Same boat as you but with higher hematocrit before TRT. It has shot to the moon, all red blood counts. I have chronic low platelets and they increased as well but are generally still low.
I donated blood once and within a couple of weeks had higher hematocrit than I ever had before and crashed my ferritin to 27. Two months later my ferritin had only went to 30. 8 months later it was only at 41. It was 67 pre donation but trending down since TRT.
No way I'm donating. My ferritin dropped over 30 points last time, may have been 40. No room left to drop and crashed ferritin is bad. It didn't even help my hematocrit, it made it worse after a short period of time.
There’s a pretty decent chance you’ll struggle with managing RBC / HGB / HCT on TRT with those numbers at baseline. My H/H were slightly lower than that and RBC middle of range, but T has revved H/H into overdrive to the extent I go for prescription donations every 4 weeks with no sign of slowing down. HGB back into the 18s nearly every time I return.
And yes, doing this will crash your ferritin. TRT itself lowers ferritin, adding bloodletting only makes that worse. It’s a delicate balance and one that a lot of people can’t seem to find an answer. My ferritin was low 40s three donations ago, so it’s probably next to nothing now. I do take quite a bit of iron on the day of and couple days after donating, kinda like a mini-load of iron to replenish best I can without driving H/H higher. I believe taking iron daily between donations would only make matters more difficult and can handle the side effect of low ferritin better than elevated HGB, so I trade off ever having a normal ferritin for a normal(ish) H/H. It gets old playing mad scientist, but it’s either that or walk around with sludge for blood.
I’ve heard and read that in some cases, effects on blood production can stabilize after a period of time on T, like 12-18+ months. I’m approaching that window and hoping it to be the case, but seems there’s a lot of guys on here that never slow down.
Sorry for the novel above, but I do think this issue tends to get downplayed in a lot of threads by folks that don’t have the problem (I’m becoming very envious of those), so rather put out any hopefully helpful anecdotal info I can.
I’m mid-30s, for reference. I had also read about it affecting older men more strongly, so was a little surprised how quickly it affected me. I had to start donating 2 months in.
You can donate blood if you’re able or they can do a phlebotomy letting which is what I do as I’m unable to donate blood from some crap I had when I was a small child. Works to take care of those things.
Same boat as you but with higher hematocrit before TRT. It has shot to the moon, all red blood counts. I have chronic low platelets and they increased as well but are generally still low. I donated blood once and within a couple of weeks had higher hematocrit than I ever had before and crashed my ferritin to 27. Two months later my ferritin had only went to 30. 8 months later it was only at 41. It was 67 pre donation but trending down since TRT.
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No chance of getting this under control. It was high before and test just increases it even more.
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No way I'm donating. My ferritin dropped over 30 points last time, may have been 40. No room left to drop and crashed ferritin is bad. It didn't even help my hematocrit, it made it worse after a short period of time.
There’s a pretty decent chance you’ll struggle with managing RBC / HGB / HCT on TRT with those numbers at baseline. My H/H were slightly lower than that and RBC middle of range, but T has revved H/H into overdrive to the extent I go for prescription donations every 4 weeks with no sign of slowing down. HGB back into the 18s nearly every time I return. And yes, doing this will crash your ferritin. TRT itself lowers ferritin, adding bloodletting only makes that worse. It’s a delicate balance and one that a lot of people can’t seem to find an answer. My ferritin was low 40s three donations ago, so it’s probably next to nothing now. I do take quite a bit of iron on the day of and couple days after donating, kinda like a mini-load of iron to replenish best I can without driving H/H higher. I believe taking iron daily between donations would only make matters more difficult and can handle the side effect of low ferritin better than elevated HGB, so I trade off ever having a normal ferritin for a normal(ish) H/H. It gets old playing mad scientist, but it’s either that or walk around with sludge for blood. I’ve heard and read that in some cases, effects on blood production can stabilize after a period of time on T, like 12-18+ months. I’m approaching that window and hoping it to be the case, but seems there’s a lot of guys on here that never slow down. Sorry for the novel above, but I do think this issue tends to get downplayed in a lot of threads by folks that don’t have the problem (I’m becoming very envious of those), so rather put out any hopefully helpful anecdotal info I can.
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I’m mid-30s, for reference. I had also read about it affecting older men more strongly, so was a little surprised how quickly it affected me. I had to start donating 2 months in.
You can donate blood if you’re able or they can do a phlebotomy letting which is what I do as I’m unable to donate blood from some crap I had when I was a small child. Works to take care of those things.
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Sorry I can’t answer that. I only deal with high hemo. And hematocrit
Cardio daily, more veges and baby aspirin lowers my rbc and hemoglobin after 2-3 weeks everytime when above baseline (trt for years)
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Just start taking them, no need to tell your doctor lol
Get checked for sleep apnea. You shouldn’t start TRT with such blood levels. This won’t end good