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Anyone had very low ferritin? How long did it take to improve?
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Hi,

I am currently training for my second IM and I have recently been feeling really awful in training and had some near personal worsts in events despite training as hard as I could. At first I thought I was just being a bit soft, like I just wasn't trying hard enough and it was normal training fatigue. But it has been a while so I went to the doctors and and she ran some blood test. My ferritin came back as a 5, which the doctor said is extremely low and has prescribed me some iron pills. Quite relieved to know why I have been feeling so bad and that it's not normal but a bit concerned too. I'm doing a half ironman in two weeks and IM in three months so I am in a big rush to increase it as quickly as I can.

Has anyone else had a problem with very low ferritin levels? How long did it take for you to feel better? If anyone has any experiences to share I'd really appreciate it.
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Re: Anyone had very low ferritin? How long did it take to improve? [lyn29] [ In reply to ]
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I was pretty anemic about 2 years ago-my hemoglobin was 9.2 and ferritin was 5. A few people on this forum recommended Floradix, which is a liquid iron supplement, and I am SO glad I tried it. It did not cause the GI issues that pills can often cause and it really seemed to work quickly. I don't remember the exact timelines or lab values, but I was definitely feeling better within a few weeks. I highly recommend Floradix over pills! It's a little pricey and it tastes weird, but the difference was amazing.

Do you have any idea of the underlying cause of the low ferritin?

Hope you get to feeling better soon!

--L
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Re: Anyone had very low ferritin? How long did it take to improve? [lilystyx] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks - going to get some of that today. I was a bit worried about the pills when the doc said they could cause GI issues - my GI issues when running are bad enough as it is! Fingers crossed I will feel better soon. Did you have to back off on training at all or were you able to carry on as normal? I really want to carry on as normal as don't want to lose more fitness but just feeling so exhausted so maybe I should.

No idea of the underlying cause and the doctor didn't seem to want to explore that but it would be good to know. I'm a bit puzzled by it as I eat heaps of kale, eggs, mussels, and red meat usually twice a week so it's not like my diet is super low in iron. I have another test result still to come back so when she calls me next week I'll ask if we can look more into why it is so low.
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Re: Anyone had very low ferritin? How long did it take to improve? [lyn29] [ In reply to ]
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You might want to do a search in this forum. I think a couple people have dealt with this in the past and there were pretty lengthy threads about this.

clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com
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Re: Anyone had very low ferritin? How long did it take to improve? [lyn29] [ In reply to ]
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By the time I actually got my labs checked I wasn't able to exercise at all- just walking up a flight of stairs left me winded and my heart rate would jump to 120.

I had a lot of blood loss from fibroids, so part of getting me better was stopping the bleeding with hormones (and eventually surgery), not just the iron replacement. But I was really impressed at how quickly I started feeling better with the liquid supplement. Within a few weeks I went from a slow walk around the block to running a few miles at a time.

--L
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Re: Anyone had very low ferritin? How long did it take to improve? [lyn29] [ In reply to ]
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Early February of this year I had my ferritin and iron levels checked and my ferritin was a 2. I also had very low hemoglobin and hematocrit. I was getting dizzy every time I stood up and had to take a break when walking up 3 flights of stairs at work. I was still running every day but I was struggling to run 9-10 min miles when my easy pace is usually in 7-8 min range. I also had difficulty concentrating and difficulty sleeping.

I took Floradix twice a day--first thing in the am and after my pm run. I also had pretty good luck with Mega foods Blood Builder which I took when I traveled. I think the biggest difference came from improving dietary habits. I used to drink black tea all day including when I ate and rarely ate meat. I also ate a lot of dairy. I have always eaten a lot of fruits and vegetables but clearly I wasn't aborbing the iron in those. I stopped drinking black tea and switched to drinking green tea but only in the am instead of all day. In the morning I had my iron supplement with orange juice, then ate breakfast an hour or 2 later, then waited another hour to drink tea. I ate high iron foods for most meals and snacks (red meat, pumpkin seeds, dried fruit, eggs, spinach, artichoke hearts, etc) and was careful to eat high vitamin c foods with high iron foods and avoided eating high calcium foods in conjunction with my iron supplements. For 6 weeks I ate red meat every day at least once a day. I don't know if that's recommened for everyone but since I don't have cholesterol or blood pressure issues my doctor thought it was okay. I ran almost everyday during this time and just kept it at an easy pace and avoided hills (because I had trouble running up them without getting really out of breath)

It took me a month of this routine to start feeling better, and then another 4 weeks before I felt mostly normal. After 8 weeks my ferritin went up to 23 and my hematocrit and hemoglobin got back into the normal range. I also ran a half marathon pr a few days after the blood test.

You probably won't feel remarkably better in time for the half in two weeks but you can probably get back to normal in time for the ironman.
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Re: Anyone had very low ferritin? How long did it take to improve? [lyn29] [ In reply to ]
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My ferritin was crazy low - like 6 or something. Hematocrit was 24%. Supplements 3x a day and I was in normal range in 2months. Took me 3 weeks on the supplements before I felt decent again.

I second the Floradix. put the dose in orange juice, you'll hardly even taste it. I've also been using Ferro-Sequels and ProFerrin.

I just visited the dr again last Wed. to ask for a re-check, I've been feeling fatigue and cold.
Search this forum too.
- it's definitely a discussion topic for us women.
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Re: Anyone had very low ferritin? How long did it take to improve? [determination] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks so much for all the helpful comments and insights. I got some Floradix and have been taking that along with what the doctor gave me. I had some other results come back pretty abnormal too - haemoglobin, hct, mcv and mch. Not entirely sure what all of it means but the doctor is pretty concerned and is keen to get to the bottom of why this is the case (since it seems way too low to just be a lack of iron in my diet). It's funny - I felt bad before going in but I feel way worse now that I know that something's not right. I've felt like a complete zombie at work the past few months and I kept telling myself it was just because I was training a lot but i've never ever felt this rough before. I guess I should really have realised.

The doctor I am going to know is a sports doctor and he told me it would be very unwise for me to try and do the half in two weeks time so I have accepted that's not going to happen and it's more important to rest just now and do all the right things instead of trying to push through it, which I have (stupidly) been doing for months now. He said he actually couldn't understand how I have been able to run at all recently! I'm trying not to worry and hope it will all be sorted soon and I can get back to doing the things I enjoy and focusing on my goals.
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Re: Anyone had very low ferritin? How long did it take to improve? [lyn29] [ In reply to ]
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Hey Lyn,

I also had very low iron--ferritin was below 5, iron deficient anemia. I took floradix combined with maybe one iron pill a day, and it came right up. I did, however, have to be very careful about drinking coffee and foods containing calcium around the time I took supplemental iron. That meant NO coffee and NO yogurt, milk, cheese, etc. I sip a cup of coffee most of the day so that was tough, but worth it. Definitely take right before you go to bed, though--several hours after your dinner.

Do you have heavy periods? Is your B12 normal as well? (could be a malabsorption issue...). I think heavy periods was the primary cause for me, but combined with 14+ years of vegetarianism and endurance training.... it didn't end well (happy meat-eater now!). I also had an endoscopy and colonoscopy just to be sure, which both came back normal. I highly suggest you get these tests if they are covered, both were NO big deal, and its well worth the peace of mind.

Keep us posted, and good luck!

Jen
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Re: Anyone had very low ferritin? How long did it take to improve? [lyn29] [ In reply to ]
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If the supplements don't work (they didn't for me), ask your doc about iron injections. I get them monthly and they seem to be working. Good luck!
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Re: Anyone had very low ferritin? How long did it take to improve? [SMO] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks all for helpful comments.
I was back to see the doctor today after some more blood tests on Wednesday. He was rather shocked by the results. My ferritin level has increased from 4 last week to 36 this week and my haemoglobin has increased from 102 to 111. He said this is extremely weird but has decided the cause of all of this is glandular fever/mono, which I tested positive for. He thought that if my system was completely overwhelmed by the virus last week then that could have caused the sudden change in the blood results. I still feel awful and have been told to have complete rest until the end of next week and then we will repeat the blood results. All very strange. Hope it will be resolved soon and I'll feel better!
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Re: Anyone had very low ferritin? How long did it take to improve? [lyn29] [ In reply to ]
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When my ferrtin levels were low I used Proferrin ES - worked great. No side effects and it raised my ferritin back to normal range.

Jen Yanda
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Re: Anyone had very low ferritin? How long did it take to improve? [Jyanda] [ In reply to ]
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Been taking Floradix twice a day for three weeks now and feeling SO much better. My haemoglobin, haemocrit and ferritin are now all back into the lower end of normal. I had complete rest from training for 10 days and started to feel a lot better towards the end of last week so decided to start the half ironman at the weekend and just be prepared to DNF if I didn't feel good. I took it very easy and went round in 6:30, which isn't heaps slower than I would have wanted to do it in if I'd been feeling good and had a good build up (because I am pretty slow anyway!) Definitely going to keep up the Floradix as there's no way I want to get in that state again and want to make sure I get stronger for the next few months of training too. Thanks again for all of the advice.
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Re: Anyone had very low ferritin? How long did it take to improve? [lyn29] [ In reply to ]
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Congrats on the race!!! Very glad to hear you're on the way to feeling better!

--L
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