This is my experience after studying and dealing with high hematocrit due to TRT. It worked for me maybe it might work for others.
Me like many users here had the problem of high hematocrit and the need for frequent blood donations and dealing with low ferritin. I tried everything and nothing really worked other than drastically reducing my testosterone dosage.
It is well known that exogenous testosterone reduces hepcidin an iron regulatory hormone. And frequent blood donations also further reduce hepcidin levels adding to the problem. In my case my serum iron levels and iron saturation also got really high. So I always speculate that the lower hepcidin was behind - at least partially - the increase in hematocrit in TRT users. Recently I found one study supporting this and other studies pointing to the same direction. I am not suggesting that TRT patients with high HcT have PV. I am just saying that In PV / hemochromatosis hepcidin levels are suppressed. (i also found a study on mice showing that hepcidin is not essential in mediating testosterone’s effect on erythropoiesis):
www.oncnet.com
So I tried to find ways to lower my serum iron and iron absorption in order to compensate for the lower hepcidin levels (ideally one would inject hepcidin but this is not available) So i came up with the following protocol after a lot of research and trial and error:
2 IP6 Jarrow on very empty stomach
1 Lactoferrin Jarrow on very empty stomach
1 Curcumin Sports Research
1 Zinc balance Jarrow
1 Baby aspirin
All taken daily.
I saw results in a couple of months and maintained now for a couple of years.
Before:
Average HCT: 51-52% that donating blood (normal range 37.5-51)
Average Serum iron: 160-232 (normal range 38-169)
Iron Saturation: 50-80 (normal range 15-55)
After:
Average HCT: 48-49% not donating any blood (normal range 37.5-51) H
Average Serum iron: 64-85 (normal range 38-169)
Average Iron Saturation: 18-25 (normal range 15-55)
From my experience what really helped here was mainly Lactoferrin (Apolactoferrin), IP6 and potentially aspirin (that cause small bleeding and might aid in reducing both iron and HCT slightly).
Difference in serum iron and iron saturation was shocking. And this after years of issues with high iron / iron saturation. Ferritin now is back to 100 handle.
it has been a couple of years under this protocol and HCT iron ferritin etc all look great and no more blood donations.
Me like many users here had the problem of high hematocrit and the need for frequent blood donations and dealing with low ferritin. I tried everything and nothing really worked other than drastically reducing my testosterone dosage.
It is well known that exogenous testosterone reduces hepcidin an iron regulatory hormone. And frequent blood donations also further reduce hepcidin levels adding to the problem. In my case my serum iron levels and iron saturation also got really high. So I always speculate that the lower hepcidin was behind - at least partially - the increase in hematocrit in TRT users. Recently I found one study supporting this and other studies pointing to the same direction. I am not suggesting that TRT patients with high HcT have PV. I am just saying that In PV / hemochromatosis hepcidin levels are suppressed. (i also found a study on mice showing that hepcidin is not essential in mediating testosterone’s effect on erythropoiesis):
Novel Hepcidin Mimetic Demonstrates Dose-Related Control of Hematocrit Levels in PV
Initial results from an ongoing phase 2 study demonstrate that PTG-300 provided dose-related control of hematocrit levels and eliminated the need for phlebotomy in patients with PV.
www.oncnet.com
So I tried to find ways to lower my serum iron and iron absorption in order to compensate for the lower hepcidin levels (ideally one would inject hepcidin but this is not available) So i came up with the following protocol after a lot of research and trial and error:
2 IP6 Jarrow on very empty stomach
1 Lactoferrin Jarrow on very empty stomach
1 Curcumin Sports Research
1 Zinc balance Jarrow
1 Baby aspirin
All taken daily.
I saw results in a couple of months and maintained now for a couple of years.
Before:
Average HCT: 51-52% that donating blood (normal range 37.5-51)
Average Serum iron: 160-232 (normal range 38-169)
Iron Saturation: 50-80 (normal range 15-55)
After:
Average HCT: 48-49% not donating any blood (normal range 37.5-51) H
Average Serum iron: 64-85 (normal range 38-169)
Average Iron Saturation: 18-25 (normal range 15-55)
From my experience what really helped here was mainly Lactoferrin (Apolactoferrin), IP6 and potentially aspirin (that cause small bleeding and might aid in reducing both iron and HCT slightly).
Difference in serum iron and iron saturation was shocking. And this after years of issues with high iron / iron saturation. Ferritin now is back to 100 handle.
it has been a couple of years under this protocol and HCT iron ferritin etc all look great and no more blood donations.
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