New labs tell me what you think

[johndoesmith]

Protocol: test 60mg E3D HCG 400IU E3D no AI or anything else.

I've been on TRT about 5 months now. Donated blood back in august just after the labs labelled "august".

I just realized the way these posted on here makes it really hard to read.

August
http://imgur.com/KaVRvSM
http://imgur.com/OlH07Xe
http://imgur.com/UvNbBVp

Now
http://imgur.com/reNN1K9
http://imgur.com/7XPn2sI

 

[johndoesmith]

Anyone willing to comment?

 

[Vince]

Your labs look great. I would consider supplementing with D3, how do you feel.
Ferritin test reveals low iron.

 

[ERO]

Labs look fine. Bigger question is how do you feel? If you feel great I would not change anything.

 

[johndoesmith]

Vince: Yep that's what I thought, and I also talked to one of the PAs at defy. I forget her name at the moment, but she recommended a more detailed iron panel and supplementing with 325mg iron sulfate 2-3 times a day.

I believe it's due to donating blood twice this calendar year, once in march and once in august. What's mildly concerning to me is that I'm at 25 2 months after donating blood last. I figured I'd absorb enough iron from my diet, which I've put into a log and I'm at 18mg of iron a day or 100% DV for men. I don't think I have any symptoms of anemia, fatigue is a tough one for me, as I have narcolepsy so it kinda overrides a lot of things.

ERO: I don't feel as great as I did in august, but as dr saya explained to me when I started, even with my adderall use he still thought I'd notice a honeymoon effect but possibly milder than most other guys. Lol I didn't believe him on that, but that was just one of the predictions he made that impressed me.

So I think it's that, plus it's easier to forget how bad I felt before TRT now, so maybe going from bad to good it's easier to not take feeling normal for granted. Now that I've felt normal for a while, I'm taking it for granted.

Other than that, I don't notice any low test symptoms so far so I take that as a good thing!

 

[Jackie Treehorn]

Looks like you're handling your low ferritin. 4000IUs of D3 daily will take care of your low Vitamin D. Everything else looks pretty damn good.

 

[johndoesmith]

Looks like you're handling your low ferritin. 4000IUs of D3 daily will take care of your low Vitamin D. Everything else looks pretty damn good.

Well I'm waiting to get the more detailed labs done first. I'm a little curious as to why it's so low, is it just donating blood, or some malabsorption, or a combination of both. Plus I'm a tiny bit anxious about taking iron but that's just me being a bit over thinking.

Vitamin D I've been doing 5000IU a day now, that was just me being lazy from august until october and only remembering 1 out of 4 days or so lol.

 

[madman]

When you say you are consuming 18 grams of iron per day what are your food sources as you would obtain better absorption by consuming liver/red meat/egg yolks?

 

[johndoesmith]

When you say you are consuming 18 grams of iron per day what are your food sources as you would obtain better absorption by consuming liver/red meat/egg yolks?

18mg lol, 18 grams would be a couple of nails, but I eat mostly red meat. Liver isn't something I could eat, and egg yolks have very little iron apparently. I do eat a lot of eggs though.

To be honest, I don't eat many sources of vegetarian iron.

 

[madman]

I meant to say mg, thanks for pointing that out!

 

[johndoesmith]

Haha that's my dinner!

 

[Vince Carter]

Impressive numbers. It took me 10000iu D3 daily to get my numbers right to the max lab range, if you choose to use more which you certainly appear to need. Also, I never got my Ferritin out of the teens, maybe due to blood donation, may be not. I did get my serum iron up with 62mg/D elemental iron but I stopped that thinking it could be contributing to my HCT/HGB counts. I cook on cast iron every morning, too, but...I don't think I have a "problem", as it were.

 

[johndoesmith]

Impressive numbers. It took me 10000iu D3 daily to get my numbers right to the max lab range, if you choose to use more which you certainly appear to need. Also, I never got my Ferritin out of the teens, maybe due to blood donation, may be not. I did get my serum iron up with 62mg/D elemental iron but I stopped that thinking it could be contributing to my HCT/HGB counts. I cook on cast iron every morning, too, but...I don't think I have a "problem", as it were.

Thank you.

5000IU a day gets me to about 50ng/ml. I notice in most people each 1000IU a day results in 10ng/ml on a lab test. I just got lazy and forgot to take it everyday, I try to take it with a fat meal, so not always the same time which is why I forget.


Yeah I'm not super informed on iron and ferritin. I just read that men shouldn't have issues holding iron, if you're not absorbing it then that means it's a possible digestive issue.

 

[Vince Carter]

I had plenty of acid reflux/GERD symptoms, moderate to severe, that I attributed to some malabsorption. I read up that these type problems originate from LOW stomach acid as to HIGH stomach acid as it's normally treated. I started on a pre-proBiotic and I'm 10x better in this area.

 

[endopa-c]

Donating one pint of blood lowers Ferritin about 30 points and hematocrit about 3 points. Your RBC, H/H, and MCV are normal so less likely to be Iron deficiency anemia but we can check a Full Iron Panel- TIBC, % Saturation, Ferritin, and Iron to be sure (if you are a Defy patient) or you may have your provider check if not. Start Ferrous Sulfate 325 mg BID taken with 1 gram of Vitamin C to help absorption.

Concise case study on the effects of therapeutic phlebotomy on ferritin - a few years old, but applicable.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3096860/

 

[johndoesmith]

Donating one pint of blood lowers Ferritin about 30 points and hematocrit about 3 points. Your RBC, H/H, and MCV are normal so less likely to be Iron deficiency anemia but we can check a Full Iron Panel- TIBC, % Saturation, Ferritin, and Iron to be sure (if you are a Defy patient) or you may have your provider check if not. Start Ferrous Sulfate 325 mg BID taken with 1 gram of Vitamin C to help absorption.

Concise case study on the effects of therapeutic phlebotomy on ferritin - a few years old, but applicable.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3096860/

I am a patient of defy! actually I may have spoke to you, I can't remember the PAs name unfortunately, but the PA I spoke to was female, and it was her day off she said.

She ordered exactly that I believe, and just need to get the form sent to me, I got lazy

I guess I was about 65 then before donating, which isn't too bad I guess.

 

[endopa-c]

Hey yes I remember our convo- it's Melissa. Call me tomorrow and we can send you the lab request if you have not done the Iron Panel yet.

 

[johndoesmith]

Hey yes I remember our convo- it's Melissa. Call me tomorrow and we can send you the lab request if you have not done the Iron Panel yet.

I thought that was your name! I always confuse marissa and melissa so I wasn't sure which one to say. Okay I will.

 

[Vince Carter]

Looking at some Ferrous Sulfate 325 mg I see labels stating that it's 65mg of elemental iron is equal to = Ferrous Sulfate 325 mg, is that true?

 

[johndoesmith]

Looking at some Ferrous Sulfate 325 mg I see labels stating that it's 65mg of elemental iron is equal to = Ferrous Sulfate 325 mg, is that true?

Yes. It's ferrous sulfate, so it's part iron, part oxygen, and part sulfur, not 100% iron.