When Paula was low on blood, she was advised by her doctor to eat lots of foods rich in iron. For her it was red meat like beef, liver, pumpkin seeds, and spinach. I just read that spinach is a little controversial as it has iron *and* iron absorption inhibitors, so I need to mention this to her. Once she got her levels up where they should be, she felt a lot better while running.
The hematocrit score can be low in well trained (clean) endurance athletes. The reason is that it is a value measured in percentage, it's the percentage of red blood cells, but it's not the absolute value. With endurance training your blood volume increases. Red bloods cells increase a little (more with altitude training), but your plasma volume increases a lot (buffering capacity of your blood). That means if you have a lot of blood (volume), you could have a relatively low hematorcrit value, but actually have a lot of blood (even a lot of red blood cells), but the amount of plasma volume makes it seem like it's too little. Actually, having a low hemotocrit value if a good sign in elite endurance athletes, its a sign that they are clean. 49.9 is usually red blood cells "produced" not in a way that also increases plasma volume. Did that make sense?
Did that make sense?
Yes. But then I'm wondering how much your blood volume changes depending on how hydrated/dehydrated you are. I'm guessing it can't be too much because otherwise the hematocrit would bounce up and down a lot and give a bunch of false readings for possible doping?
yeah, it doesn't change that much. A little, enough to make you feel bad, but not *that* much.
The hematocrit, along with many other lab values (salt is a good example), can be influenced by hydration status by a couple of points. Also, there are a couple of measurements of different characteristics of your red blood cells that can help you determine if you have iron deficiency anemia. You should me able to find those on your CBC report.
Here are the numbers, whatever they mean....
Wow! Your Albumin level is right in the zone. Way to go! (What's Albumin?)
Albumin (Latin: albus, white) refers generally to any protein with water solubility, which is moderately soluble in concentrated salt solutions, and experiences heat coagulation (protein denaturation). Substances containing albumin, such as egg white, are called albuminoids. Serum albumin is the most abundant blood plasma protein and is produced in the liver and forms a large proportion of all plasma protein.
I think the take home point from this is that you definitely want to avoid heat coagulation of your Albumin. So stay cool.
Great, now you tell me, and I'm supposed to be in Phoenix tomorrow where it's going to be 100.
Nice weather for a Rogaine. :D
Won't be so bad up on the rim, forecast is for high in the low 80s, low in the mid 40s, though that will still be warm. Will need to get out of Phoenix as fast as possible.
Regarding your CBC report, those numbers mean your individual blood cells are normal sized and fairly uniform, arguing against even sub-clinical iron deficiency, as well as against several other precursor deficiencies or various toxic exposures. While it may be true that an HCT of 49.9 may provide some competitive advantage in high-intensity settings, the far more common clinical setting in which the HCT is relatively elevated is in smokers as a compensation for poor oxygen exchange in the lungs. Your low normal value may actually just be a sign of healthy lungs.
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