Hematocrit creeping up on TRT, anyone else tracking this alongside HRV?

Posted by greg_codes in Safety & Side Effects - 2 points, 0 comments.

Been on testosterone cypionate for about 7 months now, roughly 140mg split into two shots per week. Started tracking bloodwork every 6 weeks because i wanted to catch any drift early. Hematocrit was 46% baseline, crept up to 51% by month 4, then 53% at month 6. Ngl that got my attention pretty fast.

The thing i noticed alongside it was my resting HR dropped about 4 bpm but HRV actually went down too, not up. Which seems counterintuitive? You'd think lower resting HR means better recovery. But thicker blood probably changes cardiovascular dynamics in ways that mess with autonomic balance? Or that's my guess anyway, could be something else entirely.

I started donating blood which brought hematocrit back to 47% and HRV ticked up within about 10 days. Seemed like a real connection but it's just my own experience, not exactly a controlled experiment.

Curious if anyone else here has tracked hematocrit and HRV at the same time on /peptides/testosterone-cypionate? Keen to hear whether the HRV dip pattern matches what you saw. Also wondering if people who split dose more frequently (like EOD) see less hematocrit drift or if it's more about total weekly mg than injection frequency?

Community discussion - research and educational context only. Not medical advice.