I decided to take a look at how many times i have donated blood since I started TRT: total of 8 times (whole blood) during a period of 20 months (so approximately once every 10 weeks) to keep HCT in check.
Every time you donate whole blood the body loses ~ 250mg of iron. So i lost a total of 2000mg of iron donating blood. On average your body loses 1.5mg of iron a day (so during 20 months i lost an additional 900mg of iron).
In an effort to control HCT i stopped taking iron supplements and enriched foods and taking easy on red meat consumption. So lets assume i was getting the RDA of iron (18mg a day) during this period from my diet and lets assume an absorption rate of 15% (seems to be the average for an average diet). So that totals - for 20 months - 1620 mg of iron absorbed by the body
So in these 20 months:
Iron lost from blood donations: 2000mg
Iron lost due to normal excretion : 900mg
Total iron lost: 2900mg
Total iron absorbed in my diet: 1620 mg
Iron deficit: 1280mg
So my ferritin went from ~ 280 to close to zero during this period. Well now this makes a lot a sense.
The frequent donations led to low ferritin and a condition called iron avidity. Where ferritin is low but serum iron and iron saturation is high (a desperate attempt of the body to achieve homeostasis).
In an attempt to correct this i have to find a testosterone dosage that allows my body enough time replenish ferritin levels and keep HCT < 50. At my current TRT dosage my HCT was increasing way too fast and i had to donate blood way too often and that was causing an iron imbalance. In order for my body to find iron homeostasis again I need to donate less frequently so hence the decision to lower my dose. If i didnt have iron avidity i could simply keep donating to control HCT and everything was good.
So my plan is to reduce my dosage to 100mg of testosterone a week and start supplementing with 18mg iron bisglycinate 2 times a week and avoid blood donation (getting CBC checked once a month and only donate when HCT > 51-52) to give my body a change to increase ferritin. Hopefully with the reduced dosage my HCT will stabilize and I will no longer have to donate blood. And then my body will find homeostasis again.
Once that happens (and hopefully it does!!) I will stop iron supplementation. And hopefully this dosage will be enough to make me feel good.
Wish me luck!
Every time you donate whole blood the body loses ~ 250mg of iron. So i lost a total of 2000mg of iron donating blood. On average your body loses 1.5mg of iron a day (so during 20 months i lost an additional 900mg of iron).
In an effort to control HCT i stopped taking iron supplements and enriched foods and taking easy on red meat consumption. So lets assume i was getting the RDA of iron (18mg a day) during this period from my diet and lets assume an absorption rate of 15% (seems to be the average for an average diet). So that totals - for 20 months - 1620 mg of iron absorbed by the body
So in these 20 months:
Iron lost from blood donations: 2000mg
Iron lost due to normal excretion : 900mg
Total iron lost: 2900mg
Total iron absorbed in my diet: 1620 mg
Iron deficit: 1280mg
So my ferritin went from ~ 280 to close to zero during this period. Well now this makes a lot a sense.
The frequent donations led to low ferritin and a condition called iron avidity. Where ferritin is low but serum iron and iron saturation is high (a desperate attempt of the body to achieve homeostasis).
In an attempt to correct this i have to find a testosterone dosage that allows my body enough time replenish ferritin levels and keep HCT < 50. At my current TRT dosage my HCT was increasing way too fast and i had to donate blood way too often and that was causing an iron imbalance. In order for my body to find iron homeostasis again I need to donate less frequently so hence the decision to lower my dose. If i didnt have iron avidity i could simply keep donating to control HCT and everything was good.
So my plan is to reduce my dosage to 100mg of testosterone a week and start supplementing with 18mg iron bisglycinate 2 times a week and avoid blood donation (getting CBC checked once a month and only donate when HCT > 51-52) to give my body a change to increase ferritin. Hopefully with the reduced dosage my HCT will stabilize and I will no longer have to donate blood. And then my body will find homeostasis again.
Once that happens (and hopefully it does!!) I will stop iron supplementation. And hopefully this dosage will be enough to make me feel good.
Wish me luck!
