According to the videos I've posted and the studies they've cited, having ONLY higher red blood cells excluding the other cells and ferritin stores showed no significant risk factors in cardiovascular health. If that were the case then high altitude people with naturally higher hematocrits would be at a higher risk of cardiovascular events. Not only are they not at a higher risk, they are in fact at a lower risk. That's according to the studies cited. I'm posting all this stuff because it's very interesting to me as I was extremely neurotic about blood donations thinking that I was going to die if I had high red blood cells and now that I've been reading this new stuff and makes much more sense to me and it is easing my anxiety
First, I'm glad for your sake that researching this subject has helped you find some peace. I don't think that anyone should be super scared to death about it to begin with. I think that people should be cautious of it, but not paranoid of it; and I think that people should rely on bloodwork to make smart decisions and that they should also speak with their prescribing physicians about the issue to make the most well-informed health decisions for themselves.
I don't think that the high elevation argument applies to people that don't live at high elevations - simply because the body adapts over time to the conditions in which we live in. People that live at high elevations have adaptations to it - those of us who do not, do not have those same adaptations to it.
I think that the big issue on this is that people get so caught up in the extremes of the argument that they forget the common sense aspect of it.
Not everyone that is on TRT or that uses Testosterone is going to experience high red blood cells to begin with.
Some people that aren't on TRT or Testosterone are going to experience high red blood cells for other reasons.
There's the extreme crowd that talks like if someone on TRT doesn't donate blood regularly they're going to magically drop dead; but then there's the extreme crowd that acts like having high red blood cells is no big deal at all and that there's nothing to be concerned about.
This subject reminds me of politics now days in the sense that a lot of people pick a side of the argument, dig in, and don't want to learn and just want to be right.
At the heart of any informed decision is knowledge and understanding.
And in this case - its important for people to understand that just because having high red blood cells isn't as dangerous as Polycythemia Vera, that doesn't mean that it isn't dangerous. It means that most people don't realize what Polycythemia Vera is and how dangerous the actual medical condition Polycythemia Vera actually is.
I'm all about personal responsibility - the choice to donate or not donate blood if someone's bloodwork shows high red blood cell levels is ultimately on them, but so are the consequences, and those consequences could also effect other people in theirs lives, like their families. I don't think there should be the internet personalities scaring people to death and making them feel like they need to donate blood if their bloodwork doesn't say they need to; but I also don't think that people should listen to internet personalities telling them that they shouldn't worry about high red blood cells. I think that people need to take it seriously and discuss it with their physicians if it happens to them.
I think about it like this - can you imagine someone having high red blood cells and just assuming it was related to TRT and listening to an internet personality and dismissing it and thinking they were fine and then it turn out to where they really did have Polycythemia Vera and missed the chance for diagnosis and treatment? Sometimes, there are certain conditions that you only get one chance or a very short window to properly treat before they build and spiral into a whole different level of a situation.
My intention in this is not to be disagreeable with anyone; I just care about people and like to help people, and for reasons I'm not going to discuss publicly, I unfortunately know a lot about Polycythemia Vera and the unfortunate consequences of it.