I tried posting about this again in the Nutrition section, but I made a mistake about my results:
I took a blood test a week ago and my HEMATOCRIT level was at a 33.3% where the normal range is 36-52. My iron was also low: 47mg/dL.
I took some iron pills and ate some red meat (which I rarely do lately), my coach made me retake the blood test again a week later (today)and the hematocrit showed a 31.5% 
and iron 49mg/dL. My doctor said that it’s a matter of the percentage error, but my question is this:
Can I practice normally with such low hematocrit? Doctor said if it goes below 30 there’s a chance of stroke during intense exercise :eek: , but the weird thing is that I feel totally FINE and have no sighns of fatigue or short breath or anything…
I would never have known about my low hematocrit or iron-deficiency anemia (that I apparently have) unless I took the stupid blood test…
So is it safe to practice? My coach is giving me a really hard time…
I would be very cautious about training, and I don’t think it would be wise for anyone to overrule your physician’s warning. My advice would be to focus on nutritional components to boost your hematocrit levels. I would recommend taking vitamin C with your iron which will improve absorption. SNAC Sytems sells a good, iron/C supplement. Also try blending baby spinach into orange juice. I know that sounds weird at first, but it’s recommended in The Color Code . The vit C in the juice will help absorption of the iron in the spinach, and the spinach really does not change the flavor of the juice that much, but it does make it a little less acidy.
I would also recommend trying injectible B-12 which might boost red blood cell production. Ask your physician if he’ll write you a script. It’s cheap and it won’t do any harm, so I can’t imagine why he would refuse.
When the first test showed a 33.3, my doctor told me to just take it easy for 10 days and then practice normally normally. I took it easy for 10 days. So I should be able to practice nowwwww…someone tell my coach that.
The rest alone obviously didn’t do the trick, so you have to look at other factors.
I didn’t just rest, I also took iron pills (Tardyferon), 80mg per day and have been eating anything that contains iron (from pork liver and I hate liver…to dark raisins, dry apricots and prunes).