Donating blood when on TRT!

Spunkey71

Spunkey71

New member
I have seen several posts referencing donating of blood when on testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) or a cycle to keep your hematocrit levels down. Before I started my testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) 7 weeks ago my doctor did a base line blood panel and my hematocrit was 47.6 on a scale of 37.5-51.0. I do not know what it is now that I have been on testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) but I am all about being preventative. How often should one donate and do we donate whole blood or just platelets?


Thanks
 
You can get a CBC to check.

Just donate blood as often as they allow. I think you can do it every 56 days for whole blood. That should keep you hematocrit in good shape. Plus you will be helping your fellow man. Nothing wrong with some good karma coming your way.
 
x2, just go do it. Chances are you will need it. They will also measure your hemoglobin at the blood donation place, which you can convert to estimated hematocrit by multiplying by 3.

Whole blood is far quicker and easier. Platelets donation is kind of odd... if they really only took platelets (which in theory they do) it shouldn't really lower your hct appreciably, but something about the process destroys or removes a lot of blood solids so it does bring down your hct quite a bit.
 
In apheresis your blood is run through a machine and elements are filtered out and the remaining elements are returned.
I believe you can donate red blood cells, platelets and plasma through apheresis. Plasma is of little benefit in our situation (potentially even increases hct temporarily).
Double red cell donation should lower hct twice as much (nominally) as whole blood donation, but the donation interval is twice as long.
Platelet apheresis theoretically removes only platelets and as such has little impact on hct, because platelets make up only a small fraction of blood solids. However, the apheresis process appears to lower hct substantially through RBCs being destroyed by the pumping and residual blood remaining in the machine. The blood centers don't take this into account, however, and set the donation interval to 7 days!

So, to lower hct as quickly as possible through donation:
1) give whole blood
2) platelet apheresis one week later (repeat as necessary)

I started at 17.7, went to 17.0 after whole blood donation, 15.7 after platelet apheresis, now estimate 14.4, all within a few weeks. I've got a blood test coming up that I'm hoping will confirm this.

Credit to halfwit for discovering this.
 
Just wanted to add that you can do BOTH apheresis AND whole donation if you're worried about being too high. As you're still fine based on your labs, you don't really need to worry about it, but felt it should be thrown out there. :)
 
halfwit said:
Just wanted to add that you can do BOTH apheresis AND whole donation if you're worried about being too high. As you're still fine based on your labs, you don't really need to worry about it, but felt it should be thrown out there. :)
Click to expand...

Not that it matters much, but that's what I'm suggesting above too: start with a whole blood donation, followed by an apheresis one week later. I suggest this because the whole blood donation is a lot quicker and simpler, plus they will probably want to establish your blood type before apheresis; I don't think they will even let you do apheresis on the first visit.

Or are you suggesting one donate whole blood and apheresis in the same visit? I don't think my blood center offers that.
 
Thanks everyone, I think I am pretty safe right now and not in any real danger of being too high but plan on donating whole blood this weekend just to be proactive!
 
mprtz said:
Not that it matters much, but that's what I'm suggesting above too: start with a whole blood donation, followed by an apheresis one week later. I suggest this because the whole blood donation is a lot quicker and simpler, plus they will probably want to establish your blood type before apheresis; I don't think they will even let you do apheresis on the first visit.

Or are you suggesting one donate whole blood and apheresis in the same visit? I don't think my blood center offers that.
Click to expand...

No, what you suggested is what I'd recommend. I believe it's a 48 hour deferment for either one.
 
do any of you have iron issues after you donate? I have to have an iron infusion due to low iron levels ?
 
vere76 said:
do any of you have iron issues after you donate? I have to have an iron infusion due to low iron levels ?
Click to expand...

I do not have iron issues. I have not seen anything related to iron issue. May want to perform a search or better yet, start a new post with this question. Surely you are not alone.
 
vere76 said:
do any of you have iron issues after you donate? I have to have an iron infusion due to low iron levels ?
Click to expand...

Iron, not that I know of. But I do know that if you already have borderline-low HCT/Hb they may defer you from a future donation. If you're on testosterone replacement therapy (TRT), that won't be an issue. ;)
 
I went and gave blood today and they really want me to do a double red cell donation instead of a whole blood donation. I went ahead and gave whole blood today and want some input if donating double red cell will be as beneficial as whole blood?
 
Spunkey71 said:
I went and gave blood today and they really want me to do a double red cell donation instead of a whole blood donation. I went ahead and gave whole blood today and want some input if donating double red cell will be as beneficial as whole blood?
Click to expand...

i would think, since your goal is to keep hematocrit under control - it would actually be MORE beneficial, since you're getting rid of more red blood cells. but i am no expert.
 
tiredguy said:
i would think, since your goal is to keep hematocrit under control - it would actually be MORE beneficial, since you're getting rid of more red blood cells. but i am no expert.
Click to expand...

The down side is that you can't donate as frequently. If I had to guess, it might be a wash.
 
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