My Experiment to Optimize Hematocrit and Iron

[GreenMachineX]

MY hct is never below 50! if it stays 52-54 I am very happy as well as the (2) hematologist that ran a shit ton of tests on me to rule out cancer of whatever flavor. There is a bit of talk now that if your platelets, RDW, and MVC are good, the hct is not as important. Just where I am at, not saying you should change

Interesting. You don’t have any symptoms with it that high?

 

[mooseman109]

No symptoms at all. I was running 54-56 for first 3 plus years taking 200 mg every 2 weeks from my PCP. Finally it crept up to 57 and he was not happy and wanted me to come off and do clomid. I changed protocols and went 100 mg every week and it climbed to 62.3! I had symptoms at that point, could not breathe well with even little bit of exercise.
I came off and went to new TRT dr. he sent me to (2) hematologist. Both of which said that HCT is not the evil that it has been made out to be, if, and big IF, all of your other blood counts are fine. Folks live at altitude and are in the high 50's their entire lives. Anyway, that is my story. We try to keep it under 54 and move on with no worries.

 

[Vince Carter]

On the opposite side of the story:

Hematocrit drives Blood Viscosity- Does that Matter in Men on TRT? Effect of Altitude?

Hi ExcelMale folks, I wanted to start off by expressing my gratitude for this site, all of the amazing work that has been put in to make this place such a great source of information. I would expect no less from a chemical engineer :). I've been following this "debate" about how to properly...

www.excelmale.com

 

[GreenMachineX]

No symptoms at all. I was running 54-56 for first 3 plus years taking 200 mg every 2 weeks from my PCP. Finally it crept up to 57 and he was not happy and wanted me to come off and do clomid. I changed protocols and went 100 mg every week and it climbed to 62.3! I had symptoms at that point, could not breathe well with even little bit of exercise.
I came off and went to new TRT dr. he sent me to (2) hematologist. Both of which said that HCT is not the evil that it has been made out to be, if, and big IF, all of your other blood counts are fine. Folks live at altitude and are in the high 50's their entire lives. Anyway, that is my story. We try to keep it under 54 and move on with no worries.

How do you keep it there and from not climbing higher?

 

[mooseman109]

I donate 3-4 times a year if need be. Reducing my dose and doing more frequently has been able to help. I went 3x a week and that helped. 6 weeks ago I went to daily injections,like 12mg per day. I will get tested in 2 more weeks to see if it had some effect in lowering it. The above video VC posted is good and worth a watch

 

[mooseman109]

To me the thought is when you dump 200 mg of T into your systems it causes your bone marrow to go into overtime production of rbi, thus increasing HCT. So slow steady dosing should help keep the RBC factory not going into overtime and calling in the third shift so to speak.

 

[GreenMachineX]

I donate 3-4 times a year if need be. Reducing my dose and doing more frequently has been able to help. I went 3x a week and that helped. 6 weeks ago I went to daily injections,like 12mg per day. I will get tested in 2 more weeks to see if it had some effect in lowering it. The above video VC posted is good and worth a watch

How much were you dosing 3 times a week? I might need to try that. I like the info I’ve seen so far in that video, but still a bit cautious to let my hct get way up there. I also don’t understand why EPO ends up killing cyclists but testosterone won’t if it’s through EPO stimulation. What’s the difference?

 

[Sean Mosher]

Are you open to another mode of application for testosterone?
Or possibly EOD or Daily injections?

 

[GreenMachineX]

Are you open to another mode of application for testosterone?
Or possibly EOD or Daily injections?

I’ve done topical sans never will again. What else is there?

I’m open to EOD injections. How do you dose that?

 

[mooseman109]

How much were you dosing 3 times a week? I might need to try that. I like the info I’ve seen so far in that video, but still a bit cautious to let my hct get way up there. I also don’t understand why EPO ends up killing cyclists but testosterone won’t if it’s through EPO stimulation. What’s the difference?

I was dosing 25mg 3 times a week. I am now doing 10 mg daily. I am not sure of the difference in EPO, sorry

 

[GreenMachineX]

Don’t you lose like a mL every time you draw it up and therefore waste a ton by doing that? There’s always a good bit left in my 25g needle tip that won’t go in.

 

[mooseman109]

The syringes i use are the low dead space variety. I do not notice any waste

 

[HealthMan]

I’m now in a weird situation.
I had labs drawn 3 weeks ago that said hemoglobin 17.9, and hct 51.7. 2 weeks prior my hgb was 17.4 and hct 50.9. I went to donate yesterday and my hgb was 16.7. Go figure. There’s no consistency. My last ferritin was a 56, so I’m guessing it’s somewhere around mid-20’s now. I’m going to get crit and iron labs drawn in a few days to see where I ended up. My test dose is 100mg per week, except for about 6 weeks ago I did a few weeks of 120mg per week which was a mistake. We’ll see what happens.

I plan on taking some iron once a day for just a couple weeks.

Do any of you guys get symptoms for a couple days after donating? I feel a little short of breath, palpitations, and out of it.

I have read most of your post about your HCT situation. I don’t wanna be a s... but stop messing around with your testosterone dosage. Looks like when you are at 100mg a week your HCT is good. Then several times you tried to increase and HCT went up. Just stay at 100mg or increase and donate blood for life (and deal with low ferritin). Your body will never find homeostasis with a higher testosterone dosage + frequent donations looks like it.

 

[GreenMachineX]

I have read most of your post about your HCT situation. I don’t wanna be a s... but stop messing around with your testosterone dosage. Looks like when you are at 100mg a week your HCT is good. Then several times you tried to increase and HCT went up. Just stay at 100mg or increase and donate blood for life (and deal with low ferritin). Your body will never find homeostasis with a higher testosterone dosage + frequent donations looks like it.

I agree. I keep hoping my body will eventually adapt but apparently not.