I appreciate everyone's help on this. You guys have told me a lot more than the docs have.
TO WESTCHESTER: The sequence of symptoms and tests makes sense to me. Thats kind of the way I understand it, the thing I dont understand is why I would be running bad if Im in the initial stage of it. Is a lack of iron itself enough to make you suck that bad, or do you only suck after your hematocrit drops? I feel like Ive been running crappy since early August. I dont know which of those tests I had and which I didnt, but I will give a complete analysis of tests from what I remember below. As for the cause, I think some of it has to do with increased calcium intake. When coming back from the stress fracture I supplemented with Calcium pills because I didnt drink a lot of milk. This fall I started drinking more milk (I got over lactose intolerance) while still supplementing. As for those other options, I dont like meat a lot and dont eat it a lot. I used to cook more in a cast iron skillet than I did this season. I dont believe that I have a bleeding ulcer, although after some hard long runs Ive noticed some blood in my stools, but it went away in a day. And no, Im not a woman. I wouldnt call myself a red-meat eating male, because I dont eat a lot of red meat. Ive probably bought 3 lbs of red meat in the last 3 months, if that. I do eat more meat though when I eat out.
TO ARISTOTLE: They were actually concerned about my calcium level being too high, so thats a good point, that I didnt know before. Im definetly a high altitude guy and I do a lot of long runs at 8000+. Again, like I mentioned before, I ran like crap even before I had the test with the 47 HCT, so this future crash really scares me. I also have realized that I was confusing tests. The 47 came after a race, a few beers and a long run, I probably was dehydrated. As for retesting, I cant really order the tests myself, the docs dont like it when I ask for them to do something else, I guess its insulting or something (and Im phrasing it as good as I can.) Also these tests are getting really expensive and my insurance isnt covering (unless I hit a huge deductible.)
A few things to note: My long runs have been spectacular, not sure why that is. I just dont have it when I go fast and exceed some threshold, anaerobic or lactic, not sure which.
Also here is a timeline:
9/26 - Began Liquid Iron supplementation
10/8 - Ran like crap in race, had last beer for month
10/10 - Blood drawn for test showing: High calcium levels, 70 SGOT (liver thing), 47 Hematocrit, no iron tests done, may have been dehydrated
10/13 - Got results from first test, told to stop taking iron because Hematocrit was normal but SGOT was high. Tested parathyroid for something wrong, docs idea because of high calcium level. Also told not to drink or take anti-inflamotories for a month to see effect on SGOT.
10/19 - Parathyroid test comes back normal.
11/4 - Blood drawn after no alcohol or advil for month
11/5 - Ran 35:31 on medium fast sea level course, ending my season.
11/8 - Results from test come back (very hydrated for this test). SGOT still above normal, but reduced to 56 (High end of normal is 50). They rule out alcohol as a factor saying it would be back to normal if alcohol had resulted in the high SGOT (I didnt drink a lot, 3-4 beers after a race). Because of still elevated SGOT more blood drawn.
11/11 - Results from 11/8 test come back. Hepatitis is negative, still pending mononucleosis (sp?) test, which I highly doubt is positive, and syrum ferritin of 25 (normal range 20-345 for males), no H&H done on this test.
I know this info is scattered but thats how the tests have been. My worst running probably occured in late september before the supplementation. Since then, its been a rollercoaster, some great runs that give me glimmers of hope, but a lot of miserable ones. Thanks so much again for your help.