Iron supplements?

jtupper,

the low or high end of normal spurs me to ask a similar question about thyroid replacement drugs in hypothyroid runners.

I ask because i saw a graph in my exercise science book that shows a decrease in T3 with increasing time of exercise. It makes me wonder if more active people who are hypothyroid have higher supplementation needs that someone is sedentary. Does running 'eat up' the T3 faster than being sedentary so an underfunctioning thyroid would not be able to replace it fast enough?

I just wonder that even if you test normal on TSH i.e. 3.00 (normal=.35 to 5.50), if higher mileage would shoot your T3 down and your TSH above that normal which would inhibit recovery. I know that you don't want to be too high on the T3 (low TSH) or your exercise tolerance goes down.

That graph in my phys book has got me thinking that it's alot harder to keep T3 within normal in runners but i can't find any research to support this.

thanks

I do not think that is generally true but it is what happened to me.

I repeat.

This could be valuable as I know a lot of people who take iron as if it were candy.

Is there a test to measure if you are overloading?

If your serum ferritin is within the normal range and you are taking a supplement can you safely remain supplementing.

If you have overdosed how would you know?

Is there a way to de-tox?

What are the results of over-loading?

These are great questions, which hopefully somebody who knows what they are talking about will answer.

I'm a male who had problems with canker sores in my mouth all of the time. It did not matter if I was running or not. My mother read an article that said some canker sore problems can be corrected by taking iron. I started taking her "multiple vitamins with Fe" that are meant for women every day at dinner time. I have had only rare flare-ups ever since, usually when I forget to take the vitamins for a few days.

This has nothing to do with Fe-deficiency, but I thought maybe it would help someone. I've been taking the multiple vitamins with Fe almost every day for ten years now with no problem.

It is a good idea to keep an eye on your serum ferritin values as well as trans ferrin values. If you are well within the normal range for serum ferritin and hemoglobin and henmatocit are fine no need to take the iron. If you are near the low end very low mind you 10 - 20 ng/dl you may try a low dose every other day but get a blood test 3-4 weeks later to see if there is any progress. Do not just take iron like it is vitamin C!! Try getting it from you diet.

As I had mentioned in an earlier post if you are seeing large swollen RBC's that is a sign of iron toxicity. You Doctor, or the lab will look at the RBC shape, size and number as this is routine in a blood test. This will often present with anemia and common symptoms of anemia, fatigue, trouble concentrating etc.

does anyone know roughly how much an iron test would cost? well, i'm not sure if iron test is the best word for it. a test that would see how my iron and red blood cells compared to normal. and does insurance normally cover it (assuming that i haven't had any symptoms of problems, just having the test for preventative measures). thanks.

I too take synthetic thyroid hormone each day.

Jtupper, do you have any thoughts on "inquisitive"'s thyroid questions?

Just to let ya all know, Bob Kennedy took Iron supplements as told in a 96 issue of Runners world. It kinda gave like a short statistics on what he eats and how he trains and under vitamins it mentioned :Iron Supplements

About your insurance, it will cover the tests if your doctor will order it. That is if you have decient insurance. I am covered by blue shield and they did cover all of the cost. The problem was geting my doctor to order the tests. I ended up being quite anemic fertin 9ng/dl and hemo at 10. I now have a new doctor as well.

bump

Your cold sores are from a virus, the herpes virus. I struggle with this virus when my immune system weakens. Since I train 15 plus hours... any cold sore is a good indication. Vitamins are great... but I also take an antibiotic for this too.

does anyone take iron gluconate? or is iron sulfate recommended? i am a female who was anemic last year, and i am wondering if i should switch to a sulfate as opposed to gluconate form of iron.

Antibiotics do absolutely nothing for a viruses. Bacteria and viruses are two different things. Bacteria are living things, viruses are not. Viruses are nature's "un-dead" - zombies so-to-speak. The attack and use the host cells DNA to reproduce.

You train 15 plus hours? hmmmmm.

I never had a cole sore in my life.... but the canker sores inside of my mouth were ruining my life.

cold sores and canker sores are two different things.

bumping

I know that back a few years ago they were trying a new low cost portable serum ferretin (sp?)test. I am not sure what ever happened with it but you might want to do a search on google. Most insurance companies cover blood work but be sure to find out first as a good blood workup can cost upwards of $900.00. Also you may have to ask for the ferretin test as it is not as routine. Your Doctor may say it is not needed if your Hb and Hct are normal but tell him to do it anyway.

First I take it that your a male. Chances are very slim that you are anemic, unless you have recently lost a lot of blood. And don't get your blood tested get your hemoglobin because your body stores it in the bone marrow and recycles it. Testing blood isn't great because the doctor's are just looking at the blood at one moment in time, very diffent results because you transfer iron at different rates for different activities. But you may want to consult your coach or doctor since I am neither. Usually the daily vitamins will contain enought to be suffecient and usually you'll not risk poisoning from a self diagonosis or false one.