How do you periods affect your rides?

[Jiffer]

Hi Jiffer - just a thought - have you seen an MD about your anemia problem? Besides diet (which seems like a stretch, unless you were eating a really weird diet) and heavy periods (which you don't mention that they are especially super heavy) there can be other causes of anemia. Things to rule out (off the top of my head) bleeding from your stomach or intestines. My friend got her colonoscopy "early" (in her late 40's) because she was scheduled for a hysterectomy - for heavy bleeding and anemia - and she was an avid runner. She wanted the colonoscopy before her hyst because she knew that scar tissue from the hysterectomy sometimes makes a colonoscopy a bit trickier. Well, it turned out that she had been chronically been losing blood from a colon cancer - and her periods added onto that pushed her into anemia. She had surgery and chemo for the colon cancer and her hysterectomy, and is back to her previous athletic lifestyle, running again. good to rule out all possible causes for anemia before blaming your diet and your period........tokie

Thanks for your concern, Tokie. I'm actually seeing a doctor tomorrow. It's very common for women cyclists to get anemic, though, so I'm pretty convinced that's all it is. You lose iron in your sweat and when you lower your food intake and still train hard, it can lead to anemia. In both instances I was losing weight and training hard and it seemed to hit suddenly (during my period). My dad and sister have trouble with their iron levels as well, so in addition to being a female cyclist losing weight, it may somehow be a hereditary thing with me. I didn't go to a doctor the first time I had trouble with this because we don't have health insurance (not for basic health car anyway, only the big stuff). I waited to see if the symptoms would go away without a doctor's visit and they did. But the weight came back and now here we are as I attempt to lose it again.

So tomorrow I'm paying $225 to see a doctor ... yikes ... plus the cost of the blood test and I have no clue what that will be. With this being the second time this has happened, I do feel I need to be more closely monitored. Rule out other issues, but also just stay monitored as to how my iron levels are. I'm actually hoping that if I get my iron levels up enough, I'll actually be stronger than I ever have been. I always tend to breath harder than every one I ride with and I wonder if it's because my iron levels are never as high as they should be (which causes shortness of breath). But I've been afraid to take too much iron because too much can be toxic.

Anyway, we'll see what the doc says. A coach I know recommended him to me, partially because he is a cyclist (the doctor). So I'm hoping he can give me good advice on if and how much I should be riding right now and when it's okay to ride harder. And he knows what to look for in the blood test, cause there are certain things my coach said they should look for because of the cycling.

[Tokie]

sorry you don't have insurance....medical care is costly. There is a screening test for blood in you bowel movements which is much cheaper than a colonoscopy - "Stool for occult blood" ( you take home a little kit and apply small smears of poop on little paper spaces for 3 days -return it to the doctor's office where they put drops of test liquid on the back of the paper, and it turns a certain color if there is blood in it) They are actually doing a free screening at the Catholic church in my town next week. Hope it all works out ok for you. Tokie