Lab results 11 years on HRT

I am currently 61 and started on HRT when I was 50. My Doc proscribes 200mg CYP a week IM. I do 70mg subq every 3.5 days. I do full lab work at least twice a year and it seems over the past 5 years my RBC and RDW are High and MCV and MCH low. I try to give blood every 8 weeks to keep my hemoglobin in check. I typically do my injections on Sunday morning and Wednesday evening and do my labs on a Wednesday morning where I think they should be at their lowest levels. I have noticed that my test total and free seem to be a bit higher. My labs last week total was 1,015ng/dl (scale 280-1100). I wonder if I should cut back to say maybe 60 mg every 3.5 days or lower for HRT? Would this improve my other labs? I have been feeling pretty crappy lately fatigue always tired and my motivation to workout hard at the gym is lower. Is there nay other things I can do to improve my RBC, RDW, MCV and MCH?

I'd be curious to see what your ferritin values are and at least a TIBC, iron, and ferritin panel may not be a bad idea. I'm not a medical professional, but I think some of these things go along with getting older (I'll be 58 soon).

Just curious, do you take Omeprazole or a PPI. Seems like I recall reading that someone here had an issue with Omeprazole and iron deficiency which could explain your MCV and MCH. If you do use a PPI, run a Google on "omeprazole and iron".

Also, I've tanked my ferritin before and had almost exactly the same issues. On the other hand, my blood is stupid and generally acts nuttier than a tree full of squirrels.

IDK, maybe that will help you either find an answer or rule out some things.

Please post up in this thread when you eliminate possibilities or get any answers. Ain't none of us getting any younger.

Everything AG said. There are studies showing multiple blood donations in older subjects directly lead to anemia. Very common.
AG's on point with ppi's and iron deficiency as over time it inhibits iron absorption. Personal knowledge of that aspect!

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Originally Posted by almostgone

I'd be curious to see what your ferritin values are and at least a TIBC, iron, and ferritin panel may not be a bad idea. I'm not a medical professional, but I think some of these things go along with getting older (I'll be 58 soon).

Just curious, do you take Omeprazole or a PPI. Seems like I recall reading that someone here had an issue with Omeprazole and iron deficiency which could explain your MCV and MCH. If you do use a PPI, run a Google on "omeprazole and iron".

Also, I've tanked my ferritin before and had almost exactly the same issues. On the other hand, my blood is stupid and generally acts nuttier than a tree full of squirrels.

IDK, maybe that will help you either find an answer or rule out some things.

Please post up in this thread when you eliminate possibilities or get any answers. Ain't none of us getting any younger.

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Does AAs directly effect ferritin levels? Tell me what you think of these levels, this is 3-4 weeks after getting off a cycle. I mean I figure the more and larger rbc's would cause ferritin to be low right?

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Originally Posted by Beefcheeks7

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Does AAs directly effect ferritin levels? Tell me what you think of these levels, this is 3-4 weeks after getting off a cycle. I mean I figure the more and larger rbc's would cause ferritin to be low right?

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Frequent donations/over donations are commonly the cause of low ferritin levels.

Your ferritin levels are low, your iron is lowish and supplementation is a long roundabout way to increase iron levels, but there are lots of other issues that could be responsible.

I would make sure I was incorporating iron rich foods, particularly meats; personally beef and fish ( I prefer steelhead when available....just my preference on that).

Another thing I would suggest is a good iron supplement that contained Vitamin C as well. It seems like Amazon carried Vitron-C, which worked well for me.

Keep monitoring those levels.

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Originally Posted by almostgone

Frequent donations/over donations are commonly the cause of low ferritin levels.

Your ferritin levels are low, your iron is lowish and supplementation is a long roundabout way to increase iron levels, but there are lots of other issues that could be responsible.

I would make sure I was incorporating iron rich foods, particularly meats; personally beef and fish ( I prefer steelhead when available....just my preference on that).

Another thing I would suggest is a good iron supplement that contained Vitamin C as well. It seems like Amazon carried Vitron-C, which worked well for me.

Keep monitoring those levels.

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Yeah there may be an underlying issue here because I haven't donated any blood in years, my diet is pretty good a lot of red meat I thought maybe too much to be honest. I am supplementing right now iron and vitamin C and I go back tomorrow for some other blood works to start TRT So we will see if anything has changed.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by almostgone

I'd be curious to see what your ferritin values are and at least a TIBC, iron, and ferritin panel may not be a bad idea. I'm not a medical professional, but I think some of these things go along with getting older (I'll be 58 soon).

Just curious, do you take Omeprazole or a PPI. Seems like I recall reading that someone here had an issue with Omeprazole and iron deficiency which could explain your MCV and MCH. If you do use a PPI, run a Google on "omeprazole and iron".

Also, I've tanked my ferritin before and had almost exactly the same issues. On the other hand, my blood is stupid and generally acts nuttier than a tree full of squirrels.

IDK, maybe that will help you either find an answer or rule out some things.

Please post up in this thread when you eliminate possibilities or get any answers. Ain't none of us getting any younger.

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Sorry for the delay but had to go out of town for a funeral. I don't take Omeprazole or a PPI. I have my annual physical today and I will be talking to my doc about fixing these numbers. I will add to the debate, I do a low (200mg a week) tren Ace with 200mg test cyp 8 week cycle twice a year and came off on July 10th. I don't give blood to often, this year I did on 3/28 & 5/23 In 21 I gave blood 5 times.

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Originally Posted by bethdoth

Sorry for the delay but had to go out of town for a funeral. I don't take Omeprazole or a PPI. I have my annual physical today and I will be talking to my doc about fixing these numbers. I will add to the debate, I do a low (200mg a week) tren Ace with 200mg test cyp 8 week cycle twice a year and came off on July 10th. I don't give blood to often, this year I did on 3/28 & 5/23 In 21 I gave blood 5 times.

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Please share whatever information you can after your Dr visit/lab values come in. Hopefully the labs will shed sone light.

I was in the same boat as you a few years back. If I got lazy and didn't donate for half a year or so, my Hct was over 60 and Hemaglobin was 21.
At that time I was using 200mg/week of test cyp. If I donated once every 2 months I'd stay in the 53-55 hct range. But, before I started TRT 15 years ago, when my total test was 355 and my hct was 50.9, so I guess because of my heavy red meat diet, I was always in the upper range.
After a few years I broke my pinning down into twice a week(same total dosage) and I still stayed high on hct, even with every other month donations, still in the mid/upper 50s. But, once I decided the best way to pin was daily, my hct numbers magically lowered. I now don't have to donate and stay around 52/53 hct and my hemaglobin in the 17s. The only other thing I changed at about the same time as I switched to daily pinning was starting taking Krill Oil(may or may not have helped). Plus, when I kept the same weekly dosage but switched to daily, my total went from 1100s to 1400s, and my free went from 20/30s to the 300/400s. I also feel better, kinda like when I first started TRT many years ago. I think all those begining years I was pinning my butt cheeks, I built up scar tissue, beause it got to be hard to push the needle in, and I don't think the test was being assimilated as well.
When I now use the 23g/1" to backfill the 29g/1/2", I don't know how I could have used that harpoon, heck, my first doc, Larry Lipshultz, had me using 1 1/2" pipes to inject. I must have been desperate back then to do that!!!!!!

I said I would follow up with results. I lowered my test to 100mg a week (50 subq e 3.5 days). My total test dropped from 1,018.5 to 358.4. This had very little effect on my RBC which dropped from 6.23 to 6.15. I will say that i do feel a little better. Maybe after all these years I should change my goal for ideal Total test levels, maybe try to keep it about 550-600 for a while and see how I feel. The attached capture is some current labs and some history back to 2015. My doc said no iron supplement needed. But I need to go give blood and see what happens.
Edit:
Vitamin B12 345 pg/mL 211 - 911 pg/mL
Folate 9.1 ng/mL >=5.5 ng/mL

Interesting, thx for the follow up

It’s kinda like a glimpse of juicing from the future

My number we’re about the same, but I felt great - with blood donations every 3-4 months

Running my total test at about 1,200-1,300

Hemoglobin running at 16.8 during my last donation - haven’t seen a 15 or so in 5 years. Yet, my RBC is 4.99 - RDW has been skewed for years, last full panel came back at 49.5

Up until now I have been on constantly for close to 11 years

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Originally Posted by bethdoth

I said I would follow up with results. I lowered my test to 100mg a week (50 subq e 3.5 days). My total test dropped from 1,018.5 to 358.4. This had very little effect on my RBC which dropped from 6.23 to 6.15. I will say that i do feel a little better. Maybe after all these years I should change my goal for ideal Total test levels, maybe try to keep it about 550-600 for a while and see how I feel. The attached capture is some current labs and some history back to 2015. My doc said no iron supplement needed. But I need to go give blood and see what happens.
Edit:
Vitamin B12 345 pg/mL 211 - 911 pg/mL
Folate 9.1 ng/mL >=5.5 ng/mL

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I would never shoot for any particular range. Symptom resolution rules the day. Test numbers are about worthless.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bethdoth

I am currently 61 and started on HRT when I was 50. My Doc proscribes 200mg CYP a week IM. I do 70mg subq every 3.5 days. I do full lab work at least twice a year and it seems over the past 5 years my RBC and RDW are High and MCV and MCH low. I try to give blood every 8 weeks to keep my hemoglobin in check. I typically do my injections on Sunday morning and Wednesday evening and do my labs on a Wednesday morning where I think they should be at their lowest levels. I have noticed that my test total and free seem to be a bit higher. My labs last week total was 1,015ng/dl (scale 280-1100). I wonder if I should cut back to say maybe 60 mg every 3.5 days or lower for HRT? Would this improve my other labs? I have been feeling pretty crappy lately fatigue always tired and my motivation to workout hard at the gym is lower. Is there nay other things I can do to improve my RBC, RDW, MCV and MCH?

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You might benefit from this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UKyZyl94hY