Rhabdomyolysis

Rhabdomyolysis is where damaged skeletal muscles quickly break down.^[3] The symptoms can be muscle pains, weakness, vomiting, and confusion. There can also be confusion and tea-colored urine.^[4] Rhabdomyolysis can also injure the kidneys with myoglobin.

Rhabdomyolysis
Urine from a person with rhabdomyolysis showing the characteristic brown discoloration as a result of myoglobinuria
Pronunciation	/ˌræbdoʊmaɪˈɒlɪsɪs/[1][2]
Medical specialty	Critical care medicine, nephrology
Symptoms	Muscle pains, weakness, vomiting, confusion, tea-colored urine, irregular heartbeat
Complications	Kidney failure, high blood potassium, low blood calcium, disseminated intravascular coagulation, compartment syndrome
Causes	Crush injury, strenuous exercise, medications, drug abuse, certain infections
Diagnostic method	Blood test (creatine kinase), urine test strip
Treatment	Intravenous fluids, dialysis, hemofiltration
Frequency	26,000 per year (USA)

The most common causes of Rhabdomyolysis are crush injury, strenuous exercise, medications, or drug abuse.^[5]

During rhabdomyolysis, a protein that stores oxygen in the muscles called myoglobin is released into the blood. The kidneys filter the blood and remove the myoglobin. However, the myoglobin breaks down into other chemicals which damages the kidneys which can cause severe injury or even death.