High HCT

Hi Folks

My last blood panel came back with HCT at 0.52 (0.37 - 0.5), up from 0.44 in three months.

Being in the UK they don't have such a thing as therapeutic phlebotomy, so before I get a Doctors appointment (who is not supervising my TRT) I hope to get some understanding of the types of treatment that might be available to lower HCT - without interrupting my TRT?

Any comments would be appreciated to help me research this a little further.

Ian

Have you tried donating blood. That's what I did for 2 years before my HCT stabilized.

Donating blood and reducing your T injection amount are the only 2 proven ways to reduce your HCT by any significant amount.
There are theories that grapeseed extract, grapefruit and grapefruit juice might help lower HCT.

Not appropriate to give blood, and grapefruit is contra indicated for other medications I use.

I was anticipating some sort of blood thinner or other medication. Really don't want to go back to low T challenges. Recently changed from, initially Testogel 2 sachets daily, to sub T E3D, to now shallow IM T EOD.

I intend to check HCT again in three weeks time and see where I'm at.

Meanwhile anyone one come across a medication for reduction of HCT?

I believe what worked for me was, lowing the dose and doing daily injections of T.

Daily Injections of Testosterone https://www.excelmale.com/forum/showthread.php?9754-Daily-Injections-of-Testosterone

Why can't you donate blood?

Saxon said:

Why can't you donate blood?

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Previous Heart Issue - cant donate because of it.

Grapefruit seems to be working for me (but a lot of drug interactions so careful). For me reducing my testosterone dosage didnt help on reducing hematocrit. My hematocrit was raising at the same pace with TT 1300 and TT 700.
Some people in the forum say that more frequent injections has helped with their HCT (theory here is that spikes in hormone levels contribute to a increase in HCT and more frequent injections will give you more stable levels).

HealthMan said:

Grapefruit seems to be working for me (but a lot of drug interactions so careful). For me reducing my testosterone dosage didnt help on reducing hematocrit. My hematocrit was raising at the same pace with TT 1300 and TT 700.
Some people in the forum say that more frequent injections has helped with their HCT (theory here is that spikes in hormone levels contribute to a increase in HCT and more frequent injections will give you more stable levels).

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Thanks HelathMan

From research I think your experience is not exceptional, grapefruit is out for me due to other medications and there seems no other medicinal treatment (that I can discover) to lower the HCT. Looks like I'll need to approach my GP, though that will be a repeat of the previous nightmare of him refusing TRT and all of the recriminations for taking my own course! Not looking forward to that and not really sure what he can do about it other than recommend I stop the T shots!

I'm on every other day injections now, and I may go to daily, but I suppose I need to get my HCT down ASAP as its 0.02 over the guidelines now, and I guess increasing daily.

I'm going, first of all to try and re-hydrate (I was drinking copious water, prior to the test before last, and have reduced that significantly due to travel etc. Also my exercise regime has been very constrained so I'll get back to daily gym sessions. Perhaps those changes will have a beneficial effect. I'll get an HCT test done again in two weeks just to see if I am impacting it or if its become more critical for me to do something else!

Thanks for the support Forum

Ian

Your HCT is not terrible but definitely needs attention and your options are limited. Hydration is one variable. If you are dehydrated that can have a impact in your HCT. Make sure you are not taking any iron supplement (check multivitamin, protein shake, bread, etc). Worst case you will need to take a break from TRT to bring it down (assuming more frequent injections can control it going forward). Good luck

Great points, hadn't considered the multivitamin. I'll check that.

Yeah. You gotta be careful. At some point i realised that my multivitamin had 100% of iron rda. My meal replacement 50%. The bread was iron fortified. Nightmare. There a lot of iron fortified foods out there. Stay away from those.

Oddly though, my ferritin levels were well above scale on previous blood panel whilst iron was within scale. This time both iron and ferritin were within scale, so likely not a contributor to the high HCT. I'll check my intake anyway for future reference.

You live in the UK, right? Are you open to receiving private treatment, outside the NHS? Forgive me if this question has been dealt with in the past.

CoastWatcher said:

You live in the UK, right? Are you open to receiving private treatment, outside the NHS? Forgive me if this question has been dealt with in the past.

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Hi Coast - I don't have a problem with private treatment (all my other treatments are private), though the only facility looking at TRT seems to be the one in the south of UK. Their costs are astronomical as far as I can see from browsing their web site and info!

Any other suggestions on UK support would be gratefully received.

Ian