Who I am

I'm an engineer, performance driver, and lifelong athlete. Team sports when younger, individual activities like hiking, swimming, and the gym as I've been in the workforce. I'm 39 now, female, and feeling very alone as I'm going through this. My colleagues either were never athletes, or are married or have close families so the day to day struggles don't really have the same psychological effects as they do for me. I have days where I feel hopeless and self-pitying, and I have the surges of determination where I push myself too hard and cause a fall backwards in my progress. I guess that makes me human.... what I need desperately is someone who understands what I'm going through - not a shrink, but a fellow athlete in rehab. Someone to share motivation with on their low days and be inspired by on my low days.

What I'm overcoming

severe iron deficency anemia and now severe reactions to long term use of spironolactone

Date of injury

2005-06-01 00:00:00

My Story

Very long story short (glad to answer questions if more details desired). I moved to Colorado back in 2004 and by 2005 had developed severe iron deficiency anemia. No one to this day really has identified a cause. I've battled back from injuries, but this keeps beating me down over and over and over again no matter what I try, no matter what doctor I see. I just reached the best fitness level I've had in 7 years in July (hiking at altitude regularly and gym work at least 5 days a week for a total average of 9-12 hours of exercise weekly). As of August, it all started to fall apart and by October 1st plunged downhill with the speed of an Olympic downhill skiier. I've gone from 108 pounds of muscle to 123 pounds of water, fat and muscle, barely being able to breathe while sitting on a sofa and almost no gym time (forget hiking), and people at work gossiping and making fun of me because I was a single attractive fast-tracker... now I'm just a round faced, sloshy panting mess :-( I can't believe this has happened so FAST. Doctors believe it started as some very very bad side effects from spironolactone, which has clearly done a lot of damage to me, and then the iron deficiency has snuck back at the same time frame, which is why everything is worse than usual. I am really upset, frustrated, and going nuts from inactivity. Even my personal trainer apparently abandoned me. I would really love to find some fellow athletes who could help me get through this so I stay focused on healing and getting back to my July level of fitness instead of sinking into feeling sorry for myself (although a little compassion would be nice too!)

My Heroes

everyday athletes who manage to make it back despite jobs, family, bills and the realities of life.

What I've learned so far

most doctors don't seem to care about getting you back to your "previous life" and insurance companies will do all they can to avoid paying for anything healthy to help you achieve that

I Will again

My Goal is to: Return to my July level of fitness By 2010-02-01 00:00:00

My first milestone is to: drop 10 pounds of water weight By 2009-12-18 00:00:00

My second milestone is to: back to 4 hours a week of gym exercise (non cardio) By 2009-12-25 00:00:00

My third milestone is to: begin cardio work again By 2010-01-15 00:00:00