i was tested for those expressions when my extended routine was done due to my cardiomyophathy.
Even with both negative, last blood test i got a HB of 20.1 and a HCT of 59.
The thing is, 3 weeks prior to that at my family doc my values where 17.9 and 56.8. At the day of my last blood test, i was severely dehydrated (had to drive 2 hours because it was at an hospital where my heart routine check up is done and after the drive i had to wait for another 3 hours until the bloodwork, almost no liquids and no food).
So i would suggest before giving blood, make sure your values are valid. Giving blood too often is not the solution because you empty iron/ferritine and the more often you give blood, the faster your body rebounds
It's a complex issue.
What doses and compounds were you using when it was almost 60% hct.
I find if I have a high hct I have no choice but to draw off blood. You probably won't walk around with a 65% hct and feel good. You can feel it after you draw off the blood the release of pressure, it's very relaxing.
The iron issue is one where reference ranges are set for a normal population(normal studies). Those ranges mean very little to someone using steroids because of the increase iron absorption. If you use steroids and you take in iron from your diet you will absorb more, but you can quickly dump iron by phlebotomy.
The bottom line is pay attention to your red cell indices, look at the mcv, rdw, mchc, mch and order a manual differential to spot microcytosis which is the result of low iron or b12 for a long period as the body produces red cells without having the iron needed to make normal full size red cells. Most guys will if they are donating blood end up with lower iron stores, this is the way the body balances something out when it becomes dangerously high.
Iron is toxic when values are too high, the male body has no natural way of getting rid of high iron, increasing iron absorption isn't a good idea.
Of course this is a balancing act, not something that is perfect.
T/DHT/E2 ---hepcidin decrease, epo increase, stem cells in bone marrow, scarring of bone when excess cells pass through bones into peripheral circulation. It's an extremely complex feedback loop, the body does what it can to balance out, but in this case the steroids throw it out of whack so you have no choice at all, but to either drop the dose, stop taking steroids, decrease iron intake, remove blood through phlebotomy.
Eventually through a few years of phlebotomy and sane dosing that the body can contend with your should notice your hct rising slower and longer periods before needing to remove blood. If not then you need to microdose and forget the blast lifestyle.
Regardless if your hct is high, you need to get rid of blood and figure out how you're gonna prevent the problem in the future, which usually involves conservative dosing....using a lot less than you think you need.
