Sleep apnea and hematocrit

jjcbjj52

New Member
Hi, I was wondering if anyone has lowered their hematocrit using a cpap machine? I am on trt, testosterone cypionate, and take 14mg daily Im. I was just diagnosed with severe sleep apnea and have been using a cpap. My hematocrit is consistently at 53.8 on blood tests and when I donate blood I feel awful afterwards. My blood pressure is always normal and I do not really have sides from my hematocrit being high. Thanks.
 
Hi, I was wondering if anyone has lowered their hematocrit using a cpap machine? I am on trt, testosterone cypionate, and take 14mg daily Im. I was just diagnosed with severe sleep apnea and have been using a cpap. My hematocrit is consistently at 53.8 on blood tests and when I donate blood I feel awful afterwards. My blood pressure is always normal and I do not really have sides from my hematocrit being high. Thanks.

Need to post labs.

Where does your FT level sit on such protocol?

If you just started using the CPAP you will need to give it time.

Keep in mind that some men jump on a daily T protocol in the hopes of managing elevated hematocrit let alone estradiol.

Unfortunately, this is not a given as many still end up running too high an FT level.

Although your daily/weekly dose is far from absurdly high some can still easily hit a high FT level.





 
Hi, I was wondering if anyone has lowered their hematocrit using a cpap machine? I am on trt, testosterone cypionate, and take 14mg daily Im. I was just diagnosed with severe sleep apnea and have been using a cpap. My hematocrit is consistently at 53.8 on blood tests and when I donate blood I feel awful afterwards. My blood pressure is always normal and I do not really have sides from my hematocrit being high. Thanks.
I have been using a CPAP from close to 15 years now. Never had high HCT and have been using testosterone for over 42 years. I recently got high HCT but also was successful in lowering it.
 
Need to post labs.

Where does your FT level sit on such protocol?

If you just started using the CPAP you will need to give it time.

Keep in mind that some men jump on a daily T protocol in the hopes of managing elevated hematocrit let alone estradiol.

Unfortunately, this is not a given as many still end up running too high an FT level.

Although your daily/weekly dose is far from absurdly high some can still easily hit a high FT level.





Labs from 12/27/22

Total testosterone: 892ng/dl (250-1100) range
free testosterone: 236.4 pg/ml (35-155) range
estradiol ultrasensitive: 17
SHBG: 18
TSH: 2.58
RBC:6.11
Hemoglobin:17.9
Hematocrit: 53.6

I just started cpap about 10 days ago. I did go back and look at my initial labs before trt and my hematocrit was 49. I have been bringing my dose down I was originally on 20mg a day and it was too much and my hematocrit was 55.8. I will try to reduce dose more maybe 10mg a day.
 
Labs from 12/27/22

Total testosterone: 892ng/dl (250-1100) range

free testosterone: 236.4 pg/ml (35-155) range
estradiol ultrasensitive: 17
SHBG: 18

TSH: 2.58
RBC:6.11
Hemoglobin:17.9

Hematocrit: 53.6

I just started cpap about 10 days ago. I did go back and look at my initial labs before trt and my hematocrit was 49. I have been bringing my dose down I was originally on 20mg a day and it was too much and my hematocrit was 55.8. I will try to reduce dose more maybe 10mg a day.

Ten days is not long.

The main benefit of injecting daily is that you will be clipping the peak--->trough which will be minimal on TC and your blood level will be more stable throughout the week.

Not sure how many hours post-injection you had your labs (12/27/22) drawn but you can clearly see that your FT was high as you were hitting a very high TT almost 900ng/dL with lowish SHBG.

Where is your most recent set of labs for your current protocol as it has been almost 7 months since the labs you posted 12/27/22?

Were you taking an AI?
 
Ten days is not long.

The main benefit of injecting daily is that you will be clipping the peak--->trough which will be minimal on TC and your blood level will be more stable throughout the week.

Not sure how many hours post-injection you had your labs (12/27/22) drawn but you can clearly see that your FT was high as you were hitting a very high TT almost 900ng/dL with lowish SHBG.

Where is your most recent set of labs for your current protocol as it has been almost 7 months since the labs you posted 12/27/22?

Were you taking an AI?
I am getting labs this week. I do take an AI. I aromatize a lot and get bad sides. My labs were taken prior to my injection. I am going to lower dose.
 
I am getting labs this week. I do take an AI. I aromatize a lot and get bad sides. My labs were taken prior to my injection. I am going to lower dose.

You need more recent labs to see where your trough TT, FT, estradiol, SHBG, RBCs, hemoglobin, and hematocrit sit on your current protocol.

The labs you posted previously are from 12/27/22.

Need to see where everything sits as of now before tweaking your protocol further!
 

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Scientific Reference

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.

DOI: 10.1210/jc.2010-0102 | PMID: 20534765 | PMCID: PMC2913038

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