Thal minor and aerobic exercise

My 14 year old daughter is seeing a hematologist who is in the process of confirming that she has beta thal trait.  Her bloodwork results are:
RBC CT (ElectroP Hgb)   5.59 MIL/UL   
HGB (Electro Hgb)   11.3 g/dL   
HCT (Electro Hgb)   37.4 %   
MCV (Electro Hgb)   67.0 FL   
MCH (Electro Hgb)   20.3 PG   
RDW (Electro Hgb)   16.7 %   
HGB A (Electro Hgb)   92.8 %   
HGB F (Electro Hgb)   1.8 %   
HGB S (Electro Hgb)   0.0 %   
HGB A2 (Electro Hgb)   5.4 %   

My daughter has the same issue with running, aerobic exercises and participating in sports that I had.  After a very short amount of running she is bent over, gasping for air with her heart pounding, feeling nauseous and her muscles feeling like they can't go on.  The doctor is dismissive of this as just being out of shape but that is not what it is.  I tried for years to build up my stamina to participate in track and could never run even halfway around the track without this happening.  I did not tell my daughter but put her in swimming after she could not run up and down the soccer field at 9 years old.  She would go hide in the bathroom toward the end of practice because she could not keep up. I finally told her at age 12 she might have a blood issue.  Does anyone else experience this? Thank you.

Hi KMJ,

I've struggled with exactly these issues since childhood - and school days are particularly difficult because of the humiliation involved in coming last in all the races, not being able to participate in competitive sports, etc.

As an adult I ran away from sports altogether and immersed myself in dance and yoga instead, which I loved. That might suit your daughter better, along with martial arts - anything on the scale from tai chi through to aikido, bagua zhang, tae kwando etc.

But re: running and swimming, I finally found some progressive training methods that have allowed me to participate in these activities (albeit at my own pace) - Chi Running and Total Immersion Swimming (you could also look at the Shaw method of swimming - Alexander technique based). All these approaches are non-competitive and work to increase oxygen levels in the body - something we thals need.

Hope this is helpful and let me know how she gets on!

Thank you very much for your suggestions.  She will be relieved to know that other people with this condition find plenty of activities they enjoy.  It was upsetting to my daughter when the hematologist responded that she has patients that are very good soccer players. 

KMJ,

It is almost certainly (99.99%) that this is beta thal trait, as the HbA2 is high and this is only seen in beta trait. A nutritional approach can help to counter many of the problems found in thal. Please see the recommendations at http://www.thalassemiapatientsandfriends.com/index.php/topic,4890.msg46774.html#msg46774

Soccer great, Zinedine Zidane is a thal minor.

Andy, Thank you for the nutrition recommendations.  We will work on the diet.