Poor Performance & Blood Test Results....what do they mean?

Did you get a Serum Ferritin test also? This test measures your stored iron, and is the most useful test you can have done to see whether or not you are iron deficient (and it sounds like you are).

If you didn't get that test done (you usually have to specifically ask for doctors to do it), then you ought to go back and ask for them to do the test. And you want to look at the test results from a runner's perspective. Most doctors or nurses will say that anything above 20 is perfectly normal. This isn't true for you at all. You need your levels to at least be higher than 40, though above 60 is probably optimal (and levels in general are fairly person-specific, so one person's levels may be too low for another, yet they can perform well with them).

Anyway, I hope this helps some. If you have any more questions just post them. Either I or someone else will try to answer them.

did you have a test for mono? should also ask for thyroid (TSH) test.

overtraining, lack of recovery between workouts.

yes...definite possibility.

check this article out

http://www20.uludag.edu.tr/%7Ehakan/sbtd/v2/1/2_1.htm

Hey thanks for the help so far... I was tested for Mono and that came back negative. I will see about getting that other test done and read up on the info you gave me. thanks

dont want to steal the thread cause this guy needs advice, but if i were to get blood work what tests should i ask for?

Im tired and feel fatigued lots of the time, my legs are sore more than normal and i havent even done any hard workouts.

i say stick with cutting back for a while. if that helps, probably overtraining. if not, then this might give you some things to ask questions about.

http://www.physsportsmed.com/issues/2002/06_02/tarno.htm

The test results that you posted are completely normal, for a runner or anyone else. Common things that could decrease running performance without many other symptoms are anemia and hypothyroidism. It doesn't look like you're anemic from your hemoglobin. A TSH may not be a bad idea to rule out thyroid problems. I read everyone going on about ferritin but I'm not sure that there is much evidence that taking iron supplements if you have low ferritin and normal hemoglobin helps anything. If you do have low ferritin, trying iron supplements may not be a bad idea since it doesn't have too many side effects other than GI problems. I would agree with the other posters that with no other symptoms and normal basic labs you are most likely overtraining.

Taking iron supplements when you have low ferritin helps a lot. Trust me. Usually takes 4-6 weeks to really kick in, but an even longer time to get back to normal. You also want to eat more red meat, because that helps a ton too (great excuse for downing burgers and steaks). But yeah, the iron supplements help a lot, but can cause some GI discomfort (take SlowFe if they are really bad, but otherwise go with something else - example: Feosol).

Still, hyperthyroidism and "overtraining" could be the cause (though overtraining often has its roots in iron deficiency, meaning your body has been running itself into the ground).

If it is an iron deficiency (and the ferritin test will show if this is the problem or not), you can prevent this from happening again, I'd recommend taking your recovery days easy, eating more red meat, and iron supplements.

I take from your posts that you are speaking from personal experience about ferritin and iron. Was your hemoglobin normal? I don't doubt that iron supplements help if the hemoglobin is low, I'm just not sure if it is normal. I'm also not sure how overtraining can cause iron deficiency.

My hemoglobin wasn't too bad, high 13s. You can have iron deficiency without being anemic (anemia is when your hemoglobin and hermatocrit levels, among other things, fall below certain levels along with your iron and ferritin levels). I don't really know the scientific explanation of how overtraining causes iron deficiency. I just know it can happen. Sorry I can't be more helpful than that. My doctor has explained it to me before, but I can't really remember exactly what he said, and I don't want to make up a bunch of bullshit that will probably be wrong. I think the general idea is you are breaking your body down by training so hard and not giving yourself the necessary recovery from hard efforts, and this causes you to deplete your body's iron stores in order to keep up with it...but this can only last so long. There is a whole scientific explantion, but I can't really remember it.

I found an abstract of an article that kind of answers my questions. My interpretation is that there aren't great studies supporting using iron for just a low ferritin but the authors are recommending it based on the studies that have been done. Anyway, hope this is helpful.

I have a question about my feritin levels. My Feritin was around 10 about two months ago and i was running very poorly and felt tired all the time. I started taking iron supplements at a failry large dosage and my level has now rose to the 40's. I still feel pretty bad when I run and my legs feel really heavy and tired. All of my other tests came out pretty normal so my ferritin was the only thing low. Does anyone have an suggestions or reasons why i may not feel good. THanks for the help. I am male by the way.

I got the ferritin test done and I have a ferritin level of 19. The nurse said it was a bit low but really couldn't offer anymore insight into how that effected me or what level I should be at. Anybody have ny info for me? I tried to find some, but came up empty. I really appreciate the help guys, thanks.

19 is extremely low man.

im sure someone else can give you better advice, but with iron that low somehting needs to be done.

theres no way youre going to recover and perform up to youre usual standards let alone improve with iron that low.

not only is 19 very low for anyone, but if you have higher iron when healhty, maybe 80 or something, then the 19 is even lower in relation. but 19 is in the low range for any person, when youre running and putting the work in, you cant function that low.

there could be different reasons for it (do a google search, could come up with a few different things) but eithe rway youll need to do somthing to hike it back up, maybe iron pills or somehting.

good luck

I had a ferritin level of 9 once, and wanted to kill myself. I seriously would walk around feeling like hell, and just going for a run was ridiculously tough. I started taking Feosol 3xs a day (take on an empty stomach with OJ, because Vitamin C helps with absorbtion), as was the recommendation of my doctor. He also said I could start taking SlowFe if the Feosol started messing with my stomach too much.

Anyway, once I got my levels back up into the 30s I started to feel a bit better and could actually do some real training. Once I got back into the 60s and higher, I felt amazing...I hadn't felt that good in a long time. It really showed in my training and racing, more than I even imagined.

So your level of 19 is pretty low, anything under 30 or 40 is pretty low for a runner. You ideally want your levels at least over 40, but 60+ is what you really want to aim for. Then again, how someone responds to different levels of ferritin is a completely personal thing....there are some girls that can train well with levels in the 20s, but once I start getting around there I really start feeling the effects of the low ferritin. The stuff I said about the iron supplements is just what my doctor had me do, and it worked out pretty well. However, I don't think I'd recommend you going by the same approach, as too much iron can seriously harm your body. You might want to find a better doctor who knows about running (or maybe a hemotologist, and explain to him the ferritin levels you are seeking to reach and why). Then the doctor can give you a much better treatment than I, or any other person on this board, can set you up with.

Along with the TSH get the Free-T4 done. F-T4 tells you how much TH is going through your system. It can be weird even if the TSH looks normal. Plus if it turns out you do have a thyroid problem it's just good to know what you're dealing with from the start. If you've been forced to not run and youve tried running and it's still crappy, chances are it's not overtraining. Get your thyroid and iron checked. Try to find a good dr. who knows athletes and can recommend any other tests. Best wishes to you -- kk

Anything under 30 for ferritin is getting low for a distance runner. You need to take more than 18mg of iron per day to get your iron up.

Thanks for all the help!