Bloodwork during cruise, can anyone help?

[KOArtist]

Did you get a urinalysis, checked uacr? I also have same numbers as you but a micro amount of albumin that doc asked for retest and evaluate.

What’s your previous numbers?

No, they didn’t get my pee, but It’s been way down in the 30’s a couple times, but I’m usually good lately with 80+. I think I was dehydrated from travel too, but yeah I definitely think the astragalus helped, and I threw some agmatine in my coffee too, supposed to help gfr as well

 

[KOArtist]

Are you still on cycle? And have you upped the dose/started taking an iron supp, if so, what kind?

Did you ever test for EPO by any chance? It's interesting, because on cycle, even if iron is somewhat low, people still have normal-high hemoglobin - hematocrit ...

You are clearly heading towards iron deficient anemia and it would be smart to get off cycle and on trt until this is resolved as besides iron deficiency, you also have a slight immune response to the gear you are taking which is probably the cause of your low iron status. CRP isn't the end all be all marker for inflammation. As you can see, you have an immune response but your crp is still low and seeing how neutrophils are high, it's suggesting something bacterial. Either way, stop the gear.

Other considerations: low stomach acid, gut issues like inflammation due to something like celiac, etc. And it could be multifactorial, immune response coupled with bad iron absorption and some other genetic variables pertaining to iron utilization, erythropoiesis, etc. Either way, your goal should be to get your wbc's down to a normal level, ie. 5 - 7 and ofc, normal neutrophils. When you reach that, stay there for some time and reassess.

Is there anything known to help the iron absorption side of it? I’ve added copper and lactoferrin now in hopes of helping, all I could find

 

[AlexDavis43]

Is there anything known to help the iron absorption side of it? I’ve added copper and lactoferrin now in hopes of helping, all I could find

From iron supps, vitamin C & apolactoferrin can help

Otherwise iron from red meat (heme iron) is fairly well absorbed on it's own

 

[HUGE McBIGLARGE]

Vitamin D can help as well.

 

[Jin23]

Is there anything known to help the iron absorption side of it? I’ve added copper and lactoferrin now in hopes of helping, all I could find

Are you still using all the aforementioned gear?

 

[Jin23]

From iron supps, vitamin C & apolactoferrin can help

Otherwise iron from red meat (heme iron) is fairly well absorbed on it's own

C helps with absorbing fe3 iron, lactoferin basically binds iron the same as transferin.

Vitamin C and D also both lower ferritin.

 

[HUGE McBIGLARGE]

C helps with absorbing fe3 iron, lactoferin basically binds iron the same as transferin.

Vitamin C and D also both lower ferritin.

OP is struggling with low hemoglobin. Isn’t low ferritin (via low hepcidin) exactly what he wants until his hemoglobin is normal?

 

[Jin23]

OP is struggling with low hemoglobin. Isn’t low ferritin (via low hepcidin) exactly what he wants until his hemoglobin is normal?

We don't know where his ferritin is, but if it was high, then yes, lowering hepcidin with vit c and d would be a vector towards the right direction. Although at that point I'd rather use antiinflammatories/immunomodulatory compounds.

However, going this route makes little to no sense, changing out the gear for a different batch/lab or stopping it altogether is the solution. This conversation is like somebody continuously hitting his leg with a hammer, and asking for a solution for quicker bone healing and anti pain meds ...

 

[HUGE McBIGLARGE]

We don't know where his ferritin is, but if it was high, then yes

What if his ferritin is low? Wouldn’t having low hepcidin help by keeping iron out of ferritin, leaving it free for hemoglobin?

 

[Jin23]

What if his ferritin is low? Wouldn’t having low hepcidin help by keeping iron out of ferritin, leaving it free for hemoglobin?

If his ferritin was low, then obviously there would be no room left to lower it even further. I don't understand what's so complex about this idea? Low ferritin is a problem in all by it self, just as low serum iron is.

Iron homeostasis is rather complex, we're talking about it as apples and oranges here. And adding in an unknown immune disregulation just makes it impossible to properly treat/figure out.

 

[KOArtist]

Are you still using all the aforementioned gear?

Haven’t pinned anything but a couple gh bolus since 5/15 now

 

[KOArtist]

What if his ferritin is low? Wouldn’t having low hepcidin help by keeping iron out of ferritin, leaving it free for hemoglobin?

My ferritin on April 16 was down at 21, 9 points below the range

 

[juicebro]

How long was it after training when you got bloods pulled each time?

It takes a long ass time to get ferritin up with supplements. Mine barely got in range after 6 months.

 

[KOArtist]

I’ve been megadosing supps and iron rich foods for about 9 months now, hardly any improvement. I try not to lift hard the day before usually, that’s about it.

 

[Grey Spartan]

Why?

Oil is not made for subQ. When you do inject oil SubQ, it increases your bodies immune response, it is not as effective, and it increases your chances of inflammation.

With that being said, I have injected oil subQ and had zero issues (except lumps and not being as effective). The only reason I mentioned it was because the OP can't figure out whats going on with his blood work so I figured, eliminate all possible variables.

 

[HUGE McBIGLARGE]

and it increases your chances of inflammation.

There a source on that? This is the first I’ve heard of it.

it is not as effective

Everything I’ve read says it’s more effective subq than IM. Mostly by providing lower peaks and higher troughs.

 

[Eddie.]

Oil is not made for subQ. When you do inject oil SubQ, it increases your bodies immune response, it is not as effective, and it increases your chances of inflammation.

With that being said, I have injected oil subQ and had zero issues (except lumps and not being as effective). The only reason I mentioned it was because the OP can't figure out whats going on with his blood work so I figured, eliminate all possible variables.

There are studies shown there's no difference in absorption and effectiveness between IM and subc. We have already 2 members here that tested total test levels IM and subc in trt dosages and both they had higher serum with subc. Xyosted is a pharma brand using test e that comes with a pen which is designed for subc. Also, shallow IM is not advised in the medical field too, if you going IM it has to be deep.

 

[romo]

Just a reminder that the old supplement beef liver tabs or capsules can increase iron. 15 to 20 a day, for awhile, They are high in vitamin A tho, and you do not want to much of that.

 

[KOArtist]

I had the same problem with iron supplements. I took heme-iron (ProFerrin ES at max dose) for years and only kept my head above water. I also tried every other form I could find, but there was something different about the Ferrex it just works for me. I was getting to the point where I was looking into doing my own infusions.

How far did you get into the infusions research? I’d love to be able to infuse my own damn self, save a chunk of change too.

 

[Grey Spartan]

Everything I’ve read says it’s more effective subq than IM. Mostly by providing lower peaks and higher troughs.

For me that was not the case. The reason I tried subq was to try and reduce my conversion rate to estrogen. For example, if I take 150mg/week Test along with 300iu of HCG EOD with no AI my estrogen will be 127 (this is at 15% BF according to dexa scan). So, I "read" that switching to subq along with daily injections would help this conversion rate.

Not only did my test levels come back lower, my estrogen did not change at all.

There are studies shown there's no difference in absorption and effectiveness between IM and subc. We have already 2 members here that tested total test levels IM and subc in trt dosages and both they had higher serum with subc. Xyosted is a pharma brand using test e that comes with a pen which is designed for subc. Also, shallow IM is not advised in the medical field too, if you going IM it has to be deep.

For me there was a difference in effectiveness according to my blood work. I am old and get my blood work done at least every 6 weeks (or when I try new compounds or doses). Unfortunately, I have no data when I did gear when I was younger (never got blood work) so I can not say age is a factor for sure.

As for shallow IM, I only do it in the quads, delts, and lats with an 0.5" (12.7mm) insulin syringe so I wouldn't really call it shallow IM. I did not know shallow IM was not advised. Thanks for the info.