Iron Deficiency Warning
Hola EN Chicas!
This isn’t a medical “help” question but rather quick warning about iron testing. Of course if someone advice/experience to add… I’m all ears!
I was recently into my primary care doctor for some irregular bleeding issues (sorry for the TMI guys) and she tested my iron level. Lo and behold, it was very low, though I don’t yet know what the actual number was. She recommended via her assistant that I take supplemental iron for six weeks and retest. I have a follow up appointment scheduled for March 1st to discuss this and having a hysterectomy.
After receiving the call from her assistant (who provided very little info, causing me to *** BEGIN getting pissed off ***) I went online to read about the condition. Here’s where I went straight to being *** REALLY PISSED OFF **** . If you Google “recommended blood tests for endurance athletes” 90% of the top articles reference regular iron testing for endurance athletes. And by regularly I mean as much as quarterly. I trust this doctor and she is a runner herself but from what I can see I have NEVER been tested for iron before! WTF!?!
I think my Dr. thinks this is because of the bleeding (which I keep telling her is not a lot, just random) but I have to believe it’s due to 3+ years of IM training. I also wonder how long have I been low? How has this impacted my training? What amount of my crappy fall marathon can I blame on this (wish it was ALL. ha!)? Most importantly… when will I be better!?!
So, my warning for you, dear EN Chicas is to request regular iron testing! Worst that can happen is you’re “normal”… relatively speaking, of course!
...xoxoxo.. - J 
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Comments
Sorry for your experience. If you search this topic, Linda Patch had similar issues and needed IV iron supplementation. There is a lot of info on EN forum.
Hope you feel better soon.
I learned this the hard way many years ago, when I DNS'd my very first Ironman (IMC) due to severe anemia. I was hospitalized, pending a blood transfusion just days before the race. They said they'd never seen levels that low except in people dying of cancer. I'd been borderline/low before but the Ironman training did me under. Three strikes: I was an Ironman athlete, a woman, and a vegetarian. The first two things I can't/won't change, but I did start eating meat (eventually, though it took many years of convincing, I'm a hard learner). Bottom line is that after that I could keep it under control with iron supplements.
Second point, if anyone is having a doctor recommend a hysterectomy, consider having a uterine ablation instead. Out-patient procedure takes 20 minutes, minimal recovery, minimally invasive. Most women have almost no periods afterwards. Mine stopped completely. I am willing to discuss more in the women's forum if anyone is curious. My OB/GYN was an Ironman, and I can't be happier about having had this done (my last 70.3 finish time included a long wait for a porta-potty for unavoidable women's issues.)
Between switching to Paleo way of eating from vegetarianism and having this procedure done, I now don't even have to take daily iron supplements.