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Rejected from Blood Donation Today

stewie

stewie

New Member
Feb 16, 2011
6
9
Been lurking here since 2011, figured I'd drop a line or two in an arena I'm somewhat familiar with :)

BLTC, how many times have you donated blood over the last 6 months to a year?

Given your indices (MVC/RDW) you posted, which is highly suggestive of iron deficiency, as aforementioned, not suggestive of hemochromatosis. Thalassemia trait, unlikely as you more than likely would have been dx with this year's ago, unless this is the first time you've had a CBC pulled? Nevertheless, due to your red blood cells being smaller than they should be--->microcytosis, which your MCV (mean cell [corpuscular] volume) of 72 fL is a telltale sign that there's a deficiency in the makings, and or present. Could there be an other etiological explanation(s), sure. Tho, I'd suggest teasing out the most common cause. It's a common theme in the BB community due to over-phlebotomizing.

I'd suggest having an anemia panel pulled, this will have a comprehensive look at your iron perimeters.

If you're supplementing with zinc, I'd highly suggest stopping until you/your treating clinician confirms the cause of your microcytosis. If indeed iron deficiency is present and you're supplementing zinc, this can shift zinc rather than iron into the biosynthesis of hemoglobin, resulting in zinc protoporphyrin (ZPP). Not something you want to struggle with.

I'd also tease out the possibility of undiagnosed/untreated sleep apnea as well.
 
BLTC

BLTC

VIP Member
Dec 23, 2010
753
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Strange, I didn't get any notifications this thread's been updated or I'd have replied sooner.

BLTC, how many times have you donated blood over the last 6 months to a year?

I gave whole blood in mid Jan 2020 and because my HCT was so damn high (53) I figured I'd donate again at a different donation center so as to not get rejected for donating too soon. I skipped my weekly test dose to make sure I didn't get rejected again for high HMG and gave double reds in early Feb. My HMG dropped from 21 to 19 between the 1st and 2nd donations but I didn't have any HCT values to compare. I didn't have any low iron type symptoms to speak of.

I then had a normal blood draw done as part of a check up in early March and got prescribed 25mg/day or losartan. I was however shocked at my CBC results recording a HCT of 56 and RBC of 7.46! This is consistent with what you mentioned earlier about stimulated erythropoetin from over phlebotomizing. MCT/MCV remain unchanged. I guess I'll cancel my appointment this week for another attempt at donating double reds...

Given your indices (MVC/RDW) you posted, which is highly suggestive of iron deficiency, as aforementioned, not suggestive of hemochromatosis. Thalassemia trait, unlikely as you more than likely would have been dx with this year's ago, unless this is the first time you've had a CBC pulled?

Definitely not my first CBC. but wouldn't I be a candidate for thalassemia being that it's common on my mother's side of the family?

Nevertheless, due to your red blood cells being smaller than they should be--->microcytosis, which your MCV (mean cell [corpuscular] volume) of 72 fL is a telltale sign that there's a deficiency in the makings, and or present. Could there be an other etiological explanation(s),sure. Tho, I'd suggest teasing out the most common cause. It's a common theme in the BB community due to over-phlebotomizing.

I'd suggest having an anemia panel pulled, this will have a comprehensive look at your iron perimeters.

Thanks for the reco..I'll be requesting this from my doc asap.

If you're supplementing with zinc, I'd highly suggest stopping until you/your treating clinician confirms the cause of your microcytosis. If indeed iron deficiency is present and you're supplementing zinc, this can shift zinc rather than iron into the biosynthesis of hemoglobin, resulting in zinc protoporphyrin (ZPP). Not something you want to struggle with.

Thanks again......I'll have to research ZPP symptoms

I'd also tease out the possibility of undiagnosed/untreated sleep apnea as well.

I definitely have sleep apnea but have been religiously using a cpap for about a year and a half.

Based on what you know about my situation would you recommend I discontinue TRT? I'd really like to stay on it but if it's causing my shitty CBC results I'd rather quit than stroke out or worse. FWIW I do have blood work from when I wasn't on TRT and the RBC/HCT counts were within normal range.

thanks again for the diagnosis
 
CFM

CFM

National Breast Implant Awareness Month Squeezer
Mar 18, 2012
1,974
1,677
Okay some perspective here. You cannot be upset you didn't get to dump your steroid tainted blood when you wanted to.
 
BLTC

BLTC

VIP Member
Dec 23, 2010
753
245
Based on what you know about my situation would you recommend I discontinue TRT?

After reading my post again this is a no brainer at this point. I'm going to skip my next dose and see how it impacts my BP.
 
BLTC

BLTC

VIP Member
Dec 23, 2010
753
245
update

I didn't skip my dose but I backed off to 105mg/week. I got another blood panel done with iron/feretin and just like Stewie said my RBCs were higher than before and my iron and ferretin had tanked from over donating. I'm no longer donating and am taking an iron supplement and nerringan to get my levels back up. I need to go back in a bit for another CBC to recheck.
 
BackAtIt

BackAtIt

MuscleHead
Oct 3, 2016
2,185
668
Strange, I didn't get any notifications this thread's been updated or I'd have replied sooner.


Prolly LK...He stopped it...He doesn't like for us to revamp old threads, even 1 week old ones...


.
 
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