PSA: Are you female? Are you a vegetarian? Is your performance suffering? CHECK YOUR FERRITIN!!!

V

vlo

New member
This might be common sense to you guys, but I just had the realization of how much my iron deficiency has been impacting my half marathon training. I have been feeling fatigued, weak, and hungry all the time, and
my performance has been suffering in my runs: my pace for the past few months has been about a minute slower per mile than it was at this time last year. I'm a vegetarian and I have a history of iron deficiency, so I decided to go to the doctor last Wednesday for some blood tests. My ferritin level was 4!! (For reference, the healthy range is around 20-200 ng/uL). I pretty much immediately started taking a supplement, and went for my run today, and I felt absolutely fantastic! I was scheduled for a 5 mile run, but felt so good that I decided to tack on an extra 1.2 miles just for the hell of it.

In summary:

Sunday 3/18: Ran 4 miles at 10:11 pace, felt weak and out of breath the whole time.

Wednesday 3/21: Had ferritin levels checked, started taking iron supplement.

Wednesday 3/28: Ran 6.2 miles at 9:17 pace, and felt no shortness of breath.

Iron deficiency is extremely common among female athletes. One 2011 study found that 30% of female rowers had low iron stores. It can take months for your iron stores to return to a healthy level, but most people start to feel better within a few days of supplementation. So if in doubt, get that checked out!!
 
@vlo I know this is old, but this post prompted me to get my ferritin checked. It was 18! Hope this explains my recent fatigue.
 
@vlo Omg I saw this post and then I got my blood results back and my ferritin is 5 (it says ng/mL though so maybe different scale than y’all. It says standard range is 8-252). Timely. And I know my iron levels must be higher now than they have been in the past, based on my lifestyle and symptoms (I once lost nearly a full head of hair). I’ve just been weirdly afraid of going to the doctor, like they’d judge me or dismiss me? But luckily I saw an awesome integrative lifestyle doctor and she was so helpful and understanding. She suggested blood tests for different things I’d been hoping to find out about, turns out I’m also low in vitamin D. Anyway, this post actually makes me excited because I feel like iron deficiency has just become my normal and who knows how iron can improve my life? She even asked me if I feel fatigued and I said no, but maybe I do, just less so in relation to the time in my life when I was losing hair and unable to stand for extended periods. Sorry for the long post, thanks for letting me let that out.
 
@vlo Yep, I was suuuuuuper lightheaded when my ferritin was 15. I wasn’t a vegetarian. I got lightheaded just getting out of my car. It was hard to exercise. Iron doesn’t come up immediately with supplements; we tested again after 4-6 weeks and it was coming up. Also, my nightly leg cramps went away once it came up to a good level. Omg what a relief.
 
@vlo I was just listening to some medical podcast (maybe a BBC one?) where they were talking about changing iron supplementation guidelines because apparently your body absorbs more iron when there's less iron intake -- so supplementing with high amounts of iron actually results in reduced increases (that's an awkward construction) than if you take a lower dose.

Not something to try on your own, but it may be something worth looking up and discussing with your doctor. Especially since high doses causes side effects (see question about constipation).

And to answer the question that no one has asked -- yes spinach is high in iron, but you'll absorb more of it if you cook the spinach, and cook it uncovered so the oxalic acid can escape. Plus have an orange or some strawberries in the same meal since vit C will help absorption.

Hmm.. and animal-based heme is known to increase the absorption of plant-based iron, so I'm wondering if the impossible burger could be a good thing to add to your diet, as well. Just thinking-while-typing here.
 
@akannirose Yes, but based on my research it does not absorb like the heme iron from animals. Also, all the phytates in the impossibe burger inhibits the absorption of any iron in it. I know this because I became anemic and did my research. And I ate tons of Impossible burgers but never got my iron to budge. So, I just stuck with beans and other high iron plant-based foods including an iron supplement to bring up my iron.
 
@vlo You can also get checked (for free) if you donate blood. This was how I first found out-- they wouldn't let me donate because it was so low. So if you're curious, but don't have the $$ for the doctor, donating blood is not a bad way to get checked.
 
@matheushorta They test your hemoglobin, not iron, when you donate blood (but will sometimes call it your iron levels to make it simpler to understand I guess). You can have normal hemoglobin while being iron deficient, but having low hemoglobin is a good sign that you might be iron deficient.
 
@vlo Oh my gosh, thanks for this post! I am vegetarian and training for a half marathon after taking a couple years off from distance running and just these past couple weeks have been really tired and hungry. Definitely going to check this!!
 
@vlo I have a seemingly dumb question. I don’t know how to adult sometimes.

Do I have to go to a primary physician to get a blood test ordered? I know there are some clinics that do drug and blood tests. Can I just work with them to get a blood test done? I moved not too too long ago and haven’t found a primary physician just yet. I’ve been told I have low iron when I tried to donate blood and was denied so now I’m concerned!
 
@matthewpegler Are you in the US? If you go to healthtestingcenters.com, you can order any blood test, pay online, make an appointment, and get results in like a day. This is what I did. You don’t need a doctor’s order because they have standing orders from a doctor that is in charge of the center to perform the tests. You don’t have to meet with any doctors or anything. You just go in, they draw your blood, and they email you the results.
 
@matthewpegler Not a dumb question at all! I think it might depend on where you live, but to my knowledge, only a physician/PA/NP can order a blood test. I could be wrong though. In fact, @matheushorta mentioned that you can be checked if you donate blood so that could be useful!
 
@vlo me me me me me!

just had a full comprehensive blood test (including all vitamins/minerals/full thyroid panel/ zinc/ etc.) two days ago and am waiting on the results. I am almost certain that my ferritin and iron will be low because not only is my training suffering i've been losing hair like CRAZY for over a year. At this point i have about 1/3 of the volume of my hair left.

initial testing at my dermatologist suggested that i have "telogen effluvium" and it would get better on it's own... nope. went to a private hair clinic and they suggested it has to be some underlying medical condition because it's not androgenic alopecia or pattern hair loss. back to the same dermatologist and he just realized i'm vegetarian and "oh, we need to check your iron".

bruh.
 
@cotta Oh my god... they should have tested for that ages ago!! I’m so sorry and I hope the results give you some clarity!
 
@vlo actually, just got my levels back online from the lab.... now i'm confused.

first of all, my ferritin is 19(20-300) and my iron is 17 (9 - 34). so my iron is in the normal range and my ferritin is low? i don't know, i'm interpretting this myself based on the ranges next to each section. i imagine this is even worse, say, when i'm on my period.

secondly, my vitamin d is 37 (normal range should be above 50, but optimal is 70-100?).

sadly, my doctor's office is closed for the holiday for the next week or so..... hmm....
 
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