I have a 16 yr old that is on the cross country/track teams at school. She is varsity so she has made it up there. She is also a very anxious person that looks to please everyone and always worries about EVERYTHING. This is my child that has also cut and was in a hospital for 5 days (which did nothing for her-made things worse). Just throwing that in so you can see she is a very emotional person. She believes a B is failing a class. Any way, she has practice 6 days a week. For the most part, they run everyday. However, sometimes they run more than others and add weights for those days they do not. So it is about 3 or 5 miles a day. Right now, she is freaking about being really sick. She says she has had her cycle 3 times in the past month. I suffered from PCOS when I was younger and could skip 5 or 6 months at a time when I was her age so I cannot relate to that but know it is not too unusual. She also says she has a metalic taste in her mouth and everything hurts. I try to let her knw I am listening to her concerns but she sees me as brushing everything off. She had doctors in July and they ran a full cbc. Everything came back fine but rubin was very slightly elevated. I also know exercise can effect everything. So, if you are a regular exerciser, esp runner, have you had this experience? I am hoping to give her examples.
BTW, she is also exhausted because she has been writing a song on her guitar, worrying about classes, animating, and of course pratice. Having her stop is not an option because all of these things are her outlets for her emotions. She has not cut in 7 months and I am really happy about that. Have to try to get her to balance.
What kind of doctor did she see? Have you taken her to a sports medicine physician? If she saw a general practitioner or a family doctor, perhaps she should be evaluated by a sports medicine specialist.
I run, but not that much. So I cannot relate to her issues. I would recommend a sports medicine specialist rather than just a general family practitioner. I find her having that many periods concerning, though. Normally, with people who are fitness fanatics and who exercise a great deal, the tendency is to stop menstruation. Not have it happen MORE frequently.
Check with a gyno and if you don't get answers, go to a sports medicine doctor. Has she considered asking her coach about any of this? They might have some insight into it. Metallic taste? I've never had that. But my husband has gotten that after blood donations. With the exertion of running and multiple periods per month, she might have low iron?
I am really worried about your daughter, it seems to me that she has several issues so i will try to list the reasons why I am so concerned by addressing each issue you have listed
Exercise - At 16yrs and super fit she can manage 3-5 miles a day but ideally 4 times a week. Two short strength training sessions. Overtraining is self defeating as is poor nutrition (overall and not fueling correctly pre work out and not eating for recovery post workout) but you cannot tell her that; she won't listen. Borrow/buy books on the topic and speak to her coach confidentially. Can you buy her a couple of personal training sessions with a run coach and have that person tell her? She will think your doing her a favor with the PT sessions. Try a paleo cookbook for performance workouts. They usually list what to eat and more importantly why, plus talk about recovery days and over training.
Focus on training smarter and not harder. e.g Tim Ferris the 4hr Body book.
Recovery, sleep and nutrition for performance and to prevent sickness and injury.
Eating atypical teenagers diet is bad for her immune system. Tell her you are proud of her and if running is important to her than you want to support her.
I would encourage her to drop a run and replace it with a yoga class to lengthen muscles and for anxiety.
Not sleeping enough does not give her body time to recover. Teenagers need more sleep - how much does she get at night? Poor sleep makes anxiety worse.
I would guess her anxiety is doing more to mess up her hormones than the running. Lack of periods would be more common not 3 times in one month.Ask the Dr for a full female hormone blood panel test AND Vit D, B12, ZINC and B5/6 in particular. Have teh CBC test results reassessed by another Dr and even better a Functional Dr.
There are many reasons why you get a metallic taste in your mouth (some also cause body pains) including structural issues with your body, low Vit D , B12, zinc, generalized anxiety and hyperventilating from shallow stressed breathing.Many people who train intensely experience it, one belief is small amounts of blood leaking into the lungs. google it.
Have a physical therapist check her alignment - also very useful for running form.
If she is writing a song and animating for pleasure then great but if she is obsessive about her perceived need to have these things done in her specific time frame then that's another symptom of anxiety. Cutting is what people do when they are so overwhelmed with life that it becomes a release. She is only 16, a baby, you need to get her the help she needs before she does something even more dangerous. Her life can be rewritten now if she is taught how to cope; otherwise life will only get more stressful with exams, college, careers choices, more responsibility, less structure and peer support etc. If she cannot cope now what will change when the going gets tougher?
Get a 2nd/3rd/4th opinion about her mental health. Have you heard of Borderline Personality disorder or Pyrole? She will not like you for pushing it now but she is 16yrs old, still a child. You need to be the adult and take responsibility for her now while under your care. Self harm with 5 day hospital stay is not normal teen behavior. She may not have cut in 7mths but have you noticed any other obsessive or unusual behaviors? 'She thinks I brush everything off' - red light. She wants your help, who does she have that she feels she can confide in? she needs someone.
Maybe she needs to run because that's her bodies way of making Seratonin and other feel good neurotransmitters that her body is not making enough of?
I wouldn't recommend giving anti anxiety or SRRIs to a child but (depending on what is actually out of synch) they can be helpful as a short term tool so allow her to see how she could feel and compare that to how she did feel. It can be an eye opener that prompts cooperation.
Maybe I have over dramatized the situation but it is better to be safe than sorry. You already know she is struggling, time to get her more professional help.With best wishes
Sorry, I don't run - but I think she's doing too much and she's spread too thin.
6 days a week doesn't sound like enough down time for muscles to recover/heal - and rest is an important part of the exercise cycle.
"No pain - no gain" is a crock of manure.
If everything hurts all the time - I'd take her back to the doctor.
A metallic taste after exercising is something that gets discussed quite a bit in runners forums.
It's worth mentioning to her doctor.
http://www.outsideonline.com/1785581/why-do-i-get-metalli...
if she has had her cycle 3x in one month you should discuss this with a gynocologist. many things affect this and a gyn can help. they will also know what to specifically test for and if need be put her on a hormone regulating bc that will stabilize the hormone levels.
This was my son's high school career, without the anxiety. 3-5 miles a day x 6 days is okay if the runners are in shape and properly nourished. Is she obsessing about her weight and trying to keep it down, so much so that she has messed up her cycles and/or reduced her caloric intake? Does she have an appropriate balance of protein, carbs (healthy) and fats (healthy) at every meal? She needs this for muscle strength/recovery and for stamina. If she's essentially starving herself, that's a problem.
The beauty of track is that you run against yourself and the clock - you try to P.R. (get a Personal Record) and you worry less about the competition. The down side is...the same thing - you run against yourself. If she's hard on herself, that's a problem.
But your daughter has other problems, as you know, if she is cutting - that's a release of intense interior psychological pain. So have you gotten her intensive therapy in this area? Often qualified therapists will deal with connected issues (not that all patients have all of them), but they include cutting, eating disorders, body dysmorphic disorder, hypochondria, stress, and more.
On the physical side, I'd have her tested for mono - my son had it and experienced a lot of muscle aches and exhaustion. We used patented sports supplements to nourish him and reduce the size of his spleen. He made an amazing recovery and was never sick again. I agree with those who've said she can benefit from a sports physician, but I think she also needs therapy and you might consider a sports psychologist if she's resistant to therapy. I do believe parents have to force kids into appropriate care, frankly, and while you may have done that, you don't spell it out. This situation is well beyond your ability to just listen and make it better. Your daughter needs a team approach to her nutrition, muscle conditioning, endocrine system (irregular periods), anxiety, desire for self-harm, and analysis of her symptoms (real and imagined). Her elevated bilirubin (not rubin) by itself may not be indicative of much, but there is more going on here than just that.
I'm kind of a jock but I've never had your daughter's experience.
I do, however, think that sometimes school sports are too demanding. When my kids were in school sports, I tried to get them to take at least a day off a week. They have enough to do, without having to practice six days a week.
But if your daughter doesn't want to give anything up, I don't know what to suggest.
Can the doc give her some anxiety meds to help her calm down? It truly sounds like she's doing a lot of exercise and it is effecting her body. I wouldn't trust a doc that didn't listen to her symptoms and work to find out what's going on.
What about going to a sports doc? One that works with people who are serious athletes? It sounds like she's got that thing where she exercises too much.
