Low Ferritin After Donating Blood Too Frequently

[Mitch]

So, in sept I saw endo for fatigue. He took a bunch of labs and I just reviewed them with naturopathic doc and apparently my ferritin was at an 8 and iron was low too.. endo didn’t make a big deal.. still dealing with fatigue and ferritin is sitting at a 30.. what’s an idea number to get that up to? Best supp or food to do that? Anyone have experience woth ferritin crash.. probably from donating too much

 

[Vince]

So, in sept I saw endo for fatigue. He took a bunch of labs and I just reviewed them with naturopathic doc and apparently my ferritin was at an 8 and iron was low too.. endo didn’t make a big deal.. still dealing with fatigue and ferritin is sitting at a 30.. what’s an idea number to get that up to? Best supp or food to do that? Anyone have experience woth ferritin crash.. probably from donating too much

The best thing to do,, stop donating blood stop donating blood. I know it’s a lot easier said than done. Lower your T dose, more frequent injections and ?

 

[Vince]

Does hematocrit keep increasing after testosterone steady state? How often to check?

Hello guys, I’ve been on TRT for about 4 months and I just recently got my blood lab results. Everything looks good, but I did noticed my hemoglobin and hematocrit did increase to 15 and 45 respectively. Are they going to keep increasing? My doctor wants to check me at 6 month intervals now and...

www.excelmale.com

 

[Mitch]

The best thing to do,, stop donating blood stop donating blood. I know it’s a lot easier said than done. Lower your T dose, more frequent injections and ?

Thanks Vince! I haven’t donated in months, starting to supplement now, t doses are low to keep me around 700... supplement for a month and run ferritin labs again? Any good supplement for iron? Is it a long process getting the levels up again?

 

[Vince]

Thanks Vince! I haven’t donated in months, starting to supplement now, t doses are low to keep me around 700... supplement for a month and run ferritin labs again? Any good supplement for iron? Is it a long process getting the levels up again?

High levels of vitamin C, I supplement with 4000mg daily. It helps absorption of iron.

 

[pyater]

try chelated iron and optiferin-C. That helped me.

 

[TorontoTRT]

There has to be other factors at work into how people feel. I’ve had ferritin between 19-30 since starting trt. Regular was about 125. But I don’t feel any different at all.

 

[drkelp]

Anybody tried IP6?

 

[Shrades]

So, in sept I saw endo for fatigue. He took a bunch of labs and I just reviewed them with naturopathic doc and apparently my ferritin was at an 8 and iron was low too.. endo didn’t make a big deal.. still dealing with fatigue and ferritin is sitting at a 30.. what’s an idea number to get that up to? Best supp or food to do that? Anyone have experience woth ferritin crash.. probably from donating too much

The same thing happened to me. I tried supplements, but they didn't help. I tried discontinuing donating blood, but then my hematocrit levels spiked again. So, I ended up getting an iron infusion, and it worked wonders. I felt so much better afterwards. This was in February. I've donated blood again, after which my ferritin level was still within normal range, so I haven't gotten another iron infusion.

 

[VacationMan]

This happened to me once before. Hematocrit was high...mid 50's...so I went to the local blood donation center and gave double-red cells. While it helped reduce hematocrit, it tanked my iron/ferritin levels. Spoke with Christee at Defy and she suggested a product called Hemaplex. I took three of those capsules every other day *with* orange juice (to enhance absorption). Next blood work had my iron/ferritin levels in a good place.

 

[Wolverine]

So, in sept I saw endo for fatigue. He took a bunch of labs and I just reviewed them with naturopathic doc and apparently my ferritin was at an 8 and iron was low too.. endo didn’t make a big deal.. still dealing with fatigue and ferritin is sitting at a 30.. what’s an idea number to get that up to? Best supp or food to do that? Anyone have experience woth ferritin crash.. probably from donating too much

My Ferritin was at 29 in September from donating too much due to high HCT. I took beef spleen capsules, 36mg of ferrochel, 1000mg of Vit C all together, and drank two orgain protein drinks (each with 9mg of iron). Just got labs back and now my ferritin is at 178. Rest of iron labs in good range. Also did not donate this whole time. Im stopping all iron supplements and reducing my weekly T cyp to 90mg (from 100mg) and moving to three equal injections throughout the week (from two). My HCT came in at 56.7 so Im trying to lower that without donating. Tired of the donation merry-go-round. Drinking at least 100oz of water per day. I think some of its dehydration as my Hgb was 17, so my HCT should be in the 51 range. I tested iron after stopping iron supplements for 48 hours. Ive read though that maybe you should be off of them for like 5 days, so possibly my results were a little artificially elevated.

 

[Vince]

Anybody tried IP6?

My experiment with IP6 (Iron chelator)

My serum iron was a bit elevated during my last bloodwork and I dediced to try some IP6 (1000mg a day on VERY empty stomach with a full glass of water). After a little over 1 month my serum iron dropped by half. If I still had high HCT issues I would definitely try IP6. As an iron chelator in...

www.excelmale.com

 

[Andyhamp]

This happened to me once before. Hematocrit was high...mid 50's...so I went to the local blood donation center and gave double-red cells. While it helped reduce hematocrit, it tanked my iron/ferritin levels. Spoke with Christee at Defy and she suggested a product called Hemaplex. I took three of those capsules every other day *with* orange juice (to enhance absorption). Next blood work had my iron/ferritin levels in a good place.

How long did you take them?

 

[SkyWarn]

So, in sept I saw endo for fatigue. He took a bunch of labs and I just reviewed them with naturopathic doc and apparently my ferritin was at an 8 and iron was low too.. endo didn’t make a big deal.. still dealing with fatigue and ferritin is sitting at a 30.. what’s an idea number to get that up to? Best supp or food to do that? Anyone have experience woth ferritin crash.. probably from donating too much

When I was donating every 3 months my Ferritin came back at 0 as in zero. I haven't donated in 18 months now. I lowered my dose of T and my total T is around 700. I felt better at around 1000 but the blood donating was a pita.

 

[LEECHIPTURNER]

I have a similar problem. Trying to avoid erythrocytosis (HCT is high 50s), I donate frequently. After years of playing this game, my TIBC is 472, ferritin is 16, T is 919, FreeT 12.2, Estradiol 54, and exhausted all the time. So, plan is to reduce T, eat a grapefruit every day, DIM 300mg/day, and take my iron supps. Anybody tried grapefruit? Ingestion of grapefruit lowers elevated hematocrits in human subjects - PubMed

 

[fifty]

Real grapefruit nor grapeseed extract did anything for me. Try drinking a gallon of water spread out through each day.

 

[John O'Connor]

I also had very low ferritin after donating blood regularly for almost 2 years when first starting TRT. Here are a few things I learned along the path to correcting it. 1st, stop donating blood. When you get labs done make sure you are not dehydrated, as this will give a false high hematocrit/hemoglobin level. I try to drink 20+ ounces of water prior to lab draws. I have not had an abnormally high hct/hg since then. If you continue having high hct/hg levels then definitely lower your overall TRT dosing and increase frequency as Vince mentioned above. Correcting the low ferritin takes months. Iron is a mineral, and like all minerals - zinc, calcium, magnesium, etc., you need vitamin D to help absorb them. Thus the reason milk has vitamin D added, to aid the absorption of calcium. Most of the population is low on Vitamin D. If you are not taking a vitamin D supplement, or getting regular sun exposure year round, then you are likely low too. So get your vitamin D level checked, and if low, supplement to get your levels up to mid-normal range. This will also take a couple months typically. Normal Vitamin D range is 30-100, try to get it above 50. Normal Ferritin level for men is 12 to 300, try to get it above 100. You can supplement with generic iron supplements or get you doctor to write a prescription for Ferrous Sulfate 325mg daily. Warning iron supplement can lead to constipation/hard stools. Skip an occasional dose if it becomes a problem. Taking a daily magnesium supplement can also help with the constipation. Think milk of magnesia. Good luck!

 

[Vince]

When I did my labs 4 months ago, I worked out beforehand. My HCT came back at 51.5, I didn't donate blood. Checked my HCT 2 weeks ago, no work out, came back at 49.0

 

[LEECHIPTURNER]

When I did my labs 4 months ago, I worked out beforehand. My HCT came back at 51.5, I didn't donate blood. Checked my HCT 2 weeks ago, no work out, came back at 49.0

Well, that's very interesting. Thanks!

 

[LEECHIPTURNER]

I also had very low ferritin after donating blood regularly for almost 2 years when first starting TRT. Here are a few things I learned along the path to correcting it. 1st, stop donating blood. When you get labs done make sure you are not dehydrated, as this will give a false high hematocrit/hemoglobin level. I try to drink 20+ ounces of water prior to lab draws. I have not had an abnormally high hct/hg since then. If you continue having high hct/hg levels then definitely lower your overall TRT dosing and increase frequency as Vince mentioned above. Correcting the low ferritin takes months. Iron is a mineral, and like all minerals - zinc, calcium, magnesium, etc., you need vitamin D to help absorb them. Thus the reason milk has vitamin D added, to aid the absorption of calcium. Most of the population is low on Vitamin D. If you are not taking a vitamin D supplement, or getting regular sun exposure year round, then you are likely low too. So get your vitamin D level checked, and if low, supplement to get your levels up to mid-normal range. This will also take a couple months typically. Normal Vitamin D range is 30-100, try to get it above 50. Normal Ferritin level for men is 12 to 300, try to get it above 100. You can supplement with generic iron supplements or get you doctor to write a prescription for Ferrous Sulfate 325mg daily. Warning iron supplement can lead to constipation/hard stools. Skip an occasional dose if it becomes a problem. Taking a daily magnesium supplement can also help with the constipation. Think milk of magnesia. Good luck!

Thanks so much! I will try this immediately.