High Hematocrit Erectile Function

[DixieWrecked]

High blood hematocrit increases the risk of the incidence of hypertension in men

Objectives: Little is known on the relationship between blood hematocrit (Hct) level as an estimate of whole blood viscosity and the risk of hypertension. We in

academic.oup.com

Saw this article which links Hematocrit to blood pressure and interfering with nitric oxide production. Anyone had improved erections from donating blood?

 

[DixieWrecked]

Elevated haematocrit – when too much of a good thing wreaks havoc on the endothelial surface layer

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Another article

 

[tareload]

Elevated haematocrit – when too much of a good thing wreaks havoc on the endothelial surface layer

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Another article

Thanks for these articles. I posted an ongoing thread regarding the physics/physiology of this topic here at ExcelMale:

Hematocrit drives Blood Viscosity- Does that Matter in Men on TRT? Effect of Altitude?

Hi ExcelMale folks, I wanted to start off by expressing my gratitude for this site, all of the amazing work that has been put in to make this place such a great source of information. I would expect no less from a chemical engineer :). I've been following this "debate" about how to properly...

www.excelmale.com

The thread hasn't really gotten much interest or debate but it's there for folks to read and make an informed decision. Gambling with your endothelium and what we are learning is the increasing importance of the glycocalyx (thanks @Vince) is not my idea of a good bet:

The role of the endothelial glycocalyx in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis: a new frontier in cardiovascular health

The role of the endothelial glycocalyx in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis: a new frontier in cardiovascular health Derrick DeSilva Jr, MD, Jeffrey Gladden, MD, FACC, Chen Chen, PhD, Jon Ward, MA ____________________________________________________________________________________ Much...

www.excelmale.com

 

[Ardoc2]

Thanks for posting this.
I'm surprised they can live with a Hematocrit of 85%??
Not sure how this would relate (if at all) to someone who's Hematocrit is 55% or lower which is usually about the max value discussed here.

Although these extreme types of studies (unrealistically high Hematocrit) show a problem above a certain threshold, we can't extrapolate to indicate that there are issues with more moderate elevations in hematocrit.

I can't see how anyone would have a hematocrit of 85% so are they implying it is a sliding scale issue from a normal all the way up to 85?

 

[tareload]

Thanks for posting this.
I'm surprised they can live with a Hematocrit of 85%??
Not sure how this would relate (if at all) to someone who's Hematocrit is 55% or lower which is usually about the max value discussed here.

Although these extreme types of studies (unrealistically high Hematocrit) show a problem above a certain threshold, we can't extrapolate to indicate that there are issues with more moderate elevations in hematocrit.

I can't see how anyone would have a hematocrit of 85% so are they implying it is a sliding scale issue from a normal all the way up to 85?

I've tried to daylight the sliding scale concern here (also see earlier in the thread where I show the same Hct number can yield two very different blood viscosities in two individuals):

Hematocrit drives Blood Viscosity- Does that Matter in Men on TRT? Effect of Altitude?

Reducing dose and increased my hematocrit.

www.excelmale.com

 

[Ardoc2]

Thanks for the good info Readalot. Considering it shows a non-linear relationship between hematocrit rise and viscosity rise in your posted info, doesn't that make this study at 85% HCT rather meaningless for those living at right around +/-50% HCT?
I feel sometimes like these studies are saying if its bad at an extreme, it also must be bad at any point. Well ...its possible to die from drinking too much water but that doesn't mean 1 glass of water is a little bad, 2 glasses worse etc. (sorry for the very simplistic analogy).
I just see so many of these "studies" claiming to prove/indicate something yet the dose used in the study or the extreme value represented makes it virtually irrelevant to the average "normal' persons situation?

 

[tareload]

Thanks for the good info Readalot. Considering it shows a non-linear relationship between hematocrit rise and viscosity rise in your posted info, doesn't that make this study at 85% HCT rather meaningless for those living at right around +/-50% HCT?
I feel sometimes like these studies are saying if its bad at an extreme, it also must be bad at any point. Well ...its possible to die from drinking too much water but that doesn't mean 1 glass of water is a little bad, 2 glasses worse etc. (sorry for the very simplistic analogy).
I just see so many of these "studies" claiming to prove/indicate something yet the dose used in the study or the extreme value represented makes it virtually irrelevant to the average "normal' persons situation?

I would agree, that's why you need to collect data to understand relative risk for your particular circumstances. I just don't subscribe to blanket statements on either side: elevated Hct is harmless or the counter. The real question is what are you doing and what's going to be the result down the road. I am not claiming you'll drop dead tomorrow from high Hct but in 10-15 years could it be a contributor? Food for thought.

 

[fifty]

I have been sold on here that HCT does matter. I wouldn't want to be > 54.

 

[Ardoc2]

Agreed! Mine tends to rise and I donate blood to keep it at around 50 or lower. I always assumed that an increase in viscosity = an increase in BP and that if your blood pressure didn't rise than it wasn't a concern for you, however the articles you posted indicates there are compensatory mechanisms to lower the blood pressure which could essentially mask the tendency toward increased BP... am I reading that correct?

 

[tareload]

Agreed! Mine tends to rise and I donate blood to keep it at around 50 or lower. I always assumed that an increase in viscosity = an increase in BP and that if your blood pressure didn't rise than it wasn't a concern for you, however the articles you posted indicates there are compensatory mechanisms to lower the blood pressure which could essentially mask the tendency toward increased BP... am I reading that correct?

Correct.

 

[DixieWrecked]

Donating Blood Can Save Lives, But It Can Also Benefit Your Own Health—Here's How

The benefits of blood donation can include better heart health and possible detox of chemicals, beyond the chance to save a person's life. Learn more.

www.health.com

Article talking about fewer heart attacks and improved circulation

 

[Gman86]

My HCT was 54 recently and erections were either a 9/10 or a 10/10. BP was fine as well. Averaging around 110/60. My platelets are low normal tho, which is what plays a bigger role in blood viscosity. High HCT with high platelets definitely cause for concern. High HCT and normal to low platelets, no need to freak out. I still like to keep my HCT below 55. I donated blood after it came back at 54. 2-3 weeks later it was down to 51. Donated blood exactly 2 months ago. So not sure where HCT is now. I would assume it’s above 51 tho. It was 51 about a month and a half ago. Just took my BP right now and this was the result. Getting borderline hypotensive lol. It’s not always that low. I check it every single day and it’s still averaging around 110/60. I would say more often slightly less than that than slightly higher.

 

[tareload]

My HCT was 54 recently and erections were either a 9/10 or a 10/10. BP was fine as well. Averaging around 110/60. My platelets are low normal tho, which is what plays a bigger role in blood viscosity. High HCT with high platelets definitely cause for concern. High HCT and normal to low platelets, no need to freak out. I still like to keep my HCT below 55. I donated blood after it came back at 54. 2-3 weeks later it was down to 51. Donated blood exactly 2 months ago. So not sure where HCT is now. I would assume it’s above 51 tho. It was 51 about a month and a half ago. Just took my BP right now and this was the result. Getting borderline hypotensive lol. It’s not always that low. I check it every single day and it’s still averaging around 110/60. I would say more often slightly less than that than slightly higher.

Maybe you are thinking about another correlation with platelets? In a complete linear regression model, platelets will come out as a minor contributor to WBV when you look at effect strength. By far, the major contributor to whole blood viscosity is Hb/Hct, besides the effect of plasma viscosity.

[PDF] White blood cell and platelet counts could affect whole blood viscosity. | Semantic Scholar

All the blood cell components, but not the plasma proteins detected above, could affect whole blood viscosity, and when patients are with high leukocytotic and thrombocytosis, impaired blood viscoity should also be considered to obtain appropriate clinical management. BACKGROUND Blood viscosity...

pdfs.semanticscholar.org

Note on these plots the platelet count is transformed to log scale:

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mohamed_Elblbesy/publication/294734038_Computation_of_the_Coefficients_of_the_Power_law_model_for_Whole_Blood_and_Their_Correlation_with_Blood_Parameters/links/56eabf9d08ae785865800597/Computation-of-the-Coefficients-of-the-Power-law-model-for-Whole-Blood-and-Their-Correlation-with-Blood-Parameters.pdf

A key feature of our study is to examine the correlations between m and n with the blood parameters that are mainly related to erythrocytes (such as HCT %, Hb, RBC, MCV, and MCHC) because erythrocytes play a major role in the non-Newtonian behavior of blood. The values of n and mobtained from our study are in a good agreement with previous studies. The correlations between n and both RBC and MCV were strong (Figure 3), in accordance with the dramatic dependence of the number and size of erythrocytes on the flow behavior of the whole blood. The correlations between n and other blood indices were moderate to weak (Figure 3) because the other blood parameters have stronger effects on the physiological and biochemical properties of whole blood than the macro-rheological behavior of whole blood. RBC and their related indices are well known to affect viscosity (Chao-Hung, 2004). Chao-Hung found strong positive correlations between whole blood viscosity and the RBC count, Hb, and HCT. David M. et al. found that the blood viscosity increased with increasing hematocrit (David et al., 2000). M, which depends on the physiological parameters of blood, was strongly correlated to the blood indices considered in this study (Figure 4). HCT and Hg increase blood viscosity under different values of shears rates. This linear logarithmic relationship between viscosity and the shear rates corresponds to lines with higher slopes and increasing intercepts of the line, with the y-axis representing the shear rates. This leads to an increase of the value of blood indices with increasing m. From the dependence of m on the internal structure of the liquid under investigation, our results showed strong positive correlations with all of the blood indices.

 

[DixieWrecked]

Thats some good looking BP right there Gman. I need to get my blood pressure down. Its been averaging about 145. I feel like that's my main issue with my erections and I feel like I am amped up. My penis is not hanging low, its kinda high and tight like my adrenaline is high.

 

[Gman86]

Maybe you are thinking about another correlation with platelets? In a complete linear regression model, platelets will come out as a minor contributor to WBV when you look at effect strength. By far, the major contributor to whole blood viscosity is Hb/Hct, besides the effect of plasma viscosity.

[PDF] White blood cell and platelet counts could affect whole blood viscosity. | Semantic Scholar

All the blood cell components, but not the plasma proteins detected above, could affect whole blood viscosity, and when patients are with high leukocytotic and thrombocytosis, impaired blood viscoity should also be considered to obtain appropriate clinical management. BACKGROUND Blood viscosity...

pdfs.semanticscholar.org

View attachment 10329


Note on these plots the platelet count is transformed to log scale:
View attachment 10330

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mohamed_Elblbesy/publication/294734038_Computation_of_the_Coefficients_of_the_Power_law_model_for_Whole_Blood_and_Their_Correlation_with_Blood_Parameters/links/56eabf9d08ae785865800597/Computation-of-the-Coefficients-of-the-Power-law-model-for-Whole-Blood-and-Their-Correlation-with-Blood-Parameters.pdf

A key feature of our study is to examine the correlations between m and n with the blood parameters that are mainly related to erythrocytes (such as HCT %, Hb, RBC, MCV, and MCHC) because erythrocytes play a major role in the non-Newtonian behavior of blood. The values of n and mobtained from our study are in a good agreement with previous studies. The correlations between n and both RBC and MCV were strong (Figure 3), in accordance with the dramatic dependence of the number and size of erythrocytes on the flow behavior of the whole blood. The correlations between n and other blood indices were moderate to weak (Figure 3) because the other blood parameters have stronger effects on the physiological and biochemical properties of whole blood than the macro-rheological behavior of whole blood. RBC and their related indices are well known to affect viscosity (Chao-Hung, 2004). Chao-Hung found strong positive correlations between whole blood viscosity and the RBC count, Hb, and HCT. David M. et al. found that the blood viscosity increased with increasing hematocrit (David et al., 2000). M, which depends on the physiological parameters of blood, was strongly correlated to the blood indices considered in this study (Figure 4). HCT and Hg increase blood viscosity under different values of shears rates. This linear logarithmic relationship between viscosity and the shear rates corresponds to lines with higher slopes and increasing intercepts of the line, with the y-axis representing the shear rates. This leads to an increase of the value of blood indices with increasing m. From the dependence of m on the internal structure of the liquid under investigation, our results showed strong positive correlations with all of the blood indices.

Maybe I’m thinking more about clotting and heart attack/ stroke risk

 

[Gman86]

Thats some good looking BP right there Gman. I need to get my blood pressure down. Its been averaging about 145. I feel like that's my main issue with my erections and I feel like I am amped up. My penis is not hanging low, its kinda high and tight like my adrenaline is high.

The main thing that I think contributes to my BP being so good is the water I drink everyday. I drink 2 glass bottles of pellegrino water per day. It’s carbonated natural mineral water. When I open one, I’ll put some Remag (brand of magnesium chloride), and either Celtic salt or redmond’s real salt in it, and let both dissolve for a while before drinking it. So I do that twice per day. Also in the morning when I wake up I let some salt dissolve under my tongue, and then drink a huge protein shaker cup of water with some apple cider vinegar in it. The apple cider vinegar is fairly new, and probably isn’t doing much BP wise, because BP has been like this for months now. It’s been really good for months and months now, but did also improve a little bit more after I listened to some talks with Stan efferding and implemented 10-20 min walks after each meal.

I started being more cognizant of my potassium the past week or so. Wanted to make sure I’m getting close to 5g per day. So started eating a couple servings of cantaloupe each day instead of other fruits I’ve been eating, and started eating some organic tomato paste I get from Whole Foods. Just one ingredient. Doesn’t even taste that bad. Kind of enjoy it. Tomato paste has the highest concentration of potassium in the planet, gram for gram. Increasing my potassium intake and adding the ACV to my morning water are the only 2 things I’ve changed in the past week or two, and possibly could be contributing to the even lower BP than usual.

So if ur looking to lower BP I would try any of the things I’m doing that I mentioned above. Ideally I would do all of them.