Hey folks. I haven't been able to donate blood for the last many months (my iron's been too low) and I was hoping to get some of your thoughts. I've always had kind of low iron levels, but not this low for such a long time. The suspicious part is that my low levels seem to have started when I started running again. Even though I run just 15k a week, could it be having an effect? I guess the bigger question is, do others of you have low iron? Do you take supplements or just try and eat more iron-rich food? What do you think, will I be able to donate again some day?

I had low iron / borderline anemia for a little while in college. I was vegetarian and definitely could have been eating better, so I concetnrated on green leafy veggies and took iron supplements for a while. Iron sulfate, I think? See what your doc recommends, though--you can OD on iron, though it's harder for women than men. I still take an iron supplement the week of my period, which seems to help. It's been a few months since I've donated blood, and I usually make the cutoff 2/3 of the time. By the way, the donation level is much higher than the level at which you should start worrying a lot.

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. I think it is just a matter of ramping up those leafy greens - the OJ tip is a good one! In my research, I also found that prune juice (of all things!) is quite high in iron. I'll just keep working at it - we'll see how it goes!