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    Is it true that an elevated hematocrit level on TRT does not require blood donation?

    I am a hematologist/oncologist that jsut retired after 60 years of medicine, with 40 of those years focused on prostate cancer and other diseases of men. This is a good video and I especially like seeing the peer-reviewed literature referred to. I would ask the physician to add to this the...
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    Testosterone induced water retention: Guide to Natural Diuretics

    I am a physician and just retired after 60 years overall in cancer medicine with 54 of those years in clinical care of patients. I have been intrigued with herbal agents and remain so for most of those years. I cannot identify any single or combination herbal agent as an effective diuretic. In...
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    Is it true that an elevated hematocrit level on TRT does not require blood donation?

    Stephen B. Strum, MD, FACP: I hate to invoke something as basic as education and experience, but that is foundational to any discussion. When one is involved in another human life, the integrity of that life is the Prime Directive. This means observing what you are doing and that also goes...
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    Is it true that an elevated hematocrit level on TRT does not require blood donation?

    Sorry, as someone that has been in cancer medicine for 60 years, platelet numbers do matter. High platelets can result in thrombosis or in bleeding. Other factors come into play here as well and relate to what medications & supplements the patient is taking. For example, a patient taking...
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    Is it true that an elevated hematocrit level on TRT does not require blood donation?

    First of all, the hemoglobin and hematocrit are telling you the same thing. So if you call the Hgb normal, then the HCT is normal. Hgb x 3 essentially = hematocrit; or viceversa, HCT/3 ≈ HGB. Your HCT of 50.4 ≈ Hgb 16.8. I would not consider that normal nor would I consider a HCT of 50%...
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    When is Prolactin too high and what are benefits of lowering it

    Sorry, I thought your question was addressed to me and then realized just now that it was not. But commenting on Cataceous's input, I do not think I would have bothered advising a patient with a prolactin of 11 to start cabergoline. Lab tests such as prolactin are subject to major variation...
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    When is Prolactin too high and what are benefits of lowering it

    My most recent prolactin (PRL) level was 2.9 (normal < 15.2) on a dose of cabergoline 0.25 mg twice a week (biw). I also was on anastrozole (Arimidex®) 0.5 mg biw with an E2 of < 5.0. Recognize that I am an old timer, soon to be 81 years old, and surviving a usual fatal disease diagnosed in...
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    When is Prolactin too high and what are benefits of lowering it

    What I have seen working in major cities in the US and also giving presentations in Europe and Australia is that few physicians ever check prolactin levels. I would be delighted but shocked if any MD questioned could reply with evidence of knowledge about prolactin receptors or what drugs like...
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    When is Prolactin too high and what are benefits of lowering it

    I never received anything from the pharmaceutical company sponsoring cabergoline. In fact, a major regret in my life as an investigator for many block buster drugs was that I thought it unethical to purchase stock in these companies. If I would have done that I could have built an outstanding...
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    When is Prolactin too high and what are benefits of lowering it

    The above is wrong. There is clear-cut evidence that TRT (testosterone replacement therapy) with high testosterone levels will stimulate E2 production via aromatase. Those high E2 levels are absolutely stimulants of prolactin. My goal as a physician is to bring happiness associated with...
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    When is Prolactin too high and what are benefits of lowering it

    My experience with significant lowering of prolactin using cabergoline (Dostinex®) is in a study population of older men and the vast majority were being treated for prostate cancer. This is a seriously different cohort of men than in the publication cited above. I am attaching the full paper...
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    When is Prolactin too high and what are benefits of lowering it

    Bromocriptine is not an easy drug with nausea and vomiting a major side effect. This is in stark contrast to cabergoline that is very patient friendly. I was an investigator for cabergoline with the pharmaceutical company that eventually got FDA approval. I am pissed that this drug is...
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    When is Prolactin too high and what are benefits of lowering it

    I have never seen any ill effects form the use of cabergoline (Dostinex®) given at doses of 0.25 mg biw or tiw (twice or three times a week). Many of my patients are on this regimen for years. One thing I do note that if you are on cabergoline for many months, often you can stop it and still...
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    When is Prolactin too high and what are benefits of lowering it

    The dose of cabergoline (Dostinex®) you cite above is quite reasonable. Most men on TRT (testosterone replacement therapy) will have an increase in prolactin unless they are monitored for estrogen increase that is routinely related to aromatization of T to estradiol. It is called aromatization...
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    When is Prolactin too high and what are benefits of lowering it

    See my comments in the context of your message above: Gman86: Primobolan decreases E2. Forget the exact mechanism by which it does this, but most DHT derivatives will lower E2 in ur serum and on a blood test, or inhibit E2‘s effects, but won’t visibly show a lowering of E2 on a blood test. ss...
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    When is Prolactin too high and what are benefits of lowering it

    I had to use my research app called EndNote to find articles on Methenolone Acetate (Primobolan). This drug has been banned in the US for many decades and also banned by the European Union since 1981. The world peer-reviewed literature has a sum total of 19 articles, most of which are...
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    EPO vs high HCT

    This website is for me, an MD, very provocative. The fund of knowledge of many of you is quite impressive. I am saying this with 60 years of medicine under my belt. Yes, I am an old timer and the end of this year I will retire at age 81. My focus for 40 years has been on prostate cancer and...
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    Lipitor and other Statin Drugs Markedly Decrease Your Testosterone

    For 40 years I have monitored serum testosterone using DPC equipment which is of high quality. I monitor my patients lipid status with a test that quantifies lipid fractions such as small LDL and large HDL as well as insulin resistance. Therefore, many of my patients wtih prostate cancer are...
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    Lipitor and other Statin Drugs Markedly Decrease Your Testosterone

    The paper above is Klinefelter, G.R.; Laskey, J.W.; Amann, R.P. Statin drugs markedly inhibit testosterone production by rat Leydig cells in vitro: implications for men. Reprod Toxicol 2014, 45, 52-58, doi:10.1016/j.reprotox.2013.12.010 There are other peer-reviewed papers involving humans...
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    PSA while using test and other anabolics

    Yes, as a physician specializing in prostate cancer I would be concerned-- especially with your family history and the fact that you have performed what I call a biological stress test by using exogenous testosterone. The rate of change of PSA over time is a critical component v. the level of...
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    My E2 is sky High pls HELP .

    I am a hematologist/oncologist that has specialized in prostate cancer since 1983. Most often lay websites have a lot of nonsense posted. But I will say that many of the comments on Excelmate are of high quality and I am pleasantly surprised to see some of the comments that are trying to steer...
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    5 Months in...

    To Steve from another Steve: Your labs were reviewed. You have an ↑ bili (total) which may be due to a genetic disorder called Gilbert's Syndrome or it may be due to actual biliary disease. Gilbert's is common and no cause for alarm. You could benefit by keeping a table of labs showing results...
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    When is Prolactin too high and what are benefits of lowering it

    OK, I looked at the comments and some I take issue with. Prolactin is not an adult man's friend. Prolactin actions: 1) acts synergistically with LH to stimulate testosterone secretion from testicles by increasing the number of LH receptors in the testis; 2) influences adrenal androgen...
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    Does hematocrit keep increasing after testosterone steady state? How often to check?

    I am a MD of many decades duration. My focus is on prostate cancer and I was one of the 1st docs in the USA to use androgen deprivation therapy and soon after wrote about Androgen Deprivation Syndrome (ADS) and published in 1997 a paper on AAD (anemia of androgen deprivation). So, yes...
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    Carnitine for PSA

    Of concern in your post is the result you show for what I presume to be a post-void residual urine volume. In the best of worlds the urologist uses an ultrasound to do a pre- and post-void volume. Any post-void volume > 50cc (same as ml) is of concern for retaining urine due to bladder outlet...
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    Carnitine for PSA

    Your MD should have known better re the sequencing of multi-parametric MRI (mp-MRI) versus the timing of a biopsy (if indicated). It takes 5 weeks after a biopsy for any bleeding due to the biopsies to resolve. If the mp-MRI is done in a shorter interval of time it will compromise the...
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    Carnitine for PSA

    Even more important to me is the rate of change of PSA over time (i.e., PSAV (PSA velocity) and PSA doubling time (PSADT). I have had patients diagnosed with PSA total values < 4.0. A healthy prostate gland that is not involved with BPH nor prostatitis and of course not with prostate cancer...
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    Carnitine for PSA

    I am very familiar with TRT (testosterone replacement therapy) and the potential pitfalls. I call TRT a "stress test" for prostate cancer. The fact that you have had a serial &#8593; in PSA is of course highly suspicious for you having occult prostate cancer (PC). Key caveats re this...
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    Carnitine for PSA

    This forum is terribly sophisticated re the replies; I am actually blown away by the high level of knowledge of forum members. I am not being sarcastic but sincere. I am a medical oncologist with a subspecialty in prostate cancer. I will bookmark this site. As they say down under "good on you".
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