Bloods before Blood?

PlateHead45

PlateHead45

Member
Hey guys,

Just a quick dumb question for you, but wanted to see if one way made more sense than the other.

I'm going to be donating blood soon around week 6 to keep RBC in check and what not on my test e cycle. Should I get my blood levels tested(Test/E2/Lipids/etc) before or after I donate?

Probably doesn't make a difference, but wanted to see if there was a way others would go about it and why..

Thanks,
 
The parameter values in a RBC are the exact parameters and values you'd be donating to manage while on cycle.
 
If you're donating to manage RBC while on cycle get your bloods including RBC before you donate. This way you know how well your blood handles test.
 
I guess just to keep my levels in check. Help with BP a little and maybe my shortness of breath. I guess I'm just thinking it can't hurt to donate and if anything only will help?
 
PlateHead45 said:
I guess just to keep my levels in check. Help with BP a little and maybe my shortness of breath. I guess I'm just thinking it can't hurt to donate and if anything only will help?
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You're missing an opportunity. Test at 4 weeks will have nearly zero influence on those values unless you have history of running steroids before and have underlying thick blood that you are unaware of. Shortness of breath and hypertension are symptomatic of elevated RBC hematocrit and hemaglobin. You'd be wise to test your blood before donating if you're symptomatic. The blood donation will test your hemaglobin but that is only part of the story. Iron issues can also cause shortness of breath.
 
David Dunn said:
You're missing an opportunity. Test at 4 weeks will have nearly zero influence on those values unless you have history of running steroids before and have underlying thick blood that you are unaware of. Shortness of breath is symptomatic of elevated RBC hematocrit and hemaglobin. You'd be wise to test your blood before donating if you're symptomatic. The blood donation will test your hemaglobin but that is only part of the story. Iron issues can also cause shortness of breath.
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Ok, I will get blood levels tested then before donating on Monday. I'll probably get tested Friday.

I'll have the numbers posted on my cycle page "Juniors First Test Run"

Thanks!
 
Id agree, get at least a cbc done prior.

Ive come across wildly conflicting/varying reports on how much an impact donating will have on hematocrit; some say 1-3%, others say up to 10% lol.
 
Is 4 weeks for a 12wk cycle pretty norm for getting blood work done mid cycle to see how the body is responding to everything?
 
NewAgeMayan said:
Id agree, get at least a cbc done prior.

Ive come across wildly conflicting/varying reports on how much an impact donating will have on hematocrit; some say 1-3%, others say up to 10% lol.
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the type of donation is very significant. Double red donation is exactly that.
 
PlateHead45 said:
Is 4 weeks for a 12wk cycle pretty norm for getting blood work done mid cycle to see how the body is responding to everything?
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if you have no blood work history and data pre or mid or post you're guessing. Start now. After 12 weeks see where you end up. Establish your normal.
 
David Dunn said:
the type of donation is very significant. Double red donation is exactly that.
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Hmm. Id assumed that when someone reported a 1-2% decrease they meant absolute (so 50% down to 48%), but a 10% decrease was not absolute (50% down to 45%, where the drop is 5% absolute ie 10% of 50...if that makes sense). But I didnt realise there were different donations; maybe a double red is capable of those 10% absolute decreases (50% down to 40%).
 
NewAgeMayan said:
Hmm. Id assumed that when someone reported a 1-2% decrease they meant absolute (so 50% down to 48%), but a 10% decrease was not absolute (50% down to 45%, where the drop is 5% absolute ie 10% of 50...if that makes sense). But I didnt realise there were different donations; maybe a double red is capable of those 10% absolute decreases (50% down to 40%).
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I'm not suggesting it's absolute or linear but obviously if I take out double the RBCs it's going to be significant IMO
 
PlateHead45 said:
Yeah, I really don't want to **** around with my body and I actually find it very fascinating when looking at numbers and how things change based on hormones.
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I couldnt agree more.

When I was researching this, the unanimous advice was to donate blood regardless, and to assume your hematocrit was "high" and requiring a decrease. This was regardless if you were pinning test solo...or running something like EQ as well.

I made the decision not to donate unless bloods indicated I should do so.
 
I'm a data guy. I'd get data AND not donate to see how much my RBC increases with X weeks of XXX androgen under normal blood conditions. He's well in range and not likely to go out. That's just me.
 
David Dunn said:
I'm a data guy. I'd get data AND not donate to see how much my RBC increases with X weeks of XXX androgen. He's well in range and not likely to go out. That's just me.
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I agree. I will get bloods done this Friday to see where I'm at. That will be over 30 days of Test E. See what my body is up to and most likely I'll just donate on Monday anyway because I have an appt and it can only do good I would think...
 
David Dunn said:
The only concern is iron anemia which causes shortness of breath and lightheadedness...
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Hmm interesting.. and that was something not on my blood test right? They don't test for that? Is that a common thing while on or just something that I should look into generally with those symptoms?
 
Frequent blood donation can and do cause iron deficiency. Iron does not restore nearly at the rate that RBCs do especially with androgens. Supplementation is advisable. It's not part of s CBC. You need to test for at least ferritin. You are symptomatic. I was and was iron anemic.
 
David Dunn said:
Frequent blood donation can and do cause iron deficiency. Iron does not restore nearly at the rate that RBCs do especially with androgens. Supplementation is advisable. It's not part of s CBC. You need to test for at least ferritin. You are symptomatic. I was and was iron anemic.
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Interesting. Good to note. Thanks.
 
Agree totally about iron levels. I was donating whole blood every 2 months. After 3 times I felt terrible and after bloodwork found it caused anemia. Iron, ferritin levels plummeted.

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Btw, I track my bloodwork with an app called MyBloodTracker. It's available for iPhone and iPad. The graphs show whether you are trending up or down - good information to show the doctor.
 
kenpoengineer said:
Agree totally about iron levels. I was donating whole blood every 2 months. After 3 times I felt terrible and after bloodwork found it caused anemia. Iron, ferritin levels plummeted.
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Any idea how much it costs to test that? I'm just doing the $99 female hormone panel with lipids.
 
Actually not sure of cost. I'd check Privatemdlabs dot com.
 
David Dunn said:
Frequent blood donation can and do cause iron deficiency. Iron does not restore nearly at the rate that RBCs do especially with androgens. Supplementation is advisable. It's not part of s CBC. You need to test for at least ferritin. You are symptomatic. I was and was iron anemic.
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Don't they check your iron for you before you donate blood anyways?
 
Should I call back 24 hours later and say I got sick or something? I don't want them giving ppl high test blood lol.. or do they check it anyway after
 
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