Does her doctor know she's a vegetarian? I personally think that a vegetarian diet that's followed for a lengthy period of time is not healthy, but that's just my opinion. If she wants to continue to be vegetarian, maybe she should have her doctor give her a diet to go by to make sure she's getting enough protein. What kinds of anemia did her doctor check her for? There's more than one kind. There's iron-deficiency, B vitamin deficiency, folate deficiency, etc. Even with no anemia present, I believe that malnourishment is possible.

Anyway, I think she needs to make sure her doctor is aware of her diet.

Just my two cents.

Fainting is really common in teenagers and in teenage girl runners. I wouldn't worry about it too much. There are some "classic" youtube videos of the finish area at girl's collegiate races with literally dozens of runners going down in the chute and being dragged to a clearning where they can lie down and recover.
I've been a vegetarian for over 30 years and am very healthy. There's nothing wrong or dangerous with a vegetarian diet. Since your daughter is taking a multivitamin, you don't have to worry about b12 deficiency.

I think the neurocardiogenic syncope is a good tip, and definitely something to look into.

I have a condition called Orthostatic Intolerance (OI), and it's very much like what your daughter is experiencing. My resting blood pressure is very low. I'm frequently dizzy when I stand up, and on bad days sometimes when I'm just sitting still as well. I have fainted on occasion. I do experience a general 'spaciness' and sometimes have difficulty concentrating. If I exert myself very hard, then I sometimes become very ill after a run - extreme dizziness and fatigue, fainting, migraines.

I am also a vegetarian, and after much experimentation I don't feel that my vegetarianism contributes to my disorder in any way.

I've been through a gamut of tests on my heart, blood, etc. and the doctors never quite know what to do with me. They usually treat me like a lunatic, and it's been very frustrating!They've recommended that I eat 4g of salt per day, so I usually take a few salt pills, and sometimes a potassium pill as well

Have you heard of that Australian kids' band, The Wiggles? The "Yellow Wiggle," Greg, left the group last year because he developed Orthostatic Intolerance and it left him unable to perform. The disorder varies in severity from person to person.

You do not have to have low resting blood pressure to have OI. It is an issue of the brain not being able to properly regulate changes in blood pressure.

I used to get really sick after every one of my weekly long runs. I still have issues post-run, but I've been able to manage it a little better in recent months by:
1) Not having any caffeine for at least 24 hours prior to a long/strenuous workout
2) Increasing both my sodium and water intake beginning 24 hours prior to said workout

On a day-to-day basis, I try to eat 4 or 5 smaller meals rather than 3 larger ones, and I'm very careful to not overeat in one sitting - it causes lots of blood to pool by my stomach, leaving very little to make the trip up to my brain! Lifting my arms over the level of my heart is a sure-fire way to make myself feel dizzy (and if she's getting dizzy while playing basketball, this may be why.)

ThursdayNext is right; fainting is just your body's way of getting blood back into your head.

Hope this is helpful. I think a cardiac stress test would be in order, just to rule out a larger problem. If the docs seem stumped, don't get frustrated!

Perhaps I was not clear enough??? My vegetarianism has definitely not caused my OI. I know this because I have been dealing with OI since my mid-childhood, and I only gave up meat about 2 1/2 years ago. The 'evidence' of 1 meat-eater not experiencing these symptoms does not mean that vegetarianism causes fatigue and fainting. My diet is very well-balanced and my doctor was impressed as heck with my iron and B-12 levels.

Oddly, it got a bit worse after I had my daughter 4 years ago. Whether that's due to a physiological change, or the simple strain/sleeplessness of parenting, I do not know.

Apologies if I am a bit snippy about this; people have a tendency to try to indicate that I have somehow brought this on myself - 'maybe it's because you don't eat meat,' 'maybe it's because you exercise so much' (ha ha, yeah that 15 miles/week is gonna kill me!), 'maybe if you slept more,' 'maybe you're too stressed,' blah blah blah. It is difficult enough to keep myself functional - and exercising! - without others berating me for something that I can't control.

I will say that maintaining a strong level of fitness is helpful to me in managing symptoms - it's after I work at a high level of exertion that things get rough.

quote:<HR>Originally posted by GaelicTempest:
Perhaps I was not clear enough??? My vegetarianism has definitely not caused my OI. I know this because I have been dealing with OI since my mid-childhood, and I only gave up meat about 2 1/2 years ago. The 'evidence' of 1 meat-eater not experiencing these symptoms does not mean that vegetarianism causes fatigue and fainting. My diet is very well-balanced and my doctor was impressed as heck with my iron and B-12 levels.

Oddly, it got a bit worse after I had my daughter 4 years ago. Whether that's due to a physiological change, or the simple strain/sleeplessness of parenting, I do not know.

Apologies if I am a bit snippy about this; people have a tendency to try to indicate that I have somehow brought this on myself - 'maybe it's because you don't eat meat,' 'maybe it's because you exercise so much' (ha ha, yeah that 15 miles/week is gonna kill me!), 'maybe if you slept more,' 'maybe you're too stressed,' blah blah blah. It is difficult enough to keep myself functional - and exercising! - without others berating me for something that I can't control.

I will say that maintaining a strong level of fitness is helpful to me in managing symptoms - it's after I work at a high level of exertion that things get rough.

<HR>

If you would eat a quarter pounder now and then, you'd be fine....sorry, just couldn't resist....by the way, running will ruin your knees.

I also don't think it's caused by her being a vegitarian. However I would worry about her weight. 5' 8" 100# seems EXTREMELY thin to me. At 14 she's probably gone through a growth spurt so her weight needs some time to catch up to her height but she should be eating enough calories, vegetarian or not, to make up for that.

I'd look into hypoglycemia. I fainted after 2 runs - a 10k before which I'd had some really strong coffee and a long run before which I hadn't eaten lunch. The coffee spiked and then crashed my blood sugar and the second time I was just running on empty.

Make sure she's eating enough. She should be eating TONS, especially since she's a runner, and one growing through a rapid phase of physical development as well.