Shelby Houlihan Distance star with Blood Disorder?

Reminds me of Seb Coe "blood disorder". . .

Sand Dunes wrote:

Reminds me of Seb Coe "blood disorder". . .

Do a little reading, and you'll realize how serious hereditary spherocytosus really is. She's already had her spleen and gallbladder removed. As in the name, it is inherited. Toxoplasmosis (Coe's malady) is contracted. Your comment reminds me of what a complete d!psh!t you are. Pull your head out of your @ss. Is that ad hominem?

blood? wrote:

Red blood cells are responsible for transporting oxygen throughout the body and are therefore incredibly important in endurance sport. How is it that an athlete with a blood disease is capable of becoming one of the best endurance athletes in the world? Are athletes with this disease allowed blood transfusions which are listed as a treatment for the disease?

Did you even read that article you cited??

"How are you managing the disorder now? How has this experience shaped you as an athlete?

"I don’t have to do much to manage it now. My red blood cells will always be sphere shaped so I can’t give blood or anything like that. When I get sick, I have to make sure that I get better quickly, especially if it’s a virus because my body can’t fight it as well without my spleen. The trainers are aware of it too so we all have to monitor it.

"I’m actually thankful that I was born with this blood disease because I think it has made me stronger as a runner and has helped me learn to endure."

Here's what she told Spikes (the IAAF magazine) in a recent interview:

“I was born with a hereditary blood disease, which meant I suffered anaemia. I remember being constantly tired at elementary and needing snacks to get through the day. I also grew up needing regular blood transfusions.

“Everything changed at the age of eight when I had my spleen and gall bladder removed. This allowed me to retain red blood cells and from that point on it changed everything. I suddenly had a lot more energy and on the back of this I started winning races."

Weird. I had always read that the spleen was vital to red blood cell production. Now this is making it sound like without a spleen she has an easier time generating good red blood cells. I would also be very curious to know if those physical alterations were the end of it or if she has had to do anything else medical routinely since then. How quickly we find out weird things about #1 athletes like that they don't have a spleen, that they have asthma, or that they had Achilles tendon lengthening.

Right so she still has spherical shaped red blood cells, which are not as good for transporting oxygen and result in lower levels of hemoglobin mass. Just because you remove the spleen doesn't mean that you solve the issue with the red blood cells. If you read about the disease you'll notice that there isn't a cure.

So back to the original statement, it's incredible that someone with a blood disease is able to be one of the best in the world in a sport that is massively aided by having excellent oxygen transportation capacity.

She sounds like the perfect candidate for a TUE for EPO.

Geraint Thomas has no spleen either.

Amazing how common top athletes with anomalies are these days.

I long for ONE thing in this world, other than my beautiful wife, that isn't complete bullshlt.

Just ONE thing.

2013 Marathon WC Silver too

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valeria_Straneo

Vent your spleen wrote:

Geraint Thomas has no spleen either.

Amazing how common top athletes with anomalies are these days.

Yeah weird. Wang Junxia had 2 spleens! So is the spleen good or bad?

Shoebacca wrote:

I had always read that the spleen was vital to red blood cell production. Now this is making it sound like without a spleen she has an easier time generating good red blood cells.

Here's a quick sketch of why people with hereditary spherocytosis get anemia, and how taking the spleen out helps them.

One of the spleens main jobs is to destroy damaged red blood cells. As several people have noted, in people with hereditary spherocytosis, the red blood cells are round, not "biconcave" (basically, a donut with the hole filled in). This is a problem because the spleen treats these round cells as damaged, and destroys them faster than they can be replaced. This causes anemia directly, by reducing the number of red cells. Removing the spleen increases the number of red cells, thus curing the anemia.

Of course, this leaves out many important details, but it gives a rough idea of what's going on here.

Shoebacca wrote:

Weird. I had always read that the spleen was vital to red blood cell production. Now this is making it sound like without a spleen she has an easier time generating good red blood cells. I would also be very curious to know if those physical alterations were the end of it or if she has had to do anything else medical routinely since then. How quickly we find out weird things about #1 athletes like that they don't have a spleen, that they have asthma, or that they had Achilles tendon lengthening.

Huh? RBC's are produced in the bone marrow. In no way, shape, or form does removing a spleen create a situation where "it's easier to produce red blood cells". It just takes out the organ that destroys her mis-shapen rbc's. Just more bad information that you're generating. You're as dumb as the sand dunes guy.

Well this is interesting. All these best of the best world class athletes having blood disorders. I’m not saying they don’t, but she is the American record holder, just like Caster Semenya has a disorder or sorts and is a national record holder. Geraint Thomas just won the tour. Froome supposedly had a blood disorder and won how many grand tours? Who else has rare disorders yet can dominate on the national and or world scene.

If Semenya has to change her natural expression, is it fair for Houlihan not to also have to change her natural expression? Is there any reason not to believe this condition she inherited is a key part of her success? Her red blood cells stuck around longer than the average person right?

Seems reasonable that without the key organ to destroy old blood cells a natural boost in hematocrit would happen, even if those cells are 'old" and don't work quite as well. Have to give her a pass.

Lol, why were my posts deleted. I was being sarcastic.

My first though when reading the article that LRC linked to in recent days was I wonder if missing your spleen has some benefit -- kind of like the female ultramarathoner that had brain surgery and was able to tolerate pain better.

My second thought was that having health problems may have toughened her up.

Dr Doctor wrote:

She sounds like the perfect candidate for a TUE for EPO.

Maybe CERA?

Caster Plaster wrote:

Her red blood cells stuck around longer than the average person right?

No! It's exactly the opposite. This disease causes the membranes on the outside of red blood cells to be weaker than usual. This weakness causes the cells to gradually change shape, until they are round. These abnormally shaped cells were then destroyed by her spleen. IIRC, in extreme cases of spherocytosis, rbc's only last 20-30 days, rather than 100 days. Because the body can't replace those red cells quickly enough, the result is anemia.

Even if the spleen is removed, the mis-shaped rbc's are more fragile, and don't last as long. However, in most cases the body is able to pump out enough rbc's to compensate.

FWIW, the causal chain leading to anemia here -- so many red blood cells are damaged that the body can't replace those destroyed by the spleen, leading to anemia -- is exactly the same as in "footstrike hemolysis." In that disease, the damage to rbc's is thought to be caused by the foot pounding on the pavement, not genetic abnormalities.

Finnish mutated blood guy wrote:

Seems reasonable that without the key organ to destroy old blood cells a natural boost in hematocrit would happen, even if those cells are 'old" and don't work quite as well.

That seems unlikely. Rbc production is driven by a feedback loop based on blood oxygen levels. There are cells in the kidney that sense oxygen levels in the blood. When they sense too much oxygen in the blood, because rbc's aren't being destroyed, they tell the kidneys to produce less epo. The decreased epo tells the marrow to make fewer rbc's, which decreases oxygen levels in the blood. When those levels get too low, the kidneys sense this, and raise epo production. which raises oxygen levels, which...and so on. . Eventually, the system settles down.

So if there's anything funky with her blood now, it's because there's something funky in the blood oxygen/kidney/epo/marrow/rbc/blood oxygen loop.