Iron deficient, how long until improvement?

What's the numbers, what are you taking, and why were you low?

iron harrier wrote:

Male, not anemic just deficient. I just started taking iron supplements, how long until improvement? I run 90 a week and am 21 yrs old. please help, i hate not being on top of my game.

I would like to know the answer to this as well.

2 months ago my ferratin levels were 9...pertty dang low. I started taking an iron pill with 1000mg of Vitamin C every day, sometimes twice a day.

How long until I see improvement in my numbers? I am a 21 year old female.

mine was 9 in early spring of last year. 6 months of 2-3/day 65mg iron sulfate plus vitamin C, up to 17. My hemoglobin also popped up a couple. I'm going to get it checked again soon. I'm a vegetarian, but this kind of slow progression is kind of typical from what I've read.

You'll see improvement along the way, though. The dizziness went away somewhere toward the end of the 6months though. I noticed that it seems to be very up and down. A good day, two to three bad days. You might have to space workouts further apart if you have trouble recovering.

Do you know why your ferretin is low?

sometimes ferritin level goes down even if your iron reserve is high. Check TIBC (Total Iron Binding Capacity) and CRP / albumin to make sure.

they analyzed my blood on a scope and counted iron deficient cells, apparently my body is have trouble take in the iron from food, so im taking a simple iron supplement, multi, and enzyme to break down iron.

iron harrier wrote:

they analyzed my blood on a scope and counted iron deficient cells, apparently my body is have trouble take in the iron from food, so im taking a simple iron supplement, multi, and enzyme to break down iron.

wat?

there is no way to count "iron deficient cells", maybe they counted average hgb/cell, but this can be tricky too - sometimes body can't produce cells with enough hemoglobin, i.e. as result of overtraining or certain deficiences.

and no ones body "have troubles getting iron from food", unless digestion is blocked by purpose, for example alot of coffe block iron digestion, same goes for zinc/copper deficiency.

anyway, it's your body. Standard procedure is to check ferritin, serum iron, TIBC, albumin, CRP and hgb/rbc/hct to rule out conditions able to mimic iron deficiency. Without such tests you are risking iron overload - and it's WAY harder to treat than deficiency. Even if risk is low, it's better to spend few more bucks on tests and make sure, than wasting whole year to get rid of excess iron.

back to original question:

let's assume your problem is, in fact, iron deficiency

there is reason why your body cannot absorb iron. It's nearly always poor diet - lack of zinc, copper, folic acid, chromium, excessive consumption of coffe, tea, certain foods. Find out what it is and you will be fine in few months, maybe even weeks. Ignore problem and just swallow iron pills - it will take forever.

Bump on this.

I'm 21, male, blood iron anemic with a count of 7, just diagnosed a few days ago. Was running about 90 a week, recently down to 50-60. Am I reading this right - it takes 6 months to get over the tired feeling? Anyone have suggestions on training during this time, ie can you keep racing? workouts? other things to change in diet? Thanks

UGH!! I dont know, im going to get a real blood test and get the right answers. what are some tell tale signs i can look for other than simple fatigue. and if it is just fatigue, is it barely able to get out of bed fatigue? Because generally i feel tired on some days while others pretty normal.

twig mzungu wrote:

Bump on this.

I'm 21, male, blood iron anemic with a count of 7, just diagnosed a few days ago. Was running about 90 a week, recently down to 50-60. Am I reading this right - it takes 6 months to get over the tired feeling? Anyone have suggestions on training during this time, ie can you keep racing? workouts? other things to change in diet? Thanks

No, no 6 months. I'd say 2 months, but only if you change your lifestyle completely - healthy eating, no training at all for whole month (try gym or swimming), healthy eating...erm... and try to eat more healthy!

c'mon guys, I'm vegan with thyroid problems, so I should be iron deficient even without training on high meat diet - yet my blood tests are excellent (above average) and I can donate blood every 2 months.

Why? I'm eating alot of fresh fruits and vegetables, while trying to reduce processed food.

I've developed pretty severe anemia twice, and both times I kept running, just much slower and less volume. It took me a few months to get feeling better both times, but everyone's different. I would say 6 months is a max. Once you're levels are up though, don't make my mistake, keep getting tested reguarly. I took a multi with iron every day and still developed an iron defficiency. Also, make sure you're going to a hematologist and not a general practicioner. When I finally went to a hematologist he put me on 3 times the amount of iron i had been previously prescribed!

maybe it was the weird shaped cells that are produced with low iron stores (if so, you are really low, and your hemoglobin/hematocrit numbers have to suck too.)

One other thing to check that looks like iron deficiency anemia is a b deficiency. That's a cheap one.

Good diet isn't always the answer unfortunately. But a bad diet will make a problem into a disaster.

The reason I asked why your stores were low is the same as tomtoms. If you don't know what the problem is, throwing iron at it will not necessarily solve it.

It is for me, but slowly, unless I want to quit training for a few months.

Search for old threads. I got a lot of help on here when i had trouble, but the 6 month rule is just some peoples experience, not really a rule.

Do you drink milk with your meals? That's how a lot of people develop it.

My test was done through a nutritional blood analysis. I don't even know how valid these are.

Bump

Is feeling moderately decent on runs and workouts but definitely underperforming and not feeling yourself during races a sign of low iron?

I once had a varsity runner (low 17s for 5k)who went to the mid 18s around championship time. We figured he just had a bad couple of races. Once indoor started, he was running about 11:40 for 3200m and he got himself checked out. He went on liquid iron and went to low 11s, barely qualified for our conference with a 10:50 and got back down to 10:20s in about 4 weeks after starting liquid iron.

2x anemic wrote:

I took a multi with iron every day and still developed an iron defficiency.

There is calcium in the multi that will interfere with iron absorption.

It's taken me nearly 8 months to get my iron up 2-3 points. It all depends on the person, your training, and diet. At my school we have a terrible cafeteria and it's hard to get much Vitamin C.