So ive been on trt for going on 4 years and latest dose is 250iu hcg 2x per week and 50mg test cyp once per week. My hct has been hanging around 54 despite whole blood donations e3m. Theyre always trying to get me to do a double red cell donation. Ive heard it will lower your hct more but the drawback is you are allowed only every 4 months to donate. Any experiences? Thanks
It is a good option that you should try out.
You also should avoid iron fortified foods, cereals are a typical offender. And vitamins should not contain iron.
In theory the double red cell apheresis, 3x a year, should amount to the same number of red blood cells as a single unit whole blood donation 6x a year. They should be more or less equivalent. I do the double red cell donation because A) it’s easier to only go 3x a year instead of 6x a year, and B) walkiing out the door I feel better after the double red cell, because they return my plasma, and they replace the volume of fluid I lost.
That said, you really feel the lost red cells the next time you work out. You’ll feel out of shape because of the double hit your oxygen carrying capacity took. But you’ll adjust quickly.
My Hct runs in the low 50’s. 51, 52, 53. It’s never been 54.