Donating blood, is it necessary?

[Stewie]

Necessary, no. Does it potentially set the stage for other potential detrimental consequent, potentially yes, if you over-phlebotomize. There's nothing wrong with occasionally dumping a pint a few times a year. Just be mindful of your Fe status. Highly encouraged.

Take a peek into what happens to your lymphocytes DNA, and ZPP (rare, could very well happen if you tip the scale of Zn intake to lack of Fe) in the face of iron deficiency. Iron is a cofactor for a-many of biological processes. While you're indulging the curiosities of searching the interweb. Look into two organelles (mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum) that are highly dependent on Fe.

As other's have stated, this has been discussed a tremendous amount of times here.

 

[Gizmo]

most doctors would disagree with you when it comes to elevated levels and clotting risk....also my if you read what I wrote, I said, "get your blood work done and check out your levels"..... obviously do not donate blood if other key points are out of wack with your blood work, i.e. Anemia, etc..

High hematocrit is not an independent risk factor for clotting. People in Denver walk around with high HTC all the time, and there is no increase in cardiac events. Undiagnosed clotting disorders cause a lot of clotting events.

Re-evaluation of hematocrit as a determinant of thrombotic risk in erythrocytosis | Haematologica

haematologica.org

This study basically explains where the misconception comes from that high HTC (alone) causes cardiac events.

 

[alfresco]

I donated blood for the better part of over 20 years, religiously, 3 to 4 times a year. Eventually, I did become anemic, a 7 on the scale, partially due to me not paying particular attention to iron in my diet (because I don’t eat a lot of meat). That was easily corrected by iron supplementation (thank you nothuman) and not giving blood anymore. The difference it made was amazing, did not know how much ‘energy’ I had lost.

I did give blood for two reasons . . . one being altruistic and secondly because of high hematocrit levels with my osteopath who was managing my TRT suggesting that that’s what I do but overtime it backfired. (God love her though, she gave me all the Test I wanted.) I have not checked my hematocrit lately so I don’t know what it it is now, may get it check the next time I get a blood test, will probably be around 50, give or take a bit. And I am going to start giving blood again one a year, purely for altruistic reasons . . . the greater good.

 

[slesh]

 

[curcumin]

High hematocrit is not an independent risk factor for clotting. People in Denver walk around with high HTC all the time, and there is no increase in cardiac events. Undiagnosed clotting disorders cause a lot of clotting events.

Re-evaluation of hematocrit as a determinant of thrombotic risk in erythrocytosis | Haematologica

haematologica.org

This study basically explains where the misconception comes from that high HTC (alone) causes cardiac events.

I agree and its a little more controversial but I think moderately high LDL (I'm talking 120-140 range) is not an independent risk factor for heart disease. I don't hear anybody talk about a sophisticated view on LDL/heart disease on ProM but if you don't have high trigs and your CRP is in a good range then there's no reason to jump on a cholesterol lowering drug. Metabolic syndrome is one the primary drivers for heart disease.

 

[SouthernMuscle]

I agree and its a little more controversial but I think moderately high LDL (I'm talking 120-140 range) is not an independent risk factor for heart disease. I don't hear anybody talk about a sophisticated view on LDL/heart disease on ProM but if you don't have high trigs and your CRP is in a good range then there's no reason to jump on a cholesterol lowering drug. Metabolic syndrome is one the primary drivers for heart disease.

i really enjoy when you new guys come from nowhere and want to argue every fucking thing to death, but even more so, i enjoy it when you work yourselves up into a lather over the same stupid arguments and then get banned for showing your ass.

keep up the good work professor

 

[jdn]

If you can donate, please do. Versiti, my local bloodbank, just issued a critical blood shortage. Not only does it lower your hematocrit but it saves lives.

 

[pistonpump]

Karma a bitch too maybe you'll need blood one day and there won't be any to save you...

 

[TexasBoy]

When I’m running EQ I do donate blood

 

[hoodstark]

I dont post often as I often dont have much to add, but on this topic I’ve seen some great results decreasing hemocrit from low 50s to 46 with 1x day supplement of natto/serrapeptase (solaray brand). Natto alone did nothing to my bloodwork, but after reading a post from bbextreme about serrapeptase and making sure its enteric coated it made a world of difference.

 

[ALPHALIFEFITNESS]

As a phlebotomist that works on The Big Red Bus, even if you don’t need it medically. Other do!! Go save 3 lives!! Donate double red cells and help a trauma victim, baby or baby momma! And never tell them you Doctor sent you or recommended. However if you lt Dr wants you to donate more often that the allowance, get your script and do it. They can still use your blood when on TRT and you will help people and get more gift cards!

 

[Massive G]

My hematocrit went up to 60 slowly but surely on just low ish doses and I still didn't donate. My platelets were in range so I felt I had a little bit of time to work with it. I was determined to try to figure out how to get it lower. First I started taking nattokinase 4,000 FU per day. This won't lower it but it can mitigate some of the symptoms of high HCT. Here's what worked OK for me to actually get it down (from 60 --> 54). I added more cardio (from 120 mins/week to 180 mins/week) and I dropped my GH dose and added berberine/GHK-cu/BPC157 to lower inflammation. I lost water weight (10 pounds), my joints felt better with lower inflammation, and my HCT started trending down over 6 months. I'm hoping its still trending down but I'm totally happy with 54 HCT and platelets in range so if it plateaus here I'm fine.

I recently added low dose retatrutide to see if I can bleed a little more inflammation off. My theory is that higher levels of inflammation promote higher HCT. Primary concern if you want to live long is to lower inflammation. There are many scientific studies that support this theory and if you have high hematocrit and you suspect you have high inflammation levels also from diet, lack of cardio, anabolic drugs, etc then its probably worth starting there to fix that issue and watch the positive cascade happen in your own body.

Do you have sleep apnea? Nattokinase dropped mine from 56 to 45 in 2 years.
Even on a lower doses IM cycle I do for about 8 weeks of 400 mg sustanon and 200 mg deca it remains unchanged. Before Nattokinase it would hit 57 plus even on Sub q HRT.

 

[alfresco]

As a phlebotomist that works on The Big Red Bus, even if you don’t need it medically. Other do!! Go save 3 lives!! Donate double red cells and help a trauma victim, baby or baby momma! And never tell them you Doctor sent you or recommended. However if you lt Dr wants you to donate more often that the allowance, get your script and do it. They can still use your blood when on TRT and you will help people and get more gift cards!

Like your style man. Very altruistic. Must mention, at least for me, long term regular donation (20+ years) made me anemic which is easily correctable. All good now but just a heads up which I am sure you know all to well.

And thanks for you the encouragement of us to donate for others as well as for themselves.

 

[Theone233]

I donate once a year. I donate right before my yearly blood work so my doctor doesn’t read me the riot act about hematocrit. I really need to find a new hrt doctor.

 

[buck]

Like your style man. Very altruistic. Must mention, at least for me, long term regular donation (20+ years) made me anemic which is easily correctable. All good now but just a heads up which I am sure you know all to well.

And thanks for you the encouragement of us to donate for others as well as for themselves.

Sounds like you got it figured out.
I donated 4-5+ times a year for over 20 years too. But never got anemic. I did up my iron intake for a couple weeks after i donated. so i don't know if that is the reason or not.

 

[npcout]

Bumping an old thread because I searched first.

On 140mg/wk prescribed test cyp. Was doing IM mon-wed-Fri.

After a year, hct is 52. Will loose my
Script if I don’t bring it down without donation, shitty situation trying to avoid donating.

I could donate right before labs to “look good.”

Dropping to 120mg and changing to 20mg subq mon-sat as I’ve read that can help. No other drugs.

Otherwise, it’s donate before labs or loose my script that’s basically free. I have to retest in 8 weeks.

And yes, u was very hydrated prior.

Would love other suggestions. All the threads I’ve read, not really much answers.

 

[massephase]

I could donate right before labs to “look good.”

have you ruled out sleep apnea? how was you hct before you started TRT?

Depending on how often you need to get retested, I think your plan could be good -> donate once (a year?) so you can refill your script, check ferritin regularly and supplement with ferrous sulfate if necessary.

 

[Mufasa123]

Look at hydration also. Do your test in the PM after plenty of water all day (no matter how much you drink early, it takes time to hydrate post sleep).

It's not usually discussed here but a test on Erythropoietin (EPO) is directly related and rarely done. This is what signals the body to produce red cells and raises hematocrit. Test levels drive EPO and that drives the rest. I've had a few done now. From memory, range was like 10-30 and I was like 180 and another at 90. This is just post blast so takes a while to come down.

If I was to really zero in on optimized pure TRT or even healthy long term cruise I'd want to look at test serum, free test, e2, and EPO because this is what's messing with a lot of us and driving the blood cells. Sadly it's in hardly any test packages and it's a few hundred without insurance.

 

[npcout]

have you ruled out sleep apnea? how was you hct before you started TRT?

Depending on how often you need to get retested, I think your plan could be good -> donate once (a year?) so you can refill your script, check ferritin regularly and supplement with ferrous sulfate if necessary.

Yes, I was tested prior to the start as a cause for low test and was negative, to help with insurance coverage.

I do labs twice a year. 2 donations shouldn’t take ferritin 6 months apart to require iron (i hope).

For year, my hct is always 42-46 looking back in the app.

 

[npcout]

Look at hydration also. Do your test in the PM after plenty of water all day (no matter how much you drink early, it takes time to hydrate post sleep).

It's not usually discussed here but a test on Erythropoietin (EPO) is directly related and rarely done. This is what signals the body to produce red cells and raises hematocrit. Test levels drive EPO and that drives the rest. I've had a few done now. From memory, range was like 10-30 and I was like 180 and another at 90. This is just post blast so takes a while to come down.

If I was to really zero in on optimized pure TRT or even healthy long term cruise I'd want to look at test serum, free test, e2, and EPO because this is what's messing with a lot of us and driving the blood cells. Sadly it's in hardly any test packages and it's a few hundred without insurance.

I’m going to retest later in the day. I try to hydrate well prior, but maybe it’s not enough? My cmp results didn’t reflect dehydration though.