Elevated Hematocrit 61

[frozentundra1992]

Hello, I’m new to the forum and this is my first post. My hematocrit recently jumped to 54, and when I went to go donate blood the next day, the blood center’s reading showed 61. This obviously has me worried quite a bit. I over-donated blood back in July 2018 and tanked my ferritin to 6, hemoglobin was 13, and hct to 41. Needless to say I did not feel very good. My doctor prescribed two round of iron infusions in November and it skyrocketed my hemoglobin and hct through the roof. I donated once in late November when it was 53 immediately after the iron and obviously again yesterday when it was 61.

My current protocol is 160 t cyp every 7 days, and I take 1mg of arimidex on my injection day. My last numbers taken at the very end of my cycle were:

TT: 665
FT: 18
E2: 37.5
HCT: 54

I’m not looking to boost my testosterone into the 1000’s. I naturally had 200 before test therapy. But I am growing very frustrated with the balancing act of donating and my elevated hematocrit.

Do you have any advice on balancing these two variables?

 

[fifty]

Blood centers readings are handheld garbage.

Try splitting your stuff into 2 doses per week

 

[Vince]

I agree split up your dose. You may want to consider injecting more often than even twice a week.

 

[mooseman109]

Frozen, dude I can feel your pain. I am a very igh hct guy, apparently I am a champion RBC producer, yay. Fifty is correct, the hemglobin machines at blood centers are a joke. Twice i have go to labcorp the morning of a donation to get a hct baseline and then gone to donate. Both times when i got the lab work back the teo numbers were not even close. So rest at ease over that. Also possinle that your were somewhat dehydrated at donation time. I believe we probably all are in a state of dehydration off and on.
My hct did actually get to 62.3 measured by labcorp! I felt short of breath. Did some donations and came off T for 4 months. So now I have taken charge of my health amd not any Dr. They advise, but I decide. I went to daily imjections. Only 10mg a day helps keep it in line better. I still will,have to donate some, but hopefully only twice a year. Imdropped all hcg and dhea and i can stay off AI that way. My totaand E2 16-18 and i feel good.
How is your wbc and platlett count? What about RDW? All in your CMP blood work. It is discussed here amd 2 hematologist have both told me elevated hct alone is not major cause for alarm. If platletts, wbc rdw and rest of blood values are in line, hct is not the problem it once was thought. Not that it is an excuse to juice up heavynand throw caution to the wind. They, and my pcp, all told me to keep hct below 54. I aim for 51-52. Thi sis just what i have been told and what works for me

 

[frozentundra1992]

I see a Cardiologist once a year for a check-up (no heart problems, just precautionary). He’s the one who discovered my low ferritin and my bloodwork indicated significant anemia. He jokingly congratulated me on getting me ferritin down to 6; he said getting to single digits takes some serious work! He said that there’s no impairment of blood flow to capillaries and smaller blood vessels until you get to 55 (in healthy individuals).

 

[MarkLA]

Make sure you are hydrated (and hydrated consistently) when getting tested. These values are sensitive to dehydration.

 

[Gman86]

So recent research shows that ferritin is actually a horrible indicator of iron status/ anemia. Healthy individuals only need their ferritin to be around 20 apparently. So even though we don’t need ferritin at the levels we previously thought, ferritin in the single digits is still not a good thing, and should obviously be corrected.

So my question is, can someone even be anemic if their HGB is within range? If HGB is within range, is there any other labs that could be off and subsequently indicate anemia, even though HGB is good?

Frozen, to end this cycle, all you would have to do, most likely, is increase the frequency of your injections to EOD, or E3.5D. Preferably EOD. And don’t donate blood unless your HCT goes above 55. You can also start either eating beef liver, or take beef liver capsules. I currently do the capsules. It’s one of nature’s best sources of natural, bio available, iron, amongst all its other benefits. But do all these things. And your ferritin should return to at least 20, and your HCT should hopefully stay below 55.

 

[Vince Carter]

Of note here is that the blood centers do not test HCT, or Iron, for that matter with the finger stick. They test Hemoglobin. Though too you can very loosely multiply by 3 the hemoglobin number for some rough approximation of HCT. But it's not Hematocrit. All of that is heavily influenced by Hydration, too.

 

[frozentundra1992]

Thanks GMan, I appreciate your input. While ferritin may not be the best indicator of anemia, I can assure you that for the 4 months after I over-donated and my ferritin was at 6, my hair didn’t grow, my fingernails didn’t grow, cuts didn’t heal, my brain would not function and I couldn’t remember a thing. But I started my EOD regimen on Sunday. I’m doing 35mg t cyp EOD. That horrible T Center I was going to had me up to 200/wk and wanted to go higher. I told them absolutely not and we settled on 160. I’m a little tired this week due to the new regimen but otherwise I think it’s going a great change. I just wish I didn’t feel so tired during the two most important work weeks of my year.

 

[Deleted member 16042]

Contrary opinion to over hydrating for a blood test:

-Is this about cheating to pass a test? If so, you are only creating fudged numbers. This does not improve your health and well being if you are not testing according to your normal every day hydration level.

Cheating at the donation center to bleed more ferritin isn't wise.

I went through the high HCT low ferritin dance last year. Unfortunately I had more room to decrease T dosage, which eventually lowered HCT, then ferritin came up. Sounds like you may need to reassess protocol in a big way. Like, what's your SHBG? Could be room for much more frequent T dosing to bring down peaks and bring up trough to an overall lower but more consistent level. Just going to EOD without adjusting weekly dose downward will probably result in higher levels at blood testing time. I went much lower and more frequent. Now at 24mg EOD.

Seems a puzzle to me. Total T in 600s on 160-200 a week seems mediocre absorption/conversion. What else might be hindering?

 

[frozentundra1992]

I am most definitely not trying to cheat to pass a test. I don’t think you were suggesting that I was, but since I was on 160 every 7 days (and I had been on 200 every 7 days before that), I thought 35 EOD would be a good starting protocol. My total T was in the 600’s at 160, but that was taken just before my next weekly dose. I don’t know why they don’t test at the peak.

 

[Deleted member 16042]

I was not replying to you re: cheating the test, but the other post about hydrating.

I think you are on the right track, but you may feel crappy with the frequency change and weekly dose dropped to 122.

SHBG is important. it is very possible you have lower SHBG and you test results after a week at trough reflect that you burn up what you have very fast and need more frequent dosing. Could be a good change in multiple respects. You have to know SHBG to put it in perspective.

There are warning signs here that your doc/clinic don;t really know what they are doing:

-Did they test for SHBG?
-Did they use Estradiol LC/MS/MS or roche eclia test?
-Did they want you to donate blood plus raise your dose?
-That they gave infused iron in this context of potentially raising dose when you have high HCT is ludicrous.

It may be that going with another doc who knows what the heck they are doing would be your best move.

 

[Nelson Vergel]

RBC, Hemoglobin and Hematocrit High - Off TRT- Opinions?

 

[frozentundra1992]

Ok I’m one week into my new 35mg EOD protocol, I know I need to give this time but my blood pressure has been much higher than it usually is. It’s been at 145/100 resting. It’s normally around 125/85. Is this normal when going from 160/week to an EOD schedule? I have been extremely stressed. These are my two biggest weeks at work but it’s really got me worried.

 

[timk]

Ok I’m one week into my new 35mg EOD protocol, I know I need to give this time but my blood pressure has been much higher than it usually is. It’s been at 145/100 resting. It’s normally around 125/85. Is this normal when going from 160/week to an EOD schedule? I have been extremely stressed. These are my two biggest weeks at work but it’s really got me worried.

Do you drink a lot of coffee?

Stress increases blood pressure.

Have you tried to relax?

 

[captain]

Probably should check for electrolyte imbalance with high blood pressure.

 

[frozentundra1992]

I have been drinking a fair amount of coffee. I did take about .3mg of arimidex on Sunday. I’ve been taking magnesium at night for the past 3 nights and yesterday and today my BP has gone back to normal. I don’t know how long it takes for the small amounts of EOD dosages to stack up and normalize, but it seems as I’m nearing the end of week 2 I’m starting to feel better. Thanks for all of your help everyone.

 

[Gman86]

I have been drinking a fair amount of coffee. I did take about .3mg of arimidex on Sunday. I’ve been taking magnesium at night for the past 3 nights and yesterday and today my BP has gone back to normal. I don’t know how long it takes for the small amounts of EOD dosages to stack up and normalize, but it seems as I’m nearing the end of week 2 I’m starting to feel better. Thanks for all of your help everyone.

I wish you would of either taken the ai, or the magnesium, instead of doing both. I’m curious as to which one helped lower your BP. I’m curious if the magnesium alone would of done the trick.