one thing I’ve experienced is that if kid’s ferritin levels are at low end of range, but still in what’s widely considered within a range - like 20 for a male teen - doctors will err on the side of a more conservative treatment. What they fail to appreciate is that it’s crippling for an endurance athlete - so better to find a doc with a sports related practice or background. 20 for a male teen runner is very very low and should be addressed - kid should see dramatic improvement with supplementing (good point above on every other day, and with vitamin C to maximize absorption) and improved diet - eat some steak and spinach!

My young adult dd wrestled with low ferritin all through high school. She loved running, and tried to run through the fatigue she often felt but it was tough. She wrestled with falling asleep in school and headaches.

She took a daily liquid iron supplement.

Just this week a new doc told us she has Celiacs and needs to eliminate all gluten. The diagnosis was based on a blood test.

we're hoping that cutting out gluten will allow her body to better absorb iron.

It's worth asking a doctor about testing for Celiac disease

My husband is a long distance runner and he has struggled with low ferritin throughout his life. It's very common amongst runners (males included).

Anonymous wrote:Disordered eating is rampant with female athletes.

For running- it is on the boys side too.

Disordered eating is rampant with female athletes.

Anonymous wrote:My DS is a good runner with some very competitive times in the 1600 and 3200, and had high level of success in x country. Started fading at the end of x country, we thought it was from stepping up the training for the season and a bit of burnout. Didn’t shake it and performance was pretty lackluster through the start of outdoor track, when he had a full blood screen - and ferritin levels were around 20, which by all accounts is very low for a male teenager. He had an iron infusion and has been on iron supplements (taking properly w vitamin c etc) - bit would be curious if anyone went thru this and how long to get back to normal levels - doctors opinions seem to vary tremendously

Supposedly for running based sports, blood cells can turnover very quickly, due to mechanical stress from pounding on the feet.

DD is a swimmer, and my understanding is that long distance running and competitive swimming share the same type of need for extra iron storage (ferritin). I know women are different from men, but I’ll say that she’s been supplementing with iron for four months and although hemoglobin is now normal, ferritin is still at 12.

She sees a hematologist who isn’t terribly concerned, and we just started with a sports nutritionist. We’ll re-do labs in a week or so.

I will also say that iron absorption could be an issue, and so DD went from two pills every day to two every other day (read about hepcidin and why this counterintuitive dosage schedule seems to work).

Good luck. It’s tough when dealing with a health issue that affects stamina in a sport that demands a lot of energy.

He need his spinach dam

Yes, see a dietician or nutritionist! It's pretty common ... and many kids never figure it out. Good luck!

One of the best things we did was have our kid meet with a dietician. They need way more calories than they are getting and our experience was there was disordered eating on the track team. I am sure I could have found all the info online but having a dietician talk to our kid was so helpful- protein at every meal, eat ice cream, eat whatever. We have seen a tremendous improvement in times and performance. Plus it has discredited the kids and coaches who are constantly talking about weighing less

My DS is a good runner with some very competitive times in the 1600 and 3200, and had high level of success in x country. Started fading at the end of x country, we thought it was from stepping up the training for the season and a bit of burnout. Didn’t shake it and performance was pretty lackluster through the start of outdoor track, when he had a full blood screen - and ferritin levels were around 20, which by all accounts is very low for a male teenager. He had an iron infusion and has been on iron supplements (taking properly w vitamin c etc) - bit would be curious if anyone went thru this and how long to get back to normal levels - doctors opinions seem to vary tremendously