BobTheOldLifter

Any thoughts or ideas on dropping hematocrit a little? All my blood markers have shown dramatic improvement since TRT and some weight loss, but my hematocrit bumps over the 50% mark here and there. I don't think it's a big deal, but my doc wants it lower. I give blood on a regular basis, but again, I still need it to drop a bit. Read something recently about grapefruit, so I'm giving that a shot. May try some hyper-hydration before next blood test, but any other ideas most welcome. Therapeutic phlebotomy is problematic - I guess they don't do that anymore for some reason.

Congrats, man. Job well done.

Well, if your problem is scar tissue buildup, active release therapy can work wonders. However, if the issue is an acute injury, you need to heal. I hear BPC 157 is a miracle for some, but never tried it personally.

How is vigorous sex with your man not one of the tips??? Best sleep tip ever!!

Yeah, I suggest NL has a potluck dinner, but @Francis "Frank" Castle brings all the food!

In my opinion your bloodwork should tell you this. Everything looks fine, continue for a bit. Something needs attention, fix it first. Things can go sideways and you feel nothing. Edit: Said the same thing earlier in the thread, but worth repeating...

Email rep.

Did you ever get tested for Lyme?

IIRC, it's a genetic variant where they don't produce myostatin or something. Similar to bully whippets I believe.

No, I don't think lowering dose is an issue. The problem is without blood tests you can get hematocrit elevation, BP issues, lipid and kidney trouble just to name a few, and you won't know it b/c it's silent. And it's not like you need to test all the time. Regular intervals of three months would be fine.

Like myself, you're not a spring chicken. I would highly recommend you get blood tests regularly. That way you have objective data and can stay out of trouble and fix small problems before they become big problems. FWIW, I have been lifting for 35 plus years and have a successful history of competitive natural bodybuilding before I took anything, including a heavyweight title. Recently I have beaten every PR I had on a measly 100mg test/wk and I'm 52 yrs old. 500 is heavy to start, and please get bloodwork.

No. Bad reviews are acceptable, clearly, just not without at least a hint of credibility. Perfectly understandable.

While skipping meals for some might be a bad idea, it's been great for me. However, it's 'skipping' in the context of time restricted eating or intermittent fasting. I eat two meals a day with a little snacking here and there and only eat noon - 7pm. TRT dose with little else so far and I'm down 35 lbs and hitting PRs in the gym after a lifetime of lifting. I'm now approaching single digit bf % and other than a mini bulk here and there, I'm probably sticking with this for life. Blood markers dramatically improving. For those above maybe 20%bf, I think IF is a great protocol.

I asked the same question from a UGL and the answer was 2-3 yrs. Store upright at room temp, out of sunlight. Once the stopper is pierced, shelf life drops to a few months.

And also lower or TRT levels of gear can be really helpful in dropping the fat (especially visceral fat) as well.

Just ordered my agmatine, and also added a glucosamine chondroitin msm supplement combo into the regimen. Fortunately my knees and shoulders are fine, but the hips can be painful.

The adequan looks interesting. My old dog might benefit too! Thanks. "intra articular injections of hyaluronic acid" Should be no prob to self-inject into my hip joint...

This looks reasonably priced - have to stop by there anyway to stock up on my other supps - doesn't mention any arcaine sulphate. Does this look right?

Other than the basic glucosamine/chondroitin I'm not up to speed on the newer peptides that also might be a help in this area. Basically I don't have too much pain - shoulders, knees pretty good, but I get some nagging/recurring hip joint pain. Any thoughts/suggestions on some helpers for this?

"I'm not an expert in this area but I think that normal hemoglobin with a high hematocrit is uncommon" Yeah, that's my understanding too. A quick pubmed search comes up with the finger stick method not quite as good as the venous blood test. "Recently, a study in Ireland has demonstrated in routinely collected fingerstick Hb deferred donors that venous Hb is higher than the fingerstick value by 1.07 g/dL (males) and 0.67 g/dL (females)." This was my experience. Finger stick was considerably lower than the blood test.

Do you mean hemoglobin? They didn't test hematocrit at my recent blood donation. AND FWIW, my doc seemed quite confident that the blood donation hemoglobin isn't very accurate. I had my blood tested about an hour after my donation and my hemoglobin only dropped 4 points after giving blood, but dropped 10 points from the blood test the previous day.

Cool! And the same, next day service happened to me last time with BT as well! Although, it's a geography thing for sure. If I lived in Flin Flon, I probably wouldn't get it the next day. I'd be curious to know how the Primo affects you. This is one thing I'm considering adding possibly next time. There's oral Primo too correct?

For some reason I have images of Hellraiser...

What's so funny to me about this is all he eats is fish and rice cakes, which can't be good, but he has to stop and think about what he has at each meal! Clearly deficient in a brain nutrient or two...

Chicken and rice? Pure decadence!! Real men go for A proper old-school diet Edit: But, seriously that looks really good! Flank steak done right is fantastic.