Tricep atrophy

[fairtex89]

In short my question is if hyperkalemia can cause rapid muscle atrophy ?

For context:

I was put on valsartan for high bloodpressure about 6 months ago.
A month or so into it i started having cramp like pain, starting in my right rear delt, into right tricep, and going all the way down to my right forearm. At the same time i had muscle twitches in my right tricep several times a day, lasting for like 5-10min at a time.

I told my doctor, and his respons was to try taking magnesium and just wait and see of it goes away.

The twitches and pain did decrease and i rarely have does anymore, so magnesium probably helped.

At the time i got diagnosed with high bloodpressure (and high hemoglobin) i got a bit scared, having had all the recent deaths in bodybuilding and all. So i started doing cardio like mad, lifted very little and basicly didnt pay much attention to the visual aspect of my physique.

But then about a month ago it caught my eye that my tricep long head on my right side has atrophied like crazy. It looks flat compared to left side. And doing spesific triceps excercices the atrophied side is of course much weaker, and feels like it isnt contracting like it is supposed to.

I am bringing this up to mye doctor on next visit in 3 weeks, but wanted to ask here on the board aswell. My feeling is the answers i get here will be of way more help than those from my doctor.


I appreciate all input

 

[headtrainer]

In short my question is if hyperkalemia can cause rapid muscle atrophy ?

For context:

I was put on valsartan for high bloodpressure about 6 months ago.
A month or so into it i started having cramp like pain, starting in my right rear delt, into right tricep, and going all the way down to my right forearm. At the same time i had muscle twitches in my right tricep several times a day, lasting for like 5-10min at a time.

I told my doctor, and his respons was to try taking magnesium and just wait and see of it goes away.

The twitches and pain did decrease and i rarely have does anymore, so magnesium probably helped.

At the time i got diagnosed with high bloodpressure (and high hemoglobin) i got a bit scared, having had all the recent deaths in bodybuilding and all. So i started doing cardio like mad, lifted very little and basicly didnt pay much attention to the visual aspect of my physique.

But then about a month ago it caught my eye that my tricep long head on my right side has atrophied like crazy. It looks flat compared to left side. And doing spesific triceps excercices the atrophied side is of course much weaker, and feels like it isnt contracting like it is supposed to.

I am bringing this up to mye doctor on next visit in 3 weeks, but wanted to ask here on the board aswell. My feeling is the answers i get here will be of way more help than those from my doctor.


I appreciate all input

I think both triceps and other muscle groups as well would be atrophying if it were from having too much potassium in your body. I would focus on doing one arm at a time over head rope extensions just for the right arm in order to try and bring up the lagging long head. Maybe the left tricep is doing more work when doing two arm movements. Atrophy in one arm is often a sign of nerve damage or nerve impingement, especially in the neck region. If you have neck pain and/or arm pain, weakness or numbness and tingling it could be from a herniated disc in your neck.

 

[lookslikesausage]

Like headtrainer says, I would look at any possible nerve compression on the cervical levels. For me, I had compression of C6-C7 and I had horrible pain in long head of the triceps (like really really bad). It was actually the worst when I was sitting. When my wife and I were in coffee shops or restaurants I had to hold onto something so that my arm was overhead to relieve the pain. I'm sure I looked like a twat but I was in a lot of pain. Pillow in the armpit is another trick for pain when sitting. Anyway, MRI might be useful to rule out nerve compression on the C level of spine.

 

[Bio]

Yes, get the cervical spine checked out and look at physical therapy that addresses it. Permanent nerve damage can happen quickly in the cervical spine. Most of my neck is fused and my left arm never fully recovered. It's about 85% to 90% in strength but my bicep is flat. It's been years and I can't get it to respond. So, get it imaged but get some PT in the meantime, if it is in fact a nerve issue.

 

[muscle96ss]

In short my question is if hyperkalemia can cause rapid muscle atrophy ?

For context:

I was put on valsartan for high bloodpressure about 6 months ago.
A month or so into it i started having cramp like pain, starting in my right rear delt, into right tricep, and going all the way down to my right forearm. At the same time i had muscle twitches in my right tricep several times a day, lasting for like 5-10min at a time.

I told my doctor, and his respons was to try taking magnesium and just wait and see of it goes away.

The twitches and pain did decrease and i rarely have does anymore, so magnesium probably helped.

At the time i got diagnosed with high bloodpressure (and high hemoglobin) i got a bit scared, having had all the recent deaths in bodybuilding and all. So i started doing cardio like mad, lifted very little and basicly didnt pay much attention to the visual aspect of my physique.

But then about a month ago it caught my eye that my tricep long head on my right side has atrophied like crazy. It looks flat compared to left side. And doing spesific triceps excercices the atrophied side is of course much weaker, and feels like it isnt contracting like it is supposed to.

I am bringing this up to mye doctor on next visit in 3 weeks, but wanted to ask here on the board aswell. My feeling is the answers i get here will be of way more help than those from my doctor.


I appreciate all input

As others have said, I think your issue is cervical related and the BP medicine is completely unrelated. Definitely start doing some stretches for the neck and upper body while seeing a good doc who can do some imaging to find the source of the problem. The longer the nerve is impinged, the harder it is to recover, so I would get started asap.

 

[fairtex89]

Thanks guys, I'll get it checked out. Probably has nothing to do with the BP meds.

Really the pain is mostly gone, so if it was/is an inpinged nerve, can it "un-pinge" by itself ?

In the meantime while waiting to get imaging, which takes forever in Norway, i will do singel arm work and stretching as suggested, and hopefully the damage isnt permanent.

 

[Sixfoottwo]

Yes it can go away by itself. I had the same in my left arm. Took a very long time as doctors kept referring me to physical therapists and they told me they couldn't do anything because it was a hernia. At one point my upper chest and triceps were basically gone, couldn't hug my girl without almost passing out due to pain. Then finally they scheduled a procedure but before that happened pain stopped out of the blue and never came back. Upper pec and triceps are still a bit fucked tho.

 

[fairtex89]

Yes it can go away by itself. I had the same in my left arm. Took a very long time as doctors kept referring me to physical therapists and they told me they couldn't do anything because it was a hernia. At one point my upper chest and triceps were basically gone, couldn't hug my girl without almost passing out due to pain. Then finally they scheduled a procedure but before that happened pain stopped out of the blue and never came back. Upper pec and triceps are still a bit fucked tho.

Good to know it might have went away by itself, still want to get ikke checked though.

In your case, do you think nerves are permanently fucked, or just need time to build back lost tissue ?

 

[TrippplePPP]

Yes, get it checked out. Sounds similar to a nerve being irritated. If the area is just inflamed then the nerve is chemically irritated and this can go away and the nerve will feel better quicker if you stop irritating it. If the nerve is squashed mechanically it has a harder time recovering on its own but it can still happen but also has chance of lasting issues. Bottom line is get it checked out if you are still having symptoms.

 

[w8tlifterty]

I have compression in C6 -C7 and it comes and goes. Sometimes very painful throughout the right tricep, neck, right forearm region. I’ve been able to mitigate loss of muscle while continuing to train hard. When symptoms are at their worst, I’ll lose significant strength for 3-5 weeks but I’ve been able to get it back for the most part once symptoms subside.

Bob annd Brad are two older guys on YouTube that give excellent advice and demonstrate stretches/PT for this very issue. Once I started implementing these stretches, it provided almost immediate relief the last time the nerve acted up. I’ve just continued with them daily (sometimes half-ass) but it most certainly has helped.

 

[fairtex89]

I have compression in C6 -C7 and it comes and goes. Sometimes very painful throughout the right tricep, neck, right forearm region. I’ve been able to mitigate loss of muscle while continuing to train hard. When symptoms are at their worst, I’ll lose significant strength for 3-5 weeks but I’ve been able to get it back for the most part once symptoms subside.

Bob annd Brad are two older guys on YouTube that give excellent advice and demonstrate stretches/PT for this very issue. Once I started implementing these stretches, it provided almost immediate relief the last time the nerve acted up. I’ve just continued with them daily (sometimes half-ass) but it most certainly has helped.

Thanks. When pain was at its worst i searched youtube for excercises that could help, and came across the channel you mention. Did some of the excercises which gave some relief, but only temporarely. The towel excercises for neck decompression is nice. I actually bought one of those inflatable neck decompression things from ebay, works great but nearly chokes you out though.

 

[Sixfoottwo]

Good to know it might have went away by itself, still want to get ikke checked though.

In your case, do you think nerves are permanently fucked, or just need time to build back lost tissue ?

Not sure to be honest. It's been a few years now and while it's not as bad as it once was and strength has gotten better, I can still see my left triceps and upper pec lagging. Plus where I used to be able to Incline bench like 3.5 plates a side I'm currently not even up to 3 plates after a couple of years so really don't know if it will ever return to normal. Sure will do my best haha.

 

[Dave Perez]

I ruptured c2 and c3 a few years ago...my left arm atrophied so bad it looked like a pencil....I could not curl a 5 pound dumbbell...a few rounds of Prednisone and 8 months later I was back to normal...