TRT and Elevated Hematocrit (polycythemia) - Should You Stop Testosterone or is There a Solution?

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Brandon: (00:03)
What's going on guys? This is Brandon with the TRT community. You are listening to the All Things Testosterone Podcast and today we are talking about polycythemia/elevated hematocrit.

Brandon: (00:27)
Before I get into that, I want to just, uh, give a shout out to Michael Ashford of the Fit Dad Fitness podcast. He interviewed me last week. We talked for like 45 or 60 minutes or so and it really just kind of flashed me back to five years ago. It reminded me why I do this. There's an entire world of people out there that don't, that don't know anything about TRT. The only that only know what they hear they see on daytime TV commercials and you know, sometimes I get lost in the little TRT community bubble and I just take it for granted that, you know, everyone at least has knows something about it. But the reality is that there are millions or billions of people that, that think it's unhealthy or that just have never heard of it. So it was nice to talk with him and get outside of the TRT community bubble and yeah just to be able to remember that there are guys out there that are super fit and super knowledgeable but they may not be knowledgeable in TRT. So it was a pretty cool conversation. I'll let you know whenever it gets published.

Brandon: (01:28)
If you live in or frequent Texas and you're interested in TRT treatment text Texas to 66866. That's gonna subscribe you to the email list for our upcoming Texas clinic. I talked about it last week, but we are going to handle all Texas patients. If you're in Texas we want to handle your care. It's going to be customer service first kind of clinic and I mean that more than anything. I mean a lot of people will say it, but we are going to take care of you. We are going to be reasonably priced. We're going to be competitive with everybody else out there and we are going to answer the phone when you call. We are going to take care of you. We have knowledgeable practitioners. We know what we're doing, it's going to be amazing. Um, I'm really excited about it.

Brandon: (02:13)
So I did a poll on the TRT Community Facebook page and I basically asked just how many TRT patients have experienced elevated hematocrit or polycythaemia. 74% said yes, this is probably the most, if not one of the top three most common side effects to TRT and it's super easy to avoid. It can be super dangerous and it can cause your doctor to discontinue treatment if he's not super well versed in TRT.

Brandon: (02:43)
First let's talk about some of the issues that can arise if you have prolonged exposure to elevated hermatocrit. It's what gives you all the issues. Elevated HCT is where the heart attacks come from. That's where the strokes come from. That's where everything you see on daytime TV, you know, class action lawsuits come from.

Brandon: (03:09)
So it, it's dangerous. It causes blood clots and if nothing else your Dr. May stop your treatment and you definitely don't want that. So basically all it means is that your blood is thicker because you have more red blood cells and your heart has to work harder to pump the same amount of blood. So it makes sense why it can be dangerous because your heart's going to give out quicker if it's having to work harder to do the same job. Let's talk about the symptoms of it. Blurred or double vision, shortness of breath, headaches, itching, flushed, skin, tiredness and excessive sweating. My tell-tale signs are probably shortness of breath, headaches and excessive sweating. When this starts happening, I know that my hematocrit is getting up there and that I need to do something about it.

Brandon: (03:59)
So the simple solutions, you can drink more water and I mean a lot of water, you can eat grapefruit every day. You can try subcutaneous shots and you can do more frequent smaller doses. This sub Q and or more frequent smaller doses handles it for a lot of guys. That's all they change and they're good to go. If that doesn't do it for you, you can also donate blood. It's probably the most common way that guys handle or you know, manage it. That's what I do. I donate quarterly and that, that does it for me. Um, I just, you know, I wanted to, to be able to mention it because not only is it dangerous and you need to avoid it, but your doctor might stop your treatment, like I said, and, and you know, it's just unnecessary. Just go donate blood.

Brandon: (04:43)
Some guys will get hung up on crashing Ferritin by donating too often. I mean, I've always thought that's absurd. Not that it can't happen, but, you know, that's something that is even talked about when donating blood can save your life in someone else's life. But the hangup is you don't want to crash your ferritin. I mean it, it's so rare. It just doesn't happen often. It's almost like it happened to this one guy and he's just telling it to everyone. I think it's kind of ridiculous. So I wouldn't worry about that. If it becomes an issue. It's not that big of a deal. Um, but you're only donating, you know, in regular intervals of like what, 56 days anyway. So if it was going to happen to you, it could happen to other people too that donate frequently.

Brandon: (05:27)
So, I'm talking to BignoKnow (Noah Thomas) on Tuesday. So in just a couple of days. In fact, by the time you're listening to this, I'm, I'm probably gonna be interviewing him and I'm more excited about that interview than I have been about any interview. I love Noah. I've talked about him a lot on this podcast, so it's no secret. I was shocked to learn that only something like 20% of the TRT community listens to him or knows who he is. I mean, he, he was my version of the TRT community whenever I started TRT. He's the one that, that I got all my information from and he's just so vulnerable, so open, so honest. I really, really love that guy. So I'll be talking to him soon. Uh, yeah. Let me know what, uh, what you would change about your current TRT provider. Is it too expensive, as a service? Terrible. Um, do they not have enough extras for you, you know, the random get jacked supplements that they brand and sell to you? Or is their protocol bad? Just what are your pain points? I'd like to, with this Texas clinic and with the rest of the clinics that we plan on opening, I'd like to avoid as many as possible. So let me know, email me at [email protected]. Let me know what sucks about your treatment and we'll see if we can't, um, can't come out of the gate being like the best. Anyway, I think that's it for real this time. Um, have a good week. Join the community at facebook.com/groups/trt community if you haven't already, and thank you for listening to the TRT community podcast. You can find us [email protected] forward slash groups forward slash TRT community.