this however and the pain I felt was for >> hour. The typical recover for this is 2 weeks to 2 months, training light upper body can typically commence 1 week after injury. 
  • Aura Migraine - This typically has some sort of build up light headache for a day or something along those lines, then a visual disturbance exactly like I have described on an earlier post. This disturbance intensities over 5-10 minutes then returns after another 5-10 minutes. Follow by a painful headache for a few hours. I am not sure how long the typical recover for this is however. Not sure if this is the cause of my headache as it was more brought on by the physical activity itself rather than a build up. Although I did have a slight pain behind my right eye in between sets and perhaps the press/stress accelerated the process.    

I think its some kind of combination of cases possibly along with inflammation of the blood vessels and perhaps rupture behind the eye due to the pressure although eyes are completely red but are slightly blood shot. At the end of the day no matter the cause it is an injury to the brain and rest is essential to prevent worsening the condition. Its not an easy task taking a break though especially since I have only been back in the gym for less than 8 weeks... 

 

Sorry about the rant got a lot of spare time of my hands now.. haha  

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1 hour ago, jimmybro1 said:

With taking on doctors considerations and my past of injuries I have decided to take a break from strength training for at least 6 months to a year. I will return to more isolation based training in two weeks time if I have recovered enough by that stage. 

 

Not an easy decision as I have really enjoyed the training and become more hungry than ever for process. It just seems my body isn't cut out for this shit at the moment. If my injury was elsewhere I would train around the injury but the brain is a bit to close to well the brain! Not something I want to hinder its recovery. 

 

Two days this week I have trained extremely light but left the gym slightly dizzy and with a faint headache and just last night I had another "headache attack" this time pain radiating from the temple on the right side of my head. 

 

I've been doing a bit for reading about headaches with my spare time now and not quite sure with headache best explains my situation as my symptoms seem to over lap a bit. This is what I have found so far. 

  • Cluster headaches - Typically pain felt behind the eye and get "attacks of headaches" at a regular frequency for a few weeks or months  these can go into remission and return at a later date. This condition sounds terrible to more I read into as it is typically on going for life but likely to be differentiating degrees of the condition. Doctor things this is what I am experiencing but I am skeptical as the headache was trigger but strain as opposed to random initiation. I think the doctor is basing this purely on location of pain. 
  • Exertion headaches -   Experienced when the body is under physical stress typical exercises to cause this squats, deadlift and leg press. Also know as weightlifters headache. This pain is typically felt at the temples of the head and back of head. Its thought the pain can last for seconds to an hour. There are no mentions of visual disturbance for this however and the pain I felt was for >> hour. The typical recover for this is 2 weeks to 2 months, training light upper body can typically commence 1 week after injury. 
  • Aura Migraine - This typically has some sort of build up light headache for a day or something along those lines, then a visual disturbance exactly like I have described on an earlier post. This disturbance intensities over 5-10 minutes then returns after another 5-10 minutes. Follow by a painful headache for a few hours. I am not sure how long the typical recover for this is however. Not sure if this is the cause of my headache as it was more brought on by the physical activity itself rather than a build up. Although I did have a slight pain behind my right eye in between sets and perhaps the press/stress accelerated the process.    

I think its some kind of combination of cases possibly along with inflammation of the blood vessels and perhaps rupture behind the eye due to the pressure although eyes are completely red but are slightly blood shot. At the end of the day no matter the cause it is an injury to the brain and rest is essential to prevent worsening the condition. Its not an easy task taking a break though especially since I have only been back in the gym for less than 8 weeks... 

 

Sorry about the rant got a lot of spare time of my hands now.. haha  

 

not the end of the world bro, ffs brain definitely takes priority over a big squat lol, not much use being a vegetable  or gymrat that squats 300. 

i would say push the doctors hard for more investigation and get 2nd, 3rd, 4th opinions if you're not convinced. 

isolation should be sweet and in 6 months time come back bigger. gives you a chance to rest all other body parts as well and come back fresh as

 

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It's been 9 days since the vision loss injury. Headaches have more or less disappeared as of the past two days. Got a minor headache yesterday, felt like more of a typical headache though than what I was previously experiencing. 

 

I started supplementing 100mg Aspirin in the mornings as of Saturday this may have influenced not having the headaches not sure. Instead of having headaches though I am getting short sensations of vertigo (dizziness). Feels odd but no pain or nausea associated with it. 

 

I am going to try an do a light workout today in the afternoon, as pain appears to have settled. Will make a slow transition over a few months to the previous workout routine.

 

The plan is: 

- Week 1 recovery (no activity or stress) this stage was last week

- Week 2 light upper body only exercises, mostly machines, focus on breathing (not holding pressure/tightness) 

-Weeks 3-6 light upper body exercises and introduction light isolation lower body exercises (leg extensions/leg curls etc)

-Week 7-12 Increase weight on isolation movements, introduce light compounds (deadlift/squat) 

-Week 13-16 slow progression of weights to 85% of previous 1RMs (RPE 7) 

-Weeks 17-30 working sets in 85% range all RPE 8  

 

Its a slow progression will be hard to follow but necessary. The goals I had for 2016 can just become 2017's. Normally I would push though injuries in the past and it just prolongs the recovery to where you never get the opportunity to fully recover. I'm not interesting in this reoccurring so taking a slow conservative approach.  

 

Have another doctors appointment Thursday this week were I am going be to pushing for tests, answers and possible specialist referral. Keen to find out what the exact case of the issue was so can work forward from there.  

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21 hours ago, Wookie said:

The Wookie method - gives you health issues.

I would say my approach to a maximal effort rep wasn't the most logical. Hardly a programming issue. 

 

Once recovered I will continue trying it. I can't really judge the effectiveness because of all the outside factors I was experiencing during the time. Being sent away from home, long hours, lack of sleep, lack of access to decent food/poor diet,  and injuries. Pretty much everything that could have gone wrong did haha. 

 

I did make decent progress on OHP and will be keen to get 110-120kg next year (will be more bench focus next year, probably a few bench only meets). 

  

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14 hours ago, Pseudonym said:

That really sucks mate, but your plan sounds solid. Sounds like you're in a good headspace, despite the difficulties.

 

Look at this as an opportunity to get shredded as faaaark for summer! ;-)

More to life than lifting bro, just got to focus on other priorities like my career while I recover to keep me busy. 

 

As for getting diced to the socks for summer i've grown out of those days. Its all about the perma-bulk ! White beached whale status.  

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30/11 Week 2 - Recovery 

Back/Shoulders/Biceps

Lat pull down 5x16 

Narrow grip lat pull down 3x16 

Horizontal cable row 3x12 (felt pain in head third set so left it there) 

Cable bicep curl 4x12

Lateral raises 5x12 

Face pulls 3x12

 

Was some reasonable volume, quite light but got some pump so was good. Good to be back at it. 

 

Did some stretches to finish and spun some yarns.

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01/12 Week 2 Day 2 - Recovery 

Chest/Shoulders/Triceps

Hammerstrength Press 1ppsx5x16

Machine Flies 5x16 

Lateral raises 3x16

Front raises 3x16 

Tricep extensions 5x16 

 

Pretty basic workout felt good. No pain in head was a little bit dizziness at one stage though but quickly recovered. 

 

One thing I have noticed is that my sleep has been awesome the past week, sleeping really deep and waking up feeling fresh (not tried). 

 

Can't wait to bench again! 

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Saw doctor again yesterday for follow up got bloods taken to test a few health markers of the heart and brain. Can't remember what they all were but a few of the things tested were: TSH, Thyroid function, Liver functions, Cholesterol (lipids), blood count etc 

 

Also getting referred to a neurologist hopefully for next week to get further tests done, make sure everything is savy. In terms of recovery generally feeling good but have random dull headaches that seem to randomly come and go. 

 

Still managing to get light workouts in it out noticeably aggravating the condition which seems to be a positive thing.      

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Got blood test results back yesterday everything was in reference range expect the liver enzymes AST and ALT. 

 

AST 80U/L (ref 0-40) 

ALT 130U/L (ref 0-50) 

 

giving ratio of 1<ALT:AST<2.5 

 

Which from what I have read can be due to many liver diseases or toxicity. Considering I have been taking 2000-3000mg of paracetamol a day and 100mg aspirin toxicity is likely to be cause if this. But doctor has referred to an ultrasound of liver which seems excessive I would have waited and re tested the enzyme functions a week after discontinuing the pain killers. 

 

Still awaiting specialist appointment 

 

 

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I know what you mean, but a doctor that plays it safe is a good problem to have!

 

Aren't those levels typically higher in lifters anyway? If I recall correctly, high AST/ALT is an indicator of muscle being broken down, or something. Although that alone probably doesn't cause readings as high as yours.

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20 hours ago, Pseudonym said:

I know what you mean, but a doctor that plays it safe is a good problem to have!

 

Aren't those levels typically higher in lifters anyway? If I recall correctly, high AST/ALT is an indicator of muscle being broken down, or something. Although that alone probably doesn't cause readings as high as yours.

Yup your right breaking down (repair) of skeleton tissue will increase those enzyme levels in the blood other muscles like the heart to also. But the majority of ALT and AST enzymes pass through the liver when it is damaged making in more permeable.

 

Paracetamol notable increases the release of these enzymes whether this is the cause not sure will find out soon enough. 

 

Had the ultrasound this morning they pretty much looked at every organ (liver, kidneys, prostate, spleen and bladder) will get results sometime tomorrow. Prostate was 25ml in volume, normal range 20-25 so within range although grows with age so something to keep an eye on. Not of concern at this stage. 

 

    

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07/12 Week 2 Day 6 - Recovery 

Bench 60x1x10, 80x1x10, 100x5x5 (paused)

Machine press 4x12

Machine flies 4x16

Tricep extensions 4x16

 

Workout felt good, decided to give bench a go. Everything felt light no pain in head, although getting up off bench between set made me dizzy/light headed for a little while. I think that was normal for bench though might have just been paranoid. 

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2 hours ago, jimmybro1 said:

07/12 Week 2 Day 6 - Recovery 

Bench 60x1x10, 80x1x10, 100x5x5 (paused)

Machine press 4x12

Machine flies 4x16

Tricep extensions 4x16

 

Workout felt good, decided to give bench a go. Everything felt light no pain in head, although getting up off bench between set made me dizzy/light headed for a little while. I think that was normal for bench though might have just been paranoid. 

yeah man big call but id say do your best to push the expectation of something to feel wrong outta your head.

if I read about a certain illness on the internet I usually start having the symptoms lol so  best to just let the body do its thing within reason unless it becomes really noticeable

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1 hour ago, maccaz said:

yeah man big call but id say do your best to push the expectation of something to feel wrong outta your head.

if I read about a certain illness on the internet I usually start having the symptoms lol so  best to just let the body do its thing within reason unless it becomes really noticeable

Yeah mate, exactly. 

 

If you read through my journal its crazy the amount of times I have been in and out of the doctors office and hospital. Unusual things seem to happen to me that follow the symptoms of serious conditions but after investigation are always dismissed. I think if you look hard enough your always going to find something of concern. 

 

I've had so many tests, xrays, ultrasounds and MRIs done that my whole body is almost on file lol. At least I can say I've had a full body WOF and nothing was found. Glad I have medical insurance or it would have been an expensive journey. 

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