High hemoglobin at blood donation, thoughts on when to go again?

[Nomoobs]

Been on TRT for 7 years no real issues and I don’t have any complaints. I usually donate blood every 8-10 weeks. I moved and forgot to donate for about 18 weeks. Anyways went to donate and my hemoglobin was 20.1 with the finger prick test. I donated today. When should I donate again to get it under 17.5 where I normally am? Should I do it again in a week or two weeks?
Thanks!

 

[IMT staff]

Was it just hemoglobin? What was your RBC and HCT?

 

[Nomoobs]

Was it just hemoglobin? What was your RBC and HCT?

Yea just hemoglobin. They took my blood but wouldn’t let me donate double red since I was over 18.5.

 

[IMT staff]

I wouldn't even worry about it unless your HCT is high. If you donate too much you will get a deficiency.

 

[Nomoobs]

I wouldn't even worry about it unless your HCT is high. If you donate too much you will get a deficiency.

Okay thank you.

 

[IMT staff]

*Iron deficiency

Sorry just recognized that typo

 

[Mycelium]

I just donated today and the finger prick was an iron test per what she said she was doing. I havent donated in probably 6 months and nothing is out of range that would need me to donate blood. I'm running 100mg wk now. 80 mg had me about 440ng/dL on my low and that's not enough. I've had labs pulled a couple times and even the most recent ones I've never been out of range or high on any counts.

 

[Mprtz]

The iron deficiency mentioned above refers to the blood protein ferritin. That is different from what they test for at the blood bank. They are using "iron" somewhat colloquially when they are testing hemoglobin. On TRT ferritin and hemoglobin are not necessarily correlated. It's very possible to have low ferritin and high HGB.

 

[scorob777]

And the low ferritin can be caused by donating too much.

I read that it used to be quite common to check ferritin with blood tests, and that the info is quite valuable. But for some reason it isn't generally included now days.

 

[GarryGoldb]

Donate blood, retest, and/or find a new doctor.