RBC and Platelets on TRT

[redBMX]

Hi members,

Male 38
5.11
Cardio 30 minutes every morning
Gym twice a week.

on TRT since May 2018, here is my protocol of Test-E 250
50 mg E3.5D (Monday morning, Thursday evening) till august 19.
Sub-Q
Adex Vodka drop every morning
changed my protocol to 25 mg every other day (EOD) since august.

Test Free 24.93 (Range 4.7-24.7)
Estradiol 38 (11-44)

so far everything is going excellent except blood issues from the beginning and at times low energy and fatigue.
sharing some irregular findings in my recent bloodwork.

RBC 6.3 (range 4.5-6)
HB 15.2 (14-18)
Hematocrit 46 (40-50)
MCV 73 (80-95)
MCH 24 (27-31)
RDW-CV 18 (11-16)
platelet count 160,000 (140,000-425,000) previous blood work shows that the count was 262,000 in June19 and 209,000 in Feb19.

i regularly donate blood every 3 months and last time was on 21st August 19.

seeking advice and guidance from forum members.

Thanks!

[bethdoth]

I would be interested in what people have to say as well. I give blood every 8 weeks or so to keep my hemoglobin in check. Well during one of my two annual physicals last year I had some very similar blood results. Lots of red blood cells, but small in size.
Edit: some of the same symptoms very fatigued and some breathing issues.

[Gallowmere]

This looks almost identical to my bloods, and I don’t donate shit. Curious to see what everyone weighs in with.

[GearHeaded]

I think its completely unnecessary to donate blood that often to "keep hemoglobin in check" when your blood platelet count is in range to begin with.
if your injecting exogenous hormones, and your DHT is slightly elevated, your hemo is going to run a bit high .. this is totally fine as long as blood platelet count is in range. high hemo does not mean you need to go donate.. high platelet count does.

donating blood all the damn time for the rest of your life may eventually lead to problems.

[Gallowmere]

I think its completely unnecessary to donate blood that often to "keep hemoglobin in check" when your blood platelet count is in range to begin with.
if your injecting exogenous hormones, and your DHT is slightly elevated, your hemo is going to run a bit high .. this is totally fine as long as blood platelet count is in range. high hemo does not mean you need to go donate.. high platelet count does.

donating blood all the damn time for the rest of your life may eventually lead to problems.

Pretty much. I’d be interested to see mineral specific bloods on the people who make a habit of this stuff. I’m almost willing to bet that there are some notable deficiencies being caused by this practice.

[Youthful55guy]

on TRT since May 2018, here is my protocol of Test-E 250
50 mg E3.5D (Monday morning, Thursday evening) till august 19.
Sub-Q
Adex Vodka drop every morning
changed my protocol to 25 mg every other day (EOD) since august.

Test Free 24.93 (Range 4.7-24.7)
Estradiol 38 (11-44)

This is what I find most interesting. Did I understand that correctly that you decreased you T dose from 50mg E3D (~117mg/wk) to 25mg E2D (~88mg/wk) and your Free T is still in the upper end of the range? Excellent, if that is the case. My experience is that the more frequent you dose, the lower you can go on the overall weekly dose and still stay within range for T. The benefit there is that with less dramatic swings in weekly T levels, you keep DHT and E2 in check. Keeping DHT in check means (among other benefits) that RBC production slows down, so you may be able to reduce you frequency of blood donations.

Low MCV indicates that you are low on hemoglobin. When hemoglobin is low, your blood cells shrink in size and carry less oxygen. This is probably due to your frequent blood donation. I'm willing to bet your ferritin levels are also low, which also happens with frequent regular blood donations. You might want to consider spacing out the donations to 4 or 5 months and see where you land on Hematocrit. Also, consider adding in an iron supplement for a month or two after each donation. When I was a frequent donor, the brand I used was Megafood Blood Builder. One tablet per day was sufficient.

[bethdoth]

I think its completely unnecessary to donate blood that often to "keep hemoglobin in check" when your blood platelet count is in range to begin with.
if your injecting exogenous hormones, and your DHT is slightly elevated, your hemo is going to run a bit high .. this is totally fine as long as blood platelet count is in range. high hemo does not mean you need to go donate.. high platelet count does.

donating blood all the damn time for the rest of your life may eventually lead to problems.

I have had problems with my hemoglobin, red blood cell count and diff going high, and the size of the red blood cells, but never platelets. I know when my hemoglobin gets high I don't feel as good. Here are some test results over the years (one of my docs).

[GearHeaded]

I have had problems with my hemoglobin, red blood cell count and diff going high, and the size of the red blood cells, but never platelets. I know when my hemoglobin gets high I don't feel as good. Here are some test results over the years (one of my docs).

hmm.. well I personally do not see any "problems" , your hematocrit is 48s and your hemo is 16.9 . I'm generally 52 and 18. its not a problem though cause my blood platelet is always fine. docs don't even tell me to donate blood.
I live at high elevation so I'm naturally high to begin with . but this is to be expected on exogenous hormones. again I don't see high hemo as a problem when taking exogenous hormones.

now sure, if you had super high hematocrit and you were not taking exogenous hormones, that would indicate an under laying condition.

but I wouldn't even consider a hemo of 48 high at all even if you are on test .. I know of guys getting their hemo up to 60 (I'm not saying thats ok, just saying some endurance athletes will run EPO and get hemo that high to increase athletic performance)


I think the whole idea you hear about online that you need to donate blood and that elevated hematocrit is a 'bad thing' , is totally misinformed and inaccurate..
guys that have believed this and end up donating blood 6x per year every year, year after year, are doing themselves a dis service imo

[kelkel]

I think its completely unnecessary to donate blood that often to "keep hemoglobin in check" when your blood platelet count is in range to begin with.

Exactly. Just doc's panic over it. My RBC's are always over range with MCV, MCH, MCHC being slightly low. It's just the numbers I live with. I've used low dose elemental iron but for me it just causes stomach issues in the long run. Over-donating can and will lead to anemia, especially in older guys.

[Ashop]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mH-J5kXU-jQ