Finally found out why I kept getting overtaken by other cyclists and couldn’t keep up with my mates…

Despite regular 500 mile months earlier last year I just seemed to really struggle. Cycling ground to a halt and I was blaming my asthma, had a couple of visits to the docs but came away after a quick listen to my chest and confirmation that there was no infection.

So, tried to carry on as normal and thinking that a sit down and a rest after going up the stairs was due to being unfit. Went to the docs last week and they did a blood test, results came back last Friday. Red blood cell count was 87, should be 130, offered an immediate blood transfusion (WTF?). Decided to go with 600mg Ferrous Sulphate tabs a day.

Anyway, the hospital called earlier, booked in for a Gastroscopy tomorrow. Judging by what the doc says, I suspect they may also want to look via the other end!

ps. new forum username as I don’t want to worry a few people that know me.

At least you have found that you’re not going barking mad! Since stopping one medication for my diabetes and being on vitamin D3 supplements I have had a eureka moment and regained strength and stamina and lost weight! Hope they get to the bottom of your blood loss/poor red blood cell count…..no pun intended!

The best iron med is ferrous fumerate, according to my consultant. Needs to be taken with plenty of orange juice or, better still, vit C.

Hope you get sorted.

Edit: might need to check the spelling.

Good luck! Good that you realised, and got the docs to realise that it was a problem worth investigating.

This:

new forum username

made me wonder if there was an option 3) to this: http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/how-long-to-be-a-credible-cat-4-or-am-i-just-crap-road-content

no offence meant any way at all! 🙂

I once raced a Cat 4 race two days after giving blood. It wasn’t pretty and I use the output to show the effects of negative dopage to students.