I was diagnosed with PV (red blood) and ET (platelets) in 2014, at 57 years young. I'm a male. The first year was rough, but once doctors got my medications "tuned" things have been great since. I go to the gym every day, and work out 1 to 2 hours each day. Some of my hobbies include, boxing and hiking. It is possible that my 46% hematocrit might help with both (some might consider this cheating, but I consider it a gift ;-).
On the other hand, I was a runner prior to diagnosis. Ten years ago, I ran a marathon at 3:36. A year later I was struggling with running 4:30, 5 hr and 6 hr marathons. I consider this to have been a clue, that I missed. I have physicals every year and doctors missed the diagnosis. I had just been to my annual physical and had a note from the doctor that I was healthy. In the same week I tried to donate blood/platelets and the phlebotomist called me at home saying "something" was wrong. I was looking at the note while talking to her. (Un)fortunately, my father also had PV. She didn't say PV, but I knew. I called my doctor back and explained the phlebotomist's concern. I shared with my doc that my father had PV, and wanted to know if my hematocrit being high might be a sign (69%). The doc said I was fine. Again, fortunately I knew what PV was. The clues were obvious. So, I fired my doctor, and found a new doctor who listened.
I can run a 10K so I'm not complaining but my being a competitive runner (for age group) is over. So, I've redefined my goals and taken up boxing and hiking. I miss running, but life is good.
So, if anyone has a logical explanation of why running would be harder please let me know!
I take hydra, baby aspirin, and hydroxyzine (for itching). The itching is worse when I don't sleep well, so on bad days I take ambien (zolpidiem) to help me sleep. I don't have phlebotomies because it cause my platelet count to go higher, i.e., PV and ET treatments can compete with each other. So, my hydra medication is well 'tuned' to find the sweet spot between red blood cells and platelets.
