aneamia

[Kirstin]

Hi,
I have recently been told that I am aneamic and although it is rather frustrating, in a way it is good news as I know why I was going downhill in training and races.

I was wondering if anyone else has suffered the same thing and I am told is is common in females who do quite a lot of training. Just wonder how long other people took to recover and return to full fitness? If they were also put on iron tablets? (I am curretly on three a day) and if they had to stay on these after they were back to normal? Any other advice etc would be greatly appreciated.

Certainly no fun when I am used to competing at a high level (have run in JHI's and been on BOF tours etc) to being beat by people a lot younger including my younger sister because I am running so poorly I often have to stop or walk.
Thanks
Kirstin

[EddieH]

I was often anaemic when I was younger, and found an almost immediate response to iron tablets.

I didn't realise then that iron is the mineral that is easiest to overdose on, and wrongly would take too many.

[Gross]

There should be a lot of info within the BOF Performance system. I know that a reasonable amount of 'research' was done in the early 2000's.

Maybe contact Derek A and he can put you in touch with the doctors etc involved....

[madmike]

Kirstin,
you are correct that it is pretty common in woman distance runners particularly the young teens/20s. A road/cross country running friend of mine, now aged 43, has had to manage this problem for many years and she has run some impressive times on the road since being diagnosed.

Iron tablets should help but you might also want to get advice from a specialist dietician - Andrea's anaemia was made worse by a close to vegetarian diet and diet changes helped her - when she relaxed the dietary changes she became anaemic and fatigued quickly again.

You are certainly not alone the condition is very common in woman endurance runners - here is a quote from a scientific paper in the US:

Physically active young women, especially those who engage in such endurance activities as distance running, are prone to iron deficiency. Research studies show that as many as 45% of female runners of high school age have low iron stores.

Gross's advice is good - don't try and solve it yourself - go and get medical and nutritional advice from specialists in sports medicine and nutrition. For sure you are not the only one who’s faced this condition.

[Scott]

here is a quote from a scientific paper in the US

I'm not sure I'd call this a scientific paper .

[DavidJ]

here is a quote from a scientific paper in the US

I'm not sure I'd call this a scientific paper .

Now be fair - the site explains its background:
"Innvista began in 1997 as a hotel program designed by Sean, who eventually offered it for free use on the internet. The name for this website, Innvista, came from those efforts. Sean made up the word by combining "inn" for the hotel program and "vista", a visual view of the hotel program. From there came the family decision to add various subjects of personal interest that each felt might be of help to others." So that's alright then - 100% trustworthy

[frog]

You could pretend to be a cyclist and use EPO!

[Scott]

You could pretend to be a cyclist

Or, for that matter, a billiards player.

[Jayne]

Hi Kirsten,

I've suffered off and on from anaemia for years. Basically the same sort of thing you seem to have had, training really hard but everything getting worse rather than better. I took 3 tablets a day then to get my levels back up but tend to take only one a day now to fend it off, still depends (worse with more training, and I find the pills aren't great for my stomach). If you want to chat more email me (jayne.sales (@) gmail.com
Jayne