HCT/HGB Way Too High

[GreenMachineX]

Hey guys,
I just got a CBC done yesterday and my hemoglobin is 18.8 and hematocrit is 53.2 and rbc 6.03. I can't believe this as I've lowered my dose to 6-7mg daily about 4 weeks ago from running 9-10mg daily for a couple months. When I lowered the dose, my hct was 50.8 and hgb was 17.8, and rbc 5.97. I also saw on those Labs my b12 was bottom of normal so I upped the dose of that and guessing that is what pushed it up. I'm trying to donate today, but is this hct and hgb an emergency? I've had high hgb and hct before (I think only once my hgb was this high) and I made it obviously, but never dug in to what was really an emergency. No blood centers will take me today, but I have appt tomorrow at 9:30am. Thanks in advance.

 

[GreenMachineX]

Also, if my hct and hgb are at this level at 6-7mg, what should I drop to?

Another thing, I'm not sure how this part works, but if I dropped dose 4 weeks ago, do the effects linger for a couple weeks so is there a chance the elevation is residual and the dosage drop effects are lagging? Or, it's cut and clear my current dose is just still too high? I'd like to get my hct down to 50 or lower...

For what it's worth, I don't think I've had symptoms of elevated hct or hgb, other than once or twice I've noticed red ears and part of face red. Hands don't seem to be any more red than normal. I did wake up dizzy in the middle of the night though last night, but could've been something else I guess. I also saw someone mention elsewhere tinnitus can be from high hct, the tinnitus of which I have had for a couple weeks.

 

[GreenMachineX]

A couple other things to add here...

My blood pressure is mildly elevated like it was for most of my life, but honestly it's better then it was when I was doing 50mg twice per week. 120's to 130's over 70's to low 80's.

Could the elevation be due to moving to an area 600 feet above sea level from 50' (granted this was a few months ago)?

Otherwise, since the dose drop, I can see my platelets are just a little higher and are my all my white blood cells, my cholesterol numbers look better, the hair that grows on my ears and such has slowed down, body hair slowing down, and I've lost some leg hair. My hands aren't red. Other markers of cardio health like CRP and lipoprotein A also look great. It just doesn't doesn't sense that my hgb and hct have went up!

 

[GreenMachineX]

Update here: donated and had follow up CBC 3 days after donating. Hct dropped to 48.8 and hgb dropped 16.8. So a 5 point drop in hct and 2 points in hgb...much more then I thought would've happened. Haven't taken a shot since Friday either and unsure what to do either, but I have an appt with a new TRT doctor tomorrow.

 

[GreenMachineX]

After looking at my labs from over the year, it looks like my mcv is usually 88 or 89. One month ago, it was 85. Now it's 88 again after increasing b12 dose, while my rbc is down just a little. I am thinking that the increase in mcv and hgb the past month was from increasing b12, fixing the deficiency (I'm actually sleeping decent now, up to 8 hours, just waking up a lot), and the lower testosterone dose didn't have time to show the reduced amount of rbc since it's only been 4 weeks. I think 7mg would've likely still been too high though for comfort for me as I want my H/H comfortably under 51 and 18.

I'm still having nightly brain fog from 5pm to 8pm which is annoying. Muscles feel like they are fatigued way too easy, and cramping or pulling too easy. Knees cracking. I think holding water (or maybe just a worse body composition since the last time at this weight, can't tell). Anxiety ready to fly at a moments notice. Palpitations. Wild blood pressure fluctuations. But actually had a mild morning wood today...? Bizarre. I know the answer is to stick with a plan for 6 weeks and retest. That's not an exhaustive symptom list, but the most concerning.

Otherwise, while the b12 has made great progress in sleep, I'm super sensitive to it and feel on overdrive for several hours in the middle of the day. Adding methylfolate calms it down a little bit but gives us own side effects which are even more uncomfortable. Yet, when I took nothing, I was up all night.