Last year (2022), I gave 2 blood donations to my local blood bank, and I even told one staff worker that i was on TRT.
Yesterday, I went back to the same blood bank to do a donation, and a new staff worker tells me: “We don’t allow donations for people on Testosterone therapy”. Then I called their central office headquarters (eligibility dept), and they repeated that apparently TRT users have been prohibited for decades. They said my only choice is to go to a hematologist to do a "therapeutic blood donation"---- but hematologists have at LEAST a 2-month waiting period.
Is it cynical to suspect that this is being done deliberately to force as many guys as possible OFF of Testosterone? To keep us all effeminate, weak, and docile?
That sounds like very sound advice. I actually just walked in to my primary doc's office yesterday, (asking for emergency appt), but they said he's just "too booked up until tuesday"..
I haven't taken a CBC test since October, but I just asked my doctor to send me a new blood test order that should come in the mail any day now.
I’d love to say them, but I really can’t handle hostile lectures right now. I’m in a terribly stressful moment. I need to keep mindful, meditate, be as spiritually uplifted as I can (even if it’s delusional).
I will just wait (per Readalot’s advice) to see my primary doc and see how far I get with my primary MD. I think I gotta be brutally honest --(because they really hate when u take mail-order T-cyp).
These results were done withOUT any donation beforehand.
My primary doc did them (in his own office) to ascertain whether or not he needs to prescribe a therapeutic phlebotomy or not.
I’m actually surprised by these results, because Quest labs always show higher HCT, RBC, and hemoglobin… But I definitely trust the veracity of my doctor more because I’ve known him the longest. He’s an “old-fashioned” doctor— which means he’s not the type who likes to rush through an appointment and treat me like I’m a commodity on an assembly line.
My dad is a big believer in supplements, especially DHEA (which he's been taking religiously for 10+ years). He really likes that I take TRT... in fact, he would do it himself if he was not as old as he is. He's also very wary of TRT's effects on an old man's prostate. So he prefers not to take the risk. But he never passes any judgement on me for doing TRT... he just views me as a person taking care of his reproductive hormone health.
What do you think about adding 150mg (daily) oral DHEA to the standard TRT cocktail? (I take 1mg arimidex per week, 1mL compounded T-cyp subCutaneously per week, 800 units Pregnyl/week subCutaneously).
Can DHEA cause any problems that I may not be aware of?
I'm very sorry for accusing you of trying to give me a "hostile lecture". It was my fault because I was being very defensive.
I'm truly sorry, and I hope you don't hold a grudge.
The easy answer is don’t tell them next time and make sure to get your blood taken every 3 months so you don’t strike out because your RBC is through the roof.
Go to a different location and tell them you give blood out of the kindness of your heart
Okay. I think they were “profiling me”… First 2 times I donated in 2022 (I admitted to staff that I was on TRT, but they ignored it), I came in with very well-styled hair, and I guess I looked very “presentable”. This last time I came in (when I was rejected), I did NOT style my hair… So I guess profiling is always an issue in modern times.
