Several months ago, my hematocrit and hemoglobin numbers were continuing to rise after recovery from a bone marrow transplant. We wanted to see numbers go up but not to keep climbing. Since my husband is my ‘caregiver’ and still tags along to my appts, I was a bit chagrined when my hematologist asked my husband if I snored! LOL.
Embarrassment ensued as I really felt certain that the answer would be no! Hah, well…anyway…the reason he wanted to know was to see if I had sleep apnea. That can cause the change in the EPO number you were talking about. (I had a sleep apnea test and do not have that) But I did add more vigorous aerobic workouts to my day to increase the EPO and my numbers have stabilized.

Erythropoietin (EPO) is a hormone that your kidneys naturally make to stimulate the production of red blood cells. When a person has sleep apnea, the amount of oxygen in the body diminishes and that triggers the kidneys to call for the production of more red blood cells if the erythropoietin level is too low.

Here’s a link to that information:
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/14573-erythropoietin

Your doctor may ask you the same question…do you possibly have sleep apnea?