Originally Posted by
Youthful55guy
Lots of good advice here. Here's my 2 cents (some of it a repeat of what's already posted)
1) Your don't state how frequently you inject or your resulting T levels (and ranges). I am assuming you do like a lot of guys and inject weekly and you are in range on day 7. My advice is to consider breaking your injections up into more frequent smaller doses so that your 24-48 hour peak levels are smaller and within physiologic range. That may help by lowering the T signal to the produce more erythropoietin (hence blood cells). You may also find (as I did) that you can lower the overall weekly dose by more frequent injections. Less T injected = less blood cell production. I inject 40 mg E3D (0.2 mL E3D) and like the schedule. As an added benefit, the small volume allows me to use a 28G insulin syringe too. Other guys like the twice a week schedule (e.g., 50 mg Monday/Friday).
2) The warning of low iron in some of the posts is real. I found this out myself after a year of clockwork regular donations, my ferritin levels were way low. Problem is that most iron supplements are meant for women and taking one per day was too much for me and my iron levels went too high after a year of regular supplementation. I then went to 1/2 tablet per day per the advice of my doctor, but have not had follow up tests yet.
3) Regarding Double Red (DR) donations, I don't see the value in them unless going in every 8 weeks is inconvenient. I used to do them because it's a 90 mile round trip and several hours of my day for me to donate. However, they messed up the return once and I got infiltration to the surrounding tissues. They had to stop the process half way through and only got 1 pint. The problem was that their system still registered it as a DR and I was prevented from donating for 16 weeks, which is not good if you have high hematocrit.
4) During that time I could not donate, I tried self-bleeding. I was moderately successful the first time (got about 1 1/4 cup), but the second time I messed it up. It is very difficult to maneuver the needle and other supplies you need with one hand. Bottom line is that I consider the practice a very, very last resort and will not attempt it again. Lowering your dose is a much better approach. PS. I should mention that the reason my hematocrit went out of range during that time was that I was playing around with Anavar. I liked it's affects, but it pushed my hematocrit way too high and I no longer mess with it, just regular TRT.
5) Pay attention to hydration as Kel mentioned. It can have a profound affect on the hematocrit test.
6) Some one mentioned going to a mobile clinic. I've heard this mentioned before. If they are a different organization than the conation clinic and they don't share records, this may be possible. I have not tried. I live in such a community with 2 organizations taking blood donations, and might consider trying this if there comes a need, but I've not tired it yet.
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