Thalassemia and BODYBUILDING...

I will be checking next month with my son's  cardiologist this point because what Lena was poiNing to in her post is an important remark. When weights are lifted in an upright position, all the blood is withdrawn out of the heart and this puts a lot of stress on the heart muscle when the hb is low

I will check this point and I will check also if the push ups could substitute weight lifting...II know this is an important issue especially for young men of our group
manal

[In short!]

I have been doing bodybuilding as a hobby for a few years, including a strict diet plan. Basically my whole life centered around it and I always tried to push my body to its limit. I'm a minor and my main problem was that my body regenerated rather slowly after such a unit, which then even increased the fatigue I experienced every day.

I couldn't find any real research on that, I suppose that people who live healthy and do not have thalassemia don't really have a problem with the regeneration, so that's probably why. I found a post on reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/xxfitness/comments/1exafp/can_weight_lifting_reduce_hemoglobin_levels/

It became a serious problem for me, because my school performance suffered a lot. Till today I am scared to start again for exactly that reason.

I will be checking next month with my son's  cardiologist this point because what Lena was poiNing to in her post is an important remark. When weights are lifted in an upright position, all the blood is withdrawn out of the heart and this puts a lot of stress on the heart muscle when the hb is low

I will check this point and I will check also if the push ups could substitute weight lifting...II know this is an important issue especially for young men of our group
manal

Manal,

I would say first of all that unfortunately there is very little information we have about affects of bodybuilding on Thalassemic patient. I have been weight training for quite a while and I have been more healthy in times when I was training than when I wasn't. Even if we accept that it is bad for heart to train at low Hb, what about going to gym only when your Hb is higher? When my Hb is high I hit gym with full intensity and as the Hb goes down I limit the intensity accordingly and if my hb is below 9 I do not train and wait for the transfusion. Earlier when I used to weight train, there was no impact on my Hb levels. However, after I had my gallbladder surgery my transfusion requirements have rose from 4 weeks to 3 weeks. My Hb now goes down in 3 weeks whether or not I goto gym and there are so many other factors in play that I cannot say the weight training/ body building actually is causing my Hb to drop faster.

I would say to all that it is already difficult enough for thals to even think about weight training/body building, so if any of the thals out there who are reading this post and are mentally strong enough to go and hit the gym I strongly advise you to go and do it. I personally never let Thalassemia come in my way and stop me from doing something I want to do. I did weight training and found it made me feel healthier than without it. Weight training increases the food appetite that in turn leads one to eat more and healthy food that would make up for already deficient nutrients in our body. I stop going gym when my hb reaches 9 or below and I always wish for that day when I wouldn't have to skip gym because of lower hb.