Hemochromatosis, anyone?

robbmt - 2009-08-10 10:04 PM I'm guessing your ferritin and transferin levels were high.  Have you gotten results for HFE genetic tests?  Is a liver biopsy in order?

Confirm with your M.D. -- Maybe your H&H will not drop to such levels after the phlebotomies that it would drop your 0xygen carrying capacity below threshold levels for training. 

mndymond - 2009-08-17 6:14 PM I'm assuming every time you will have about a unit of blood taken--max 10% of your total blood volume. There shouldn't be any serious cardiovascular complications that occur with this amount of blood loss; however, you must consider the frequency of your phlebotomies because another thing to consider with frequent phlebotomies is fluid balance...If you were only getting a single one done it wouldn't be a big deal, but having a phlebotomy twice a month for example might start to mess with your CV system during training both acutely (right after blood loss) and chronically (days-weeks)...If you are having phlebotomies relatively close together, each one could compound the negative training effects on the others.

Right after blood volume loss your CV system will kick into gear to maintain your blood pressures--you probably wouldn't necessarily notice if you were sedentary, but because of the training load, you might feel fatigued or extremely stressed while training due to an already elevated heart rate and peripheral vascular resistance. Also, your body will try and make up the fluid loss through increasing anti-duiretic activity...this will exacerbate the anemia due to phlebotomy through a dilutional effect (as the kidneys "work" faster than the marrow generating a larger stock of RBC's due to increased EPO). This is just a general compensatory mechanism to maintain homeostasis, but you might find it to be detrimental to your capacity to train (specifically your capacity to train for endurance activity). The loss of iron isn't the only thing to consider.

I'm just sort of rolling through the pathophysiological significance of your situation on endurance training. I'm not exactly certain of the clinical manifestations of hemochromatosis treatment...Just some extra things to think about and ask your physician about...

spbdds - 2009-08-18 5:07 PM Hey, its good that you were diagnosed early. As a man the issues associated with Hemochromatosis are more devastating, and often go unnoticed until liver issues prompt more testing. Women obviously have menstruation to ease the iron overload. My mom was diagnosed a long time ago, had lots of sessions with the phlebotomist but only now goes in once in a while. She is almost sixty and just finished a half marathon. She runs several times a week, no problem. I was tested, found out I am heterozygous , so I'mreally just a 'carrier'. See you in St. George...