I have been struggling with iron and running performance for the past two years.
Last year, my ferritin(feb 04) was 40, yet I had symptoms of anemia,
like needing lots of sleep(10+hrs and still feeling like an afternoon nap was necessary), getting lightheaded when standing up, abnormally dry skin, etc
- even though my rbc was normal too. Then I started taking iron, abt
500mg a week, and during the fall(sept 04) my ferritin was 45 after a
summer of averaging 90mpw, yet my rbc and haematocrit were on the low
end(possibly due to higher blood volume which may come with fitness,
even though i wasnt in very good shape as compared to high school).
Then I got it tested last week, and it has dropped to 25 ferritin. I
didnt get rbc, haemotocrit or haemoglobin tested. All symptoms of
weakness and anemia disappeared in May 04 of last year after taking
some iron and drinking less Green Tea(possible mis-correlation here?).
Although my running has been aweful the whole time. I take vitamin b12
and stay away from foods with phytates etc.
Symptoms:
1) poor anearobic endurance(5k races and lower, tempo runs are decent) been as slow as 9:15 for 3k despite harder training than high school when I ran 9:30 32oom off injury and 15:10 at Mt.sac invitational, 15:18 stanford invitational)
2) higher resting heart rate
3) higher varience in resting heart rate
4) mild hair loss from time to time in arms, hands( testosterone?)
5) weight gain(low tesosterone?)
I am quite shocked that my ferritin fell so drastically in the last 5
months(winter 04-05) considering a) over that period I took 700mg a week
average(more than summer '04) b) I was running significantly less
mileage(average 70mpw) c) my diet was more conducive to iron absorption.
I would have guessed that, given the above, my ferritin levels could be
higher than the 40's.
A final thing: I did, during the time frame of this test, start a new
training mehtod in which I run less total distance but at higher intensity
level. Is it feasible that this stimulated eryhtropoesis to the point
where it caused ferritin levels to drop in a manner that doesnt reflect
my iron stores?
Questions:
1) What type of specialist should I see?
2) What things could possibly be wrong with me?
3) Worst Case, best case?
Sorry to bother you - this is extremely frustrating to me, though,