Nelson, I read your posting about this. However, I posted a non-HIV question about this on a bodybuilding forum that caters to steroid use. One of them mentioned his blood donation is where they remove only red blood cells, then put the rest back in his body.

I have never heard of this type of procedure. I can only imagine how only red blood cells are extracted -- as for "the rest" I wonder what components are in that and whether this is something virus-suppressed HIV+ male might consider? I mean, why throw out good stuff that your body worked to build anyway?

I am on 1CC biweekly of cypionate and my latest bloodwork shows my Hemoglobin at 18.7 and Hematocrit at 50.4, both on the high side of normal. I go to see my endo doc at the end of next month, so I imagine he'll have me do a phlebotomy.

A long time ago, when my testosterone dose was being grossly mismanaged by another doc, I had to go for phlebotomies... and it wasn't fun, as they put you in a cancer clinic with severely ill folks, ironically it made me even more grateful for my health.

Finally, I'm concerned about any long-term consequences of having the body over-produce things that need to be removed periodically.

Thank you!

Your hematocrit is still OK. 52 is the magic number for a referral to therapeutic phlebotomy.

Here is an article that explains all there is to know about increased red blood cells for those using testosterone replacement in HIV:

Preventing and Managing Polycythemia

Nelson