Em Rusciano Hospitalised with Rare Muscle Condition
Former radio personality Em Rusciano, 47, has shared a startling health update, revealing she’s been admitted to hospital with a rare and potentially life-threatening condition. The star took to her Instagram Stories to detail the unusual ordeal that has even left medical professionals intrigued.
“I’m in hospital. I’m ok,” Rusciano posted, admitting the circumstances were “so fkn ridiculous” that she’s become a subject of fascination among the staff at Austin Hospital in Heidelberg. “If this was an episode of House, I’d be the main storyline,” she quipped.
The condition Rusciano is battling is called rhabdomyolysis, often shortened to “rhabdo.” This serious ailment occurs when damaged muscle tissue breaks down rapidly, releasing its internal components into the bloodstream.
“Basically, my muscles (biceps to be exact) got so damaged that they started leaking into my blood,” Rusciano explained.
The leaked muscle proteins, particularly myoglobin, can overwhelm the kidneys, leading to potential damage. To combat this, Rusciano is undergoing aggressive hydration therapy with IV fluids. “They’re flushing me aggressively with IV fluids. I have to have my wee measured every hour,” she stated.
Rusciano revealed that the cause of this severe muscle breakdown was an intense gym session. “I’ve developed something called rhabdomyolysis (rhabdo)… I essentially went too hard at the gym and have caused some muscle death. As one does,” she admitted.
The unusual nature of her case has made her a notable figure within the hospital. “Doctors have literally been coming and talking to me for fun because they’ve not seen this happen to someone like me ever. I’m like a new zoo exhibit,” she shared, highlighting the significant elevation in her creatinine levels. “My creatinine numbers were 45,000, and normal is below 5000. I know pride is the wrong emotion here.”
In a subsequent post, Rusciano pinpointed the exact exercise that triggered the condition: pull-ups. “I got the Rhabdo doing pull ups. My biceps are still pretty swollen and I can’t straighten my arms yet,” she wrote, indicating the significant muscle damage.
Beyond her personal health scare, Rusciano also shared a humorous, albeit slightly bemusing, observation from her hospital room. She posted a short video clip showing a fellow patient in an adjacent bed, with the distinct sound of electric buzzing. “The man next to me is flat out shaving,” she captioned the video. “In his bed. Sir, no.”
This health incident follows closely on the heels of Rusciano’s public confirmation of her separation from her husband, Scott Barrow. In her recently released memoir, Blood, Sweat and Glitter, Rusciano disclosed that she and Barrow had “officially, properly, legally separated.”
Rusciano attributed significant life changes, including her ADHD diagnosis at 42, an autism diagnosis the following year, and perimenopause, as catalysts for her personal evolution. “My relationship with Scott changed, which is probably not surprising, because I changed entirely,” she revealed. The couple officially parted ways in November 2024, with Rusciano noting that she is now in a much better place than when the separation initially occurred.
Rusciano and Barrow share three children: Marchella, 24, Odette, 18, and Elio, 6. She emphasised that despite the separation, they remain committed to co-parenting their youngest son, Elio. “We’re still a family, it’s just a different shape. We’re still very much involved in each other’s lives,” she explained.
“We just kind of said this isn’t working for either of us, and we’re going to do this our way,” she continued, contrasting their amicable split with the often acrimonious divorces portrayed in popular media. “All we really get is examples on American TV of divorces and separations, and it’s messy and awful, and there’s none of that here.” Rusciano concluded by affirming the enduring bond with her former partner: “He will always be my family as the father of my kids.”
