Could 1 blood donation have crashed my ferritin?

[SkyWarn]

Haven’t donated blood in years because when I was donating 4 times per year my ferritin dropped as low as 0 (according to labs). After lowering my T dose and stopping all phlebotomies, it took about 2 years to get a normal (in the 40s) ferritin level.
I donated again 6 weeks ago because me hematocrit was back up to 57. 1 week after the donation I checked labs and Ferritin was 27.. Normal but very low normal. So I just ran labs again about 5 weeks post donation and ferritin dropped to 14! Not sure why it dropped further although I did read somewhere that ferritin continues to drop for about a month after a blood donation. My hematocrit is 52. I’m contemplating taking an iron supplement but concerned the iron supplement may raise my hematocrit again. This is a vicious cycle. I had a clean colonoscopy 4 years ago, been struggling with low ferritin since way before that. Not sure what to do.

 

[Systemlord]

Your options are, live with low ferritin or live with high hematocrit. It would seem blood donations don’t really benefit you or do anything for you other than to drop your ferritin levels while your hematocrit levels recover very quickly.

Have you considered oral testosterone?

 

[SkyWarn]

Your options are, live with low ferritin or live with high hematocrit. It would seem blood donations don’t really benefit you or do anything for you other than to drop your ferritin levels while your hematocrit levels recover very quickly.

Have you considered oral testosterone?

I am going to inquire with my clinic about trying the scrotum cream. Hypothetically would an iron supplement raise hematocrit? My hematocrit seems to rise just as fast even with low ferritin.

 

[Systemlord]

Hypothetically would an iron supplement raise hematocrit?

Iron is a component of hematocrit.

 

[NeverSayNeverAgain]

Natesto probably your best right now to allow you to supplement Iron without taking huge H&H hits.

 

[SkyWarn]

Natesto probably your best right now to allow you to supplement Iron without taking huge H&H hits.

I won’t be able to see my doctor for another month. What I was thinking is to just cut my daily injections from 10mg to 5mg and increase my HCG to 20 units 3x per week

 

[t_spacemonkey]

Iron Supplementation Protocol to Raise Ferritin FAST While on TRT: The Vorck Protocol - Excel Male TRT Forum

Hi all, I started TRT in 2001 and have been giving blood over the years and have always had issues with recovering my ferritin. Long story short, I got tired of waiting for others to do the research, so I did it myself, created a protocol, hired a hematologist in May 2021 who thought it could...

www.excelmale.com

I did this, it does work. 1 donation typically drops ferritin by 10.
i'm also in this boat of managing dosing/HTC, like many people here. I found that donating has other added benefits and I plan to keep doing it. and yes, the levels recover quickly so this does not seem like a good solution, however I always feel better after donating, and I don't think it has to do with HTC

 

[Westin]

I did 2 donations about 9 months a part 2 years ago. As of last month, my ferritin had only recovered to 11.

 

[t_spacemonkey]

I did 2 donations about 9 months a part 2 years ago. As of last month, my ferritin had only recovered to 11.

no way 2 donations did this, you most likely have other issues, diet etc.

btw. after doing 4 donations so far this year, my ferritin is at 49. what is interesting, despite donating every 3 months it never goes lower. i did the recover ferritin protocol twice, not sure what impact it had tbh, i assume it upped it

 

[WhiteMale]

My low Ferritin doesnt seem to cause me any problems. It's a number on a piece of paper and frankly don't test it any more. I was never able to raise it with regular HCT donations, but all the supplements and Vitamin C, etc etc
As I say I can't see any negative impact, for me.