How strict is Defy when it comes to elevated hematocrit/hemoglobin?

[RumHam]

I’m new here so apologies if this is the wrong forum. I’m considering switching to Defy after 6 months on TRT at a local clinic. I’ve had elevated hemoglobin (high 17’s to low 18’s) and hematocrit (51-53%) most of the time I’ve been on TRT. But I was also on 180mg per week which is probably too much for me, so a month ago I dropped to 160mg. Blood donations help a bit but these numbers eventually creep back up. I’ve been drinking a gallon of water a day for a couple months now and it’s not helping much. Doing a sleep study soon to test for sleep apnea (my hemoglobin/hematocrit numbers were on the high end of the reference range before I started TRT).

My clinic isn’t too concerned with these numbers but Defy seems much more stringent; I believe in their initial paperwork it said they’ll pull you off TRT if your hematocrit goes above 51%. Is that true? If so, I’m wondering if this clinic will be a good fit for me. I’m concerned the only way I’ll get below 51% is by lowering my test dose so low I may as well not be on it. And I get a lot of conflicting info about the dangers of slightly elevated hematocrit/hemoglobin. Any insight into their management of these issues would be appreciated.

 

[maxadvance]

Defy will not pull you off TRT for a 51 hct. 51 is actually high normal for some people. They might be concerned at 53 but even then there is no hard fast policy.

 

[Unlockable]

I started with morning hematocrit being 50-52, he advised trying a blood donation but I wasn't too concerned yet. After the first 10 weeks I was at 55.4, hemoglobin at 18 and RBC in the 6's. He told me to retest because my albumin was high, so he suspected dehydration. I mentioned having slammed water for the couple of hours I had been awake leading up to the blood work, had plenty of cleaner urine, he said to try a CBC in the afternoon to see what it looks like after having more time to absorb water.

I did that recently and hematocrit was 52, hemoglobin and RBC normal. I also have ITP, so low platelets make the thicker blood less of a concern I believe. As of the 55 hematocrit blood work, he would not let me start nandrolone. He did say I can try every day injections as sometimes it helps. I switched from 3 day to EOD Last week

 

[rustylwb]

I’m new here so apologies if this is the wrong forum. I’m considering switching to Defy after 6 months on TRT at a local clinic. I’ve had elevated hemoglobin (high 17’s to low 18’s) and hematocrit (51-53%) most of the time I’ve been on TRT. But I was also on 180mg per week which is probably too much for me, so a month ago I dropped to 160mg. Blood donations help a bit but these numbers eventually creep back up. I’ve been drinking a gallon of water a day for a couple months now and it’s not helping much. Doing a sleep study soon to test for sleep apnea (my hemoglobin/hematocrit numbers were on the high end of the reference range before I started TRT).

My clinic isn’t too concerned with these numbers but Defy seems much more stringent; I believe in their initial paperwork it said they’ll pull you off TRT if your hematocrit goes above 51%. Is that true? If so, I’m wondering if this clinic will be a good fit for me. I’m concerned the only way I’ll get below 51% is by lowering my test dose so low I may as well not be on it. And I get a lot of conflicting info about the dangers of slightly elevated hematocrit/hemoglobin. Any insight into their management of these issues would be appreciated.

I have the same problem. My urologist took me off at 52. I did a lot of reading about how to get it down I found a research paper by Bayer AG in Switzerland. It showed that if you use gel you only have a 5% chance of your hematocrit going up. And a 60% chance if you inject. It also said their pellets were a low % I changed to gel about a year ago and it's Fixed my problem (I think I'll know even more new labs next wk).