Quickest way to come back and deal and with iron deficiency anemia.

Eat clams and only clams every night.

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If you aren't willing to take the most potent Iron supplement available, there isn't much that can be done for you.

Take the most potent iron supp. you can find, Feosol or the like. Take it every morning, with a vitamin C tablet with a small glass of orange juice. Also make sure you are getting alll the other elements fo RBC production {Vitamin B12 (cobalamin) and Vitamin B9 (Folic acid) and protein, etc.}

It may take 3 months. You're welcome.

what newname said. "doesn't mesh well with my stomach" doesn't sound worth throwing an XC season away for...you could try steak every day as well, but try to find some food that the iron tablets sit well on.

If your numbers are really low, you can get an iron shot to turn things around quickly. Also, buildup with easy running, soft surfaces as much as possible, lots of recovery. Liquid iron works better for some people.

newname wrote:

If you aren't willing to take the most potent Iron supplement available, there isn't much that can be done for you.

Take the most potent iron supp. you can find, Feosol or the like. Take it every morning, with a vitamin C tablet with a small glass of orange juice. Also make sure you are getting alll the other elements fo RBC production {Vitamin B12 (cobalamin) and Vitamin B9 (Folic acid) and protein, etc.}

It may take 3 months. You're welcome.

I agree this is the best way but I'd like to note that at 1000% RDA with a glass of OJ over 12 days, I got my ferritin from 13 ng/ml to 35 ng/ml last time. The first time, though, when I'd been iron deficient for much longer, it took many more tries.

If you really can't handle iron supplements, eat lots of chicken liver. But most people have some negative GI effects from iron supplements and it's honestly something you might just need to deal with if you really want to get back quickly.

Also, if GI problems are really bad for you, try it at the end of the day (but on an empty stomach) so that it doesn't impact your running at all. And if you go the iron/OJ route, make sure the OJ isn't calcium-fortified.

Xenon, have you been successful at keeping your ferritin up? If so, has it been through diet modification, or continued supplementation? I've yo-yo'd, myself, and it's not the best thing.

Stop eating Gluten. Totally blocks all Iron absorbtion from the body.

My ferritin has actually fluctuated pretty unpredictably. Before supplementing the first time it was 11, then 21, then 32, then I stopped supplementing and focused on diet and it continued to climb over several seasons to 45 and then 54. Then, with no change in diet, it plummeted over the course of one season back to 13. I don't know why, but I did have ulcers in that time period, so I'm wondering if there was some internal bleeding.

I got it back up to 35 after one round which was much faster than last time, and my coach said to just keep supplementing to get it up higher. That way I guess I have more stores going into the season so it takes longer to deplete them. So I did one more round and I haven't done another test. Steve Magness said to get it over 60 (for both men and women) in his AMA; my coach said at least 35-40, but that's still low. So I'm going to try to have at least 50-60 at the beginning of each season. If it's under that, I'll supplement before the season starts. In the meantime I have a standing order.

I also have a supplement (bariatric supplements, oddly enough) that is 100% iron 100% vitamin C and much easier on the stomach, and I've contemplated taking it during the season to maintain my iron, but my coach says it isn't necessary, so I'm going to trust him for now and just try getting my stores up higher to start with.

Good luck!

I did what xenon did, but I continue taking iron past the 12 days. I did 4 tsps a day for 12 days, then 1 tsp a day to maintain. repeat every 3 months. I started supplementing in January after years of being deficient without realizing it. Since January, I've run PRs in the marathon, 15K and 8K and getting close to others. I feel soooo much better when I run now.

http://www.mountainside-medical.com/ferrous-sulfate-elixir-473ml.html