My hematocrit went from 55.5 to 47.5 after one blood donation

SkyWarn

Active Member
3 weeks about my labs showed hematocrit was at 55.5. I donated blood and just repeated labs and now its 47.5
I'm very happy, but I wonder how long it will stay under 50.
My Ferritin is 27 which is already low normal. Hate to have to drop more blood to soon
 
3 weeks about my labs showed hematocrit was at 55.5. I donated blood and just repeated labs and now its 47.5
I'm very happy, but I wonder how long it will stay under 50.
My Ferritin is 27 which is already low normal. Hate to have to drop more blood to soon
My Hematocrit would return to the higher level before the 2 week mark. Hematocrit will recover within 1-2 weeks, not really long term solution. The cons are you suppress ferritin and for 1-2 weeks worth of lower hematocrit.

It just doesn't seem worth it at the end of the day.

You're robbing Peter to pay Paul.
 
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My Hematocrit would return to the higher level before the 2 week mark. Hematocrit will recover within 1-2 weeks, not really long term solution. The cons are you suppress ferritin and for 1-2 weeks worth of lower hematocrit.

It just doesn't seem worth it at the end of the day.

You're robbing Peter to pay Paul.
Whats the alternative? How are you managing the elevated hematocrit?
 
Whats the alternative? How are you managing the elevated hematocrit?
Lower your dose. You have to weigh the pro’s and con’s. What’s more unhealthy, an elevation in hematocrit (lack of data showing harm in TRT induced erythrocytosis or decades in a low iron state (data showing harm).

I’m natty now. I used TRT as a tool to lose weight and gain some muscle and hopped off and I’m doing very well without TRT.
 
Whats the alternative? How are you managing the elevated hematocrit?
Increase injection frequency, switch from IM to subq, lower dose (as you can see, I didn't list this option first), change administration method to something less prone to increase HCT. Topicals raise hematocrit less than injections, oral testosterone raises HCT less than both (only 0.003% of men developed HCT above 52% in clinical trials).
 
Lower your dose. You have to weigh the pro’s and con’s. What’s more unhealthy, an elevation in hematocrit (lack of data showing harm in TRT induced erythrocytosis or decades in a low iron state (data showing harm).

I’m natty now. I used TRT as a tool to lose weight and gain some muscle and hopped off and I’m doing very well without TRT.
Seems very similar to what I am trying to achieve. Could you please share more about your experience.
 
Could you please share more about your experience.

 
I’m natty now. I used TRT as a tool to lose weight and gain some muscle and hopped off and I’m doing very well without TRT.
So how many weeks are you off trt, don't get me wrong i really hope it's not just a rebound effect but we have certainly seen how symptoms tend to creep up again. I guess there is always hope when something has changed, be it food or exercise or body composition, stress, sleep etc. Personally whenever i go off sleep starts to suffer and creates a vicious cycle.
 
Increase injection frequency, switch from IM to subq, lower dose (as you can see, I didn't list this option first), change administration method to something less prone to increase HCT. Topicals raise hematocrit less than injections, oral testosterone raises HCT less than both (only 0.003% of men developed HCT above 52% in clinical trials).
I did all of that and still struggle to stay below 53-55. Had tests done for mylomas and poly vera, all negative. Keep my dose low and just donate every 10-12 weeks
 
So how many weeks are you off trt, don't get me wrong i really hope it's not just a rebound effect but we have certainly seen how symptoms tend to creep up again. I guess there is always hope when something has changed, be it food or exercise or body composition, stress, sleep etc. Personally whenever i go off sleep starts to suffer and creates a vicious cycle.
It's been 5 weeks now with a fully functional HPTA, 6 since I stopped Jatenzo. I've been doing Amazon Prime, 10 hour days and yesterday I ate 4 huge burritos and a huge hamburger with bun, got home 2 hours later and glucose is 101, which isn't even fasting.

I seem to be able to eat whatever I want without any issues. This was just a one time test to see how much process I've made. Running around for 10 hours with energy to spare and I'm don't get sore.

I've maybe had less than 8 hours of sleep over the last three nights and let me tell you, that 2 hours of sleep felt like 8! I feel perfectly fine, boat loads of energy.
 
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My biggest hurdle was realizing I need to take vitamin K and magnesium together with my 600 IU D3. I'm amazed that I require vitamin K and magnesium on what is a very low and often inadequate dose for most humans.

I still cannot tolerate anything above 600 IU. Above 600 IU I get numbness, tingling in the legs, feet, red raised marks on legs.
 

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Lakshman KM, Kaplan B, Travison TG, Basaria S, Knapp PE, Singh AB, LaValley MP, Mazer NA, Bhasin S. The effects of injected testosterone dose and age on the conversion of testosterone to estradiol and dihydrotestosterone in young and older men. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2010 Aug;95(8):3955-64.

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