Runners Who Have Had Anemia: How Much Did You Improve With Treatment?

11??! Holy crap. You'll feel/race so much better once that is behind you.

What's funny is that the number was not flagged because the "normal" range according to the lab is 11-307 ng/mL. I've seen other ranges that start at 12-14. The consensus from my running friends is that for our activity level, it should be at least 30-35.

Had it during college, and after, and it sucks. My serum Fe was in the single digits and even getting it above 30(recommended 50+ i think)was tough. When I did finally get to "normal" levels it was like I could breathe again. I tried pills and liquid and gotta say getting liquid iron and mixing it with applesauce is the only way to go. In college we just downed it, and it was nasty.

Something like this would work:

http://amzn.to/1fQNYj9

Hope this helps!

You are in a normal range. Listen to your doctor, these results are not flagged because they are not a concern. I would almost predict that you would listen to your `runner friends`and purchase some stupid over the counter supplement.

Some of the runner friends are doctors and nurses, and I never said I wasn't listening to my doctor. That was just what the chart read. He is waiting to hear back from Endocrinology.

So you already self diagnosed, taken a poll from your friends, decided you need some kind of treatment, yet you haven`t heard back from your doctor.

You got it.

Doctor MD wrote:

So you already self diagnosed, taken a poll from COMPLETE STRANGERS, decided you need some kind of treatment, yet you haven`t heard back from your doctor.

correction.

I'm skeptical of most doctors unless you find one that specifically understands runner/endurance athletes.

Otherwise, the first 10 minutes of the conversation usually involves explaining that you run competitively and then differentiating what you do versus what the "marathoners" that he knows do. Typically the conversation still ends with the doctor suggesting 6-8 weeks off and then it's back to the this-is-important-to-me conversation.

txRunner got the test taken and is now crowd-sourcing ideas from people in the same ballpark. Nothing wrong with an unconventional second opinion...

Doctor MD wrote:

So you already self diagnosed, taken a poll from your friends, decided you need some kind of treatment, yet you haven`t heard back from your doctor.

Doctors like you are a huge problem (IF you are a real MD). You go by some chart or book or lab recommendation and don't listen to patients about how they actually feel.

You don't like patients that can think and do some of their own research into a problem. Your ego is just too big and fragile, set it aside my friend and do your customers some good.

I improved my 5k time from 21:03 to 18:15 on the track within 4 months. My Ferritin went from 8 to 30. It makes a big difference.

Last time I was at the doctors his first question after a brief exam was: "what did Dr. Google say it is?" He ended up telling me things I'd already read/suspected and then over-prescribed some drugs, one of which he later told me I didn't have to take.

Kevin52 wrote:

Doctor MD wrote:

So you already self diagnosed, taken a poll from your friends, decided you need some kind of treatment, yet you haven`t heard back from your doctor.

Doctors like you are a huge problem (IF you are a real MD). You go by some chart or book or lab recommendation and don't listen to patients about how they actually feel.

You don't like patients that can think and do some of their own research into a problem. Your ego is just too big and fragile, set it aside my friend and do your customers some good.

I always warn people like you Kevin to let an endocrinology Reticulocytes percent assessment play out, and advise you not to listen to your own untrained ignorant self research. Even though your head case friends have some sort of anecdotal evidence that they took some iron in a bottle and improve there marathon time from 3:30 to 3:20.

I already told you this but I'll give you more detail.

My ferritin was 11 ng/ml too, about a year ago. My CBC was totally normal. After my first round of supplementation (liquid iron + OJ, 1000%, 12 days) I got it up to 22 ng/ml. After that alone, I moved up from group 4A to group 4 in practice.

For reference, here are some of our recent workouts, so you can see what times those groups correspond to:

http://wednesdaynightrunners.com/WorkoutsPage.html

All of my paces just shifted dramatically, except my easy pace which stayed the same. I was able to train better and then obviously race better. I'm sure some of my racing better was from being able to train at a higher level, but that spring I dropped my half-marathon from an 89:31 to an 85:48.

When I got it up higher after a few more rounds and a good diet (it is currently 51 ng/ml), I didn't feel any different, but I enjoy the security that I have ample stores so even if I screw up my diet a little, it would take a lot to deplete back to 11 ng/ml. I have a standing order for a full iron panel from my doctor. I get it done before every season.

Doctor MD wrote:

You are in a normal range. Listen to your doctor, these results are not flagged because they are not a concern. I would almost predict that you would listen to your `runner friends`and purchase some stupid over the counter supplement.

I hope you're trolling. Doctors are interested in your health, not your performance. Serum ferritin that low will ABSOLUTELY impact your performance, even in the absence of anemia.

Basically I'm excited for you. You have a lot to look forward to. After supplementing iron it honestly felt like I was on PEDs. Except it was totally legal. Or like I was running in someone else's body. It's an experience you don't get legally and ethically very often. Cheers to many nights of disgusting iron cocktails!

After the 12 days, what did you do to maintain?

Focus on my diet. I reintroduced red meat, just a couple of times per week, because I had been avoiding it due to high cholesterol. I looked actively for sources of non-heme iron (unsweetened cocoa powder is probably my favorite, followed closely by the Whole Foods bulk golden raisins which are 14%) and made a point of choosing those foods when possible, eating them with Vitamin C, and not eating them at the same time as my source of calcium.

This helped me:

http://www.mckinley.illinois.edu/handouts/dietary_sources_iron.html

But again I had to try a few times. After the first round of supplementation I got it measured again immediately to see how well it had worked. Then I repeated again after a short break until I could get it up to the "ideal" range of 35+.

If you have been deficient for years it might be a bit resistant to going up. My values were:

11 ng/ml

22 ng/ml a few weeks later (after round one)

20 ng/ml a few weeks later (after round two)

31 ng/ml a few months later (after round three)

51 ng/ml a few months later (no more supplementation, just diet)

If there's a day when I really eat like crap sometimes I take a 100% iron/100% vitamin C supplement just to feel at ease but I don't know if that's actually necessary.

xenonscreams wrote:

11 ng/ml

22 ng/ml a few weeks later (after round one)

20 ng/ml a few weeks later (after round two)

31 ng/ml a few months later (after round three)

51 ng/ml a few months later (no more supplementation, just diet)

How much time was between "rounds?"