My Dr told me I have to start giving blood regularly??

[The Dude]

So I had my surgery today and as I'm coming to the Dr says my RBC was at 17.1 and normal is 13-17 so I need to lower my test dose or give blood regularly?! It's 0.1 over the cut off for normal!! I don't know much about hemoglobin levels so I'd like to know if anyone can shed some light on this. What's funny is I'm prescribed 1g a week of test but only use about 700mg.

 

[Presser]

So I had my surgery today and as I'm coming to the Dr says my RBC was at 17.1 and normal is 13-17 so I need to lower my test dose or give blood regularly?! It's 0.1 over the cut off for normal!! I don't know much about hemoglobin levels so I'd like to know if anyone can shed some light on this. What's funny is I'm prescribed 1g a week of test but only use about 700mg.

I have heard of this before, and just sen it on a sports documentry, where this problem ran in the guys pamily and his dad died from it, so the guy was a huge packers fan and would give blood every year to help pay for his season tickets and he did this for like 30 or so years dating back to the 60's. Long story short is he found out later in life he had this elevated blood problem that his dad died from and the doctor told him that if it werent for him giving blood every year for the packers tickets that he would have likely died a long time ago

ANYONE ELSE SEEN THIS SPORTS DOCUMENTRY? I THOUGHT IT WAS A PRETTY COOL STORY AND SOUNDS LIKE THIS MIGHT BE WHAT UR TALKING ABOUT DUDE?

 

[Jpotch]

Your doc is right bro. I'd start giving blood regularly. What were your other values?

 

[The Dude]

Your doc is right bro. I'd start giving blood regularly. What were your other values?

I don't have any idea. Is 17.1 bad?? I have blood drawn by my Dr every 6 months and I was always told everything was fine.... liver enzymes, BP, cholesterol, etc. I've never heard any mention of hemoglobin. The problem with this idea is I pass out when I get blood drawn and I'm sick for hours afterwards.

 

[CH3NO2]

My wife's father has Hemochromatosis, a naturally high iron count in your blood, and he has been told to donate blood regularly. So this makes perfect since.

 

[DLStryker]

I'm at 17.1 at only 100mg/wk TRT. Fricken ticks me off. And that is at giving blood every 60 days. I'm changing to every 30.

DLStryker

 

[Jpotch]

I don't have any idea. Is 17.1 bad?? I have blood drawn by my Dr every 6 months and I was always told everything was fine.... liver enzymes, BP, cholesterol, etc. I've never heard any mention of hemoglobin. The problem with this idea is I pass out when I get blood drawn and I'm sick for hours afterwards.

Its not horrible...but not good. Polycythemia (high rbc) makes your blood thick. As u can imagine its hard on your heart pushing all that thick blood through your body. It puts you at risk for heart attack and stroke.

Also commonly ignored is how it can impair kidney function. The waste of red blood cells is processed in the kidneys. So this overload on the kidneys can lead to stones and overall disfunction.

 

[The Dude]

Its not horrible...but not good. Polycythemia (high rbc) makes your blood thick. As u can imagine its hard on your heart pushing all that thick blood through your body. It puts you at risk for heart attack and stroke.

Also commonly ignored is how it can impair kidney function. The waste of red blood cells is processed in the kidneys. So this overload on the kidneys can lead to stones and overall disfunction.

Wouldn't my blood have to be thick at that point being as I was completely dehydrated from not drinking anything for 11 hours?? It just doesn't seem like that would be the time to run a test of that nature. Also I have full panels done every 6 months and this has never been mentioned.

 

[Jpotch]

Dehydration would prob have some effect on it but if your count is high its high...im no cardiovascular expert so without studying up on it in some old books my knowledge is pretty limited.

It wouldnt hurt to repeat the blood draw. Do you remember what the rbc count want 6 months ago? And a yr ago?
Maybe you can see it creeping up if u look back...

 

[The Dude]

I did a little more research on this and it seems some of the significant causes can be chronic obstructive sleep apnea (which I have and will be getting a cpaf machine shortly), dehydration, and elevated RBC from AAS. Going to the Dr's tomorrow to discuss it further.