Why donate blood?

[gbrice75]

I see a lot of posts about donating blood while on TRT... almost as if it's a 'must'. Just curious about this, anybody care to enlighten me?

[xcraider37]

I see a lot of posts about donating blood while on TRT... almost as if it's a 'must'. Just curious about this, anybody care to enlighten me?

If your hematocrit and RBCs start to increase while on trt only way to control it is to give blood, either by donation or script. Some even self bleed, not recommended. Some of us need to give less than others, I have not donated in three months but i am still in range.

[baseline_9]

There was a video of sum1, may have been lovbytes, bass or even TR the other day and they were self bleeding....

May be worth looking out for that G... Think it was TR

[gbrice75]

If your hematocrit and RBCs start to increase while on trt only way to control it is to give blood, either by donation or script. Some even self bleed, not recommended. Some of us need to give less than others, I have not donated in three months but i am still in range.

Wow, I had no idea. Interesting. I was under some delusion that the blood of people on TRT was sought after because it's so damn quality, lol!

There was a video of sum1, may have been lovbytes, bass or even TR the other day and they were self bleeding....

May be worth looking out for that G... Think it was TR

Thx Base, will keep my eyes open. I'm sure TR will be around here soon when he sees this anyway.

[blacksmoke]

It was bass.

[AXx]

http://forums.steroid.com/showthread...-Self-Bleeding!

It is here GB

[gbrice75]

^^ Now I remember seeing this title, just never went into the thread. Just figured he was being sadistic again!

Thanks AXx.

[Far from massive]

Hey whats up guys, I am another self bleeder. I have HCV (HepC) so I can not donate. Because of this I need to take my own blood. Since I knew I would probably be doing this fairly often and did not want to be sticking myself with a harpoon. I did some research and found the only reason big needles are used is to protect the blood being withdrawn.

So what I did was to get some 22G infusion sets from a vet supply house, an infusion set is a butterfly needle with 18" of small plastic hose on the end like they use with the vacuum tubes when withdrawing blood for samples. Then I got a 24 oz jar with lid and attached a two pieces of plastic tubing to the lid. One about 3 ft long that goes to the needle and another about 1 foot long that goes to a hand vacuum pump. I throw a band around my arm then alky swab the vein of choice, then puncture ( the one on the forearm/wrist on the thumb side works great) tape the needle down and then pump the vacuum up to about 15 in/hg which provides a good flow without danger of collapsing a vein or causing other pressure drop related issues. In about 10 minutes I have a pint of blood which I dispose of in accordance with....ahh why lie I flush it down the toilet LOL

FFM

[Times Roman]

My RBC gets too high and my doc freaks. So i have to donate blood eom.

[gbrice75]

One thing that confuses me with all of this... if your RBC count is too high, how does taking blood out of your system address that? Wouldn't you just be taking out blood with a high RBC count and leaving behind blood with that same high RBC count? i.e. it's not like you can isolate blood with high RBC and leave the rest behind...

[xcraider37]

One thing that confuses me with all of this... if your RBC count is too high, how does taking blood out of your system address that? Wouldn't you just be taking out blood with a high RBC count and leaving behind blood with that same high RBC count? i.e. it's not like you can isolate blood with high RBC and leave the rest behind...

Giving blood, lowers your red blood count percentage, which is your hematocrit, it takes about 30 days before those red blood cells come back, the red cross also does double red blood cells, which is a machine that separates the RBC and plasma, they then give you the plasma back, I believe is how it works sure more of the experiences bleeders will chime in soon.

What concerns doctors is when your Hematocrit gets into the 50's which tells them your blood is starting to get too thick, most will just cut down your T dose or completely stop therapy, so it is in your best interest to give blood and keep your hematocrit under 50 or max 52.

[gbrice75]

^^ thanks bro, appreciate the schooling.

[Far from massive]

gbrice,

XC is correct but he left out the second half of the explanation. Yes the RBC's will take about a month to be fully restored (this is why the RedCross requires a month wait) however almost all of the other components of the blood will be restored in 48 hrs. So in a couple of days the new overall balance of plasma etc to RBC's will be restored and the blood will now be thinner ( have a lower viscosity) resulting in lower BP.

If you are doing this strictly to control BP then you can simply take out a pint when blood pressure rises then if 3 days later it is not back to normal wait another 4 days and repeat the process. Naturally this is not best way to do this but once you get familiar with your own blood pressure rise to RBC count when blasting you can do this pretty safely IMHO. As long as you do not do this for more than a month and do not take out more than 2 pints in a month without doing blood work to ensure that your RBC's are still high and that your high BP is not the result of another problem.

Myself I use way more Test ETC than one should, and I never have to remove more than a pint to see a significant drop in blood pressure.

FFM

[gbrice75]

^^ thanks for elaborating. Man, TRT is starting to sound like a pain in the ass!! I wasn't even too bothered by frequent bloodwork... but this... this is an annoying one to swallow!

[Times Roman]

gbrice,

XC is correct but he left out the second half of the explanation. Yes the RBC's will take about a month to be fully restored (this is why the RedCross requires a month wait) however almost all of the other components of the blood will be restored in 48 hrs. So in a couple of days the new overall balance of plasma etc to RBC's will be restored and the blood will now be thinner ( have a lower viscosity) resulting in lower BP.

If you are doing this strictly to control BP then you can simply take out a pint when blood pressure rises then if 3 days later it is not back to normal wait another 4 days and repeat the process. Naturally this is not best way to do this but once you get familiar with your own blood pressure rise to RBC count when blasting you can do this pretty safely IMHO. As long as you do not do this for more than a month and do not take out more than 2 pints in a month without doing blood work to ensure that your RBC's are still high and that your high BP is not the result of another problem.

Myself I use way more Test ETC than one should, and I never have to remove more than a pint to see a significant drop in blood pressure.

FFM

this. RBC's come back due to normal cell regeneration and takes awhile. Plasma is derived from fluids, and comes back quickly. My last hematocrit was 56... way too high!

[Hackamaniac]

^^ thanks for elaborating. Man, TRT is starting to sound like a pain in the ass!! I wasn't even too bothered by frequent bloodwork... but this... this is an annoying one to swallow!

I think a few people told you this before you started.. It's not all peaches and cream.

[warchild]

I have never donated blood, but its to lower rbc count. Even tho mine is elevated, its nothing crazy so no need to donate.

[Hackamaniac]

I have never donated blood, but its to lower rbc count. Even tho mine is elevated, its nothing crazy so no need to donate.

What is nothing crazy?? If it's elevated why not donate??

[warchild]

What is nothing crazy?? If it's elevated why not donate??

I dont have the numbers in front of me so I couldnt tell you. Ill post my new labs when I get them back.

[bass]

^^ thanks for elaborating. Man, TRT is starting to sound like a pain in the ass!! I wasn't even too bothered by frequent bloodwork... but this... this is an annoying one to swallow!

no biggie G! after a while it'll be as easy as drinking glass of water.