Haters gonna hate

[kelkel]

In my country, you can donate blood if your a woman on oestrogens but a man on TRT gets denied. How wicked is that?

Last time I gave blood they added a new checklist that included Finasteride and HGH..............what nerve.

[DocToxin8]

Last time I gave blood they added a new checklist that included Finasteride and HGH..............what nerve.

And men on TRT often need to donate blood to keep hematocrit down as well,
blood with high hematocrit would be the perfect thing in a medical crisis though. But let's just throw it in the trash instead.
And lest we forget, if you're in need of a blood transfusion, the horror it would be if T levels in there were high compared to a high E2 level? Right...

This is a classic case of when politics enter medicine.

[Youthful55guy]

Last time I gave blood they added a new checklist that included Finasteride and HGH..............what nerve.

Finasteride for good reason, it's teratogenic (can cause birth defects in a developing fetus).

HGH is more controversial. The reason they ask is because prior to about 1984 (or there about), it was derived from cadavers and carries the risk of prion infection. However, that was a long time ago and the stuff is no longer commercially available. It's now all recombinant DNA derived. However, the fear remains that some of the people that received it decades ago may try to donate. I think the question should be reworded as to when you received HGH, but my opinion won't buy you much. If you need to donate (due to TRT) and you take prescribed HGH, it's dangerous to answer yes to the question because the technicians doing the screening are trained to look for reasons to reject you and they error on the conservative side. Once you get on the "deferred list" (better called a black list), it's hard to get off.

I should also point out that a lot of folks (including the technicians doing the screening) get HGH and HCG mixed up and I've heard of guys getting on the deferred list when they tell them they are taking (or have taken) legally prescribed HCG. Since neither HCG nor T are on the forbidden drug list, I choose not to even bring up the topic when we are in the screening room. I simply answer no that I'm not taking (not have I taken) any of the forbidden medications, which is the truth. I just don't want to open that can of worms for no reason. Finasteride, on the other hand is forbidden for good reason. it's not being sexist.