Large dose reduction

[Saul]

All these feelings were there before I started the medication, and I can’t say for sure that they’re not causing some of the problems now, but that’s what I hate about medication is how can one really know what’s going on when you’re taking multiple things. I hope to get off all of those medications as soon as possible. The doctor that’s got me on the meds wants to do one change at a time and I suppose that makes sense.

Understood. My thought was that your large dose reduction caused you to feel different, and perhaps that snow balled a bit into increased anxiety so the large drop in dose was the reason. Then the Dr. has you on three different meds and these sides can overlap. You are in the best position to know. Hopefully you are doing better and the iron is one issue that should help.

 

[wemmington]

If you are low on iron, you should get a full iron panel. If you can't get the full panel, then focus on Ferritin. Ferritin will be the most important as it is an indicator of iron stores, which your body draws on to make new RBC.

I will get a full iron panel ASAP. Thanks

 

[wemmington]

Understood. My thought was that your large dose reduction caused you to feel different, and perhaps that snow balled a bit into increased anxiety so the large drop in dose was the reason. Then the Dr. has you on three different meds and these sides can overlap. You are in the best position to know. Hopefully you are doing better and the iron is one issue that should help.

You’re absolutely right and that’s what makes all the tough is knowing what the side effects from the medication are versus low iron versus the change in the testosterone. It’s been really hard to sort out but still feeling really miserable having the chest pain and severe anxiety and a bunch of other symptoms. When I look at the list of symptoms for low ferritin I have almost everyone of them.
thanks for the help

 

[wemmington]

So I just got a message back from the nurse who talked to my endocrinologist and he wasn’t helpful at all. All he replied with was this is to be expected when donating blood and if I supplement with iron it will increase my hemoglobin. I told the nurse yes I know all this but I’m miserable so there’s got to be some kind of in between where I can supplement without going to high but I’m just not getting any guidance from my doctors at all.

I have started 28/mg iron glycinate(all they had at the store) and 500mg vitamin c twice a day on empty stomach but I worry this will push my hematocrit too high so I was hoping for help from endo.

 

[wemmington]

So I got another message back from the endocrinologist, and he says he doesn’t want me to take any iron supplements at all since this will raise my hematocrit. My hematocrit is currently 46.2, so I feel like I’ve got a little room to go up there and supplement with iron for a little bit but I didn’t have an appointment so I wasn’t able to talk to him. He wants the iron to come up naturally which could take months and in the meantime I’m stuck being miserable.

 

[wemmington]

Here are my thyroid and iron labs I got yesterday.

 

[Vince]

Successfully reduced HEMATOCRIT by lowering dosage

After 2 years fighting high HCT I finally won the battle! It all came down to reducing my testosterone dosage. My HCT has been high on 120-180mg a week (tried all different injection frequencies). I have recently reduced my dosage to 100mg and my last CBC has my HCT at 49.5 (down from 53.5 4-5...

www.excelmale.com

 

[BJE]

Iron absorption is a funny thing. I have the gene for hemochromatosis so my iron is always high. I have donated blood for years in order to keep my ferritin low, under 50. I once got my ferritin down to 7 so I decreased my donation frequently. However if I don’t donate frequently enough I get high hematocrit. It’s a balancing act. I’ve never had any symptoms from low ferritin because my blood iron level is always high. At any given time a blood test will show my iron to be over the top of the range and my percent saturation over 100%. I avoid iron when possible. I have given blood 49 times.

 

[Anonymon]

So I got another message back from the endocrinologist, and he says he doesn’t want me to take any iron supplements at all since this will raise my hematocrit. My hematocrit is currently 46.2, so I feel like I’ve got a little room to go up there and supplement with iron for a little bit but I didn’t have an appointment so I wasn’t able to talk to him. He wants the iron to come up naturally which could take months and in the meantime I’m stuck being miserable.

The clinic I work with is great, experienced, knowledgable, and is run by someone on HRT himself since he was younger. Most are. Any time I’ve talked to standard medical folks like endos and GPs, however, they don’t give the best advice, and are usually being paid to read blood test results to me and tell me whether or not something’s ‘within the normal range’, which they will tend to only know because the blood test says so. If a grown ass man that works out regularly has a ferritin of 24, that’s not typically healthy. The lowest mine got on a test was 9, and that was on a day I took iron pills before, so it’d be artificially high.

I’m biased in this, but have personally struggled with low ferritin and presumably iron for years that was always brushed off despite my odd symptoms that knowing what I know now are all pretty textbook iron deficiency. I’ve been on a iron regime for a 2-3 weeks now and it’s moving the needle for me, knock on wood!

Personally, I would try to supplement iron and eat iron foods and see how you feel. I’ve supplemented iron for years and it was never enough for me based on blood tests it seems, so I’m now on a heavier protocol: Ferrit’s Iron + L-Lysine + Lactoferritin + Vitamin C twice a day, alongside daily beef, and alternating between beef liver and spleen, those also with Vitamin C. That’s a lot of iron, but the normal protocols of iron supplementation and a diet in theory having enough iron never worked for me based on symptoms and blood tests. I’d feel okay for a while if I didn’t use too much energy, but then if I tried being normal, I’d ‘deplete’ myself of something within a week. My free T3 would also drop low like yours during these times, and I would respond poorly to thyroid supplementation as it would also seemingly deplete me of something after a time.

Most endos and GPs just want you in the normal range, even if within that range you actively pass out and can’t leave your home. It’s a personal decision, but I am actively deciding to pursue upping my iron, and it’s been helping me, slowly but surely.

 

[wemmington]

I think I’m gonna go back to Defy. I just need to get labs back and my doctor to complete the physical form and I can schedule an appointment with Dr. Saya