Feeling totally normal with ferritin of 14 (or do I)
Reading about how people suffer with iron deficiency surprised me a lot. And makes me wonder if I just accepted a lot of stuff lately as being "part of adult life".
I'm in marathon training and that's why I got some blood values checked, just in case there's something making it harder than it has to be. Was maybe expecting slightly low vitamin D or magnesium or something, not severe iron deficiency, with ferritin being at 14.
I still have normal hemoglobin, maybe that's why I'm not feeling super bad. That's why I also was going to donate blood last month, actually. Maybe I would've crashed after! I cancelled the appointment because of marathon training.
Yes, I have been feeling tired a lot for a loooong time, but thought it's just how it is working full time, and everybody is exhausted right. I'm sleeping very badly too, it takes me 1-2 hours to fall asleep and I wake up 3-5 times every night. Didn't think more of it. But tada, could be bc of low ferritin.
Sometimes I'm sore for up to a week after a single cross training, thought I'm just not fit enough. With the marathon training come a lot of small niggles and injuries for me, I thought that's just how it is ramping up running volume and tried to manage it (with lots of physiotherapy amongst others).
My heart rate goes up very quickly while running, again I thought I'm just not that fit, or a high pulse is natural for me. My VO2-Max was continuously declining the past months, even though I ran more than ever before. Thought it was because I focus on running slowly. My HRV is quite low most days, without me being obviously sick, which made me wonder a bit, but then I ignored it.
I haven't been very concentrated at work but thought it's because I'm bored or just not disciplined enough.
I have usually not felt like meeting people and getting social, thought it's because I'm introvert.
Sooo, I felt like I was healthy and living a normal life, and now it turns out so much might improve and was unnecessarily hard, especially concerning the running! That's exciting. I'm not sure how quickly I can expect to feel improvement (taking oral iron), and if I can be up to more normal levels for my marathon which is in a bit over two months. But, I'm definitely looking forward 😄