I just (3 weeks ago) got diagnosed with being iron deficient (no iron stores/reserves) but not anemic. My blood counts were good, my reserve tank was empty. I can tell you I understand. I felt like crap for about 8 months before I finally gave up and went to the doctor. I thought it was stress, work, the weather, not wearing my foil hat to keep the aliens out
. It was so nondescript that I was avoiding the doc to not look nutty.
At any rate, he put me on high dose (2x a day) iron, along with my regular multivitamin, and in a couple days the fog and tiredness started to lift, and now after about 3 weeks I feel 200% better. It's freaking amazing!!!
I'm in the middle of marathon training, and prior to this, there were times when I wanted to sit and cry a mile in because I was just so worn out, and it was so hard.
Since then, I've googled anemia in runners, anemia in female runners,iron and runners, and variations on it. I've come up with several reliable sites/studies that all give the same thing. It's NOT uncommon. Something like 30% of female runners have iron issues. And the further/more you run, the worse it is. There is also something calls footstrike hemoslysis (SP?) where every time your foot hits the ground, especially if you're heavier, you squish a few blood cells into oblivion. That, on top of the general higher blood volume that runners have, being female, and the constant break down/repair of muscles (requires blood) in athletes, sets us up for iron issues.
I wouldn't just take iron supplements without visiting your doc, as they can be harmful if you take too much. if you haven't already, get into the doc and the lab. Make sure it's really and iron issue, as iron issues/anemia can look like a lot of other things, and vice versa, and get the doc to get you back on track to where you need to be.
Incidentally, I'm also a regular, every 8 week, blood donor, which was not helping either. My doc wants me to continue to run for health/fitness, and donate blood as there aren't enough donors, even as I continue to work on bringing my iron counts up. He understands that I'm marathon training and am not planning on quitting. I go back at the beginning of October for another blood test, and the following week back to the doc. He said I'd probably start to feel better and we'd know it was working before I even went back. And he was right.
So, get to the doc!!! There's no reason you can't do what you want to do. If funds/insurance are an issue, ask for a self pay/uninsured discount, it should run about 15-50% depending on where you live. Or ask if you can pay cash, that should get you a discount as well. It costs them money to take credit cards. I work in medical revenue cycle, so trust me on that one.
Good Luck!!
Nan
