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| Iron and blood donation | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jan 9 2007, 03:52 PM (289 Views) | |
| dolmansaxlil | Jan 9 2007, 03:52 PM Post #1 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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Over a year ago, they discovered that my iron was ridiculously low when I went to give blood. (6? 7? some ridiculous number like that). Anyways, I tried again every other month for several months, and finally they deferred me for 6 months. I just got the call that I can go in and try again, assuming my iron is back to normal. The clinic is on January 22nd. Is there anything I can do between now and then to give it a bit of a boost? I mean, I've been trying to get more iron in my diet, but I know that iron levels are tough to raise. Will anything I do over the next week and a half have an impact on the numbers that day, or am I kind of stuck wherever I am? |
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"Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst." ~ Henri Cartier-Bresson My Flickr Photostream | |
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| apple | Jan 9 2007, 03:57 PM Post #2 |
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one of the angels
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i have low iron too.. not a bad thing. molasses - 1 tbls or more a day (delicious).. and red meat (altho is skip the meat usually) get's it up just enough.. Also i've found the levels vary quite a bit when i'm tested |
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| dolmansaxlil | Jan 9 2007, 04:00 PM Post #3 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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I seem to recall that the time they freaked out because it was so low, it was sitting at 6.7 or something. I believe it has to be at 11.5 or 12 for a woman to donate. I know they told me that it was "dangerously low" and that they were surprised I was able to function. ![]() Anyways, the last time I went back, I had it boosted up to 9. That was six months ago. I was eating a LOT of iron rich foods and taking a supplement. I'm hoping it's high enough now, but I'll be sad if it's not. Maybe I should have a big spinach salad topped with a steak for dinner the night before?
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"Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst." ~ Henri Cartier-Bresson My Flickr Photostream | |
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| Jolly | Jan 9 2007, 04:22 PM Post #4 |
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Geaux Tigers!
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They don't actually measure iron. They measure hemoglobin. The most common screening test is a cupric sulfate solution. They plop a drop of blood in there, and if it falls you're ok, it floats - you're deferred. Sounds to me like they used a Hemocue on Dol, and gave her the hemoglobin reading. Not quite as common, but a lot more precise. Raw liver and peanut butter works...although I did know a gentleman that ate that quite regularly for breakfast...killed him when he was 92. |
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| dolmansaxlil | Jan 9 2007, 04:40 PM Post #5 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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They do the drop test here, Jolly, but if it floats, they do a hemoglobin reading to double check. Even when my iron is ok, it floats, so they always do the hemoglobin on me.
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"Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst." ~ Henri Cartier-Bresson My Flickr Photostream | |
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| katie | Jan 9 2007, 06:23 PM Post #6 |
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Fulla-Carp
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Dol, To boost up, I'd recommend spinach (preferably raw), and good ole red meat (obviously cooked). Also cut back on things that deplete iron from the body, such as tea (if you're a drinker that is). But thinking to the 22nd, to be totally honest, Do know the life of a red blood cell (RBC) is only about 120 days (& this too explains the rationale for expiration dates with units of blood). Your body is constantly making new RBCs as old ones die off. So while you may be helping boost your own Hgb levels for the next 4 months, there will be only a marginal gain seen with your donation. Does this make sense? YOU ARE doing a good thing though blood donation Dol. MANY MORE of us need to donate blood !! |
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| Jolly | Jan 9 2007, 06:56 PM Post #7 |
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Geaux Tigers!
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It shouldn't float if you're ok. However.....hypothetically speaking, of course...if you sit cupric sulfate in the windowsill a couple of days before use, Godzilla would probably register as anemic. It can allow blood banks to defer donors when they have no need of blood, but you don't like to turn donors away. You give them some diet instructions, and tell them to come back in a few weeks...incidentally, about the time the blood you have on hand is going out of date... |
| The main obstacle to a stable and just world order is the United States.- George Soros | |
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| dolmansaxlil | Jan 9 2007, 07:23 PM Post #8 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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The nurses are always a bit shocked when I fail the drop test. I'm always borderline, but even when the hemoglobin has come out ok, I always fail. I don't know why it happens, and either do they, but I've never passed it. I always just tell them that I'm going to fail the drop test and they'll have to do the hemoglobin. Is there anything else in the blood that can cause that to happen? I'm glad that they don't rely strictly on the drop test. They always double check those who fail it, so they don't turn anyone away who is above their guidelines. They did, however, raise the guidelines slightly a few years ago, because they found that blood that was just reaching the proper hemoglobin level was having slightly poorer effects in the recipients, so they raised the number a bit to make up for it. They told me to come back in 2 months after the first and second time, and I failed both times again, so they deferred me for 4 months. But after two months, there was a blood shortage for my type so they called and asked if I'd be willing to come in and get my hemoglobin checked. That's when they deferred me for 6 months. Hopefully it's come up a lot! Katie - your explanation makes perfect sense. Unfortunately, all the things that the nurses asked about (whether I was under stress, drank a lot of caffeinated beverages, etc) are all very true about me. But at the time, I wasn't eating any red meat. So I've started eating a bit more red meat and a lot more legumes and spinach. I don't know if it's enough to counteract my diet coke addiction though. ![]() I love giving blood. Such a simple, quick thing and it makes me feel like I'm doing something productive. If my levels are still low, I may have to consider volunteering for the blood clinic in town to make up for it that way. |
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"Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst." ~ Henri Cartier-Bresson My Flickr Photostream | |
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| Dewey | Jan 9 2007, 07:43 PM Post #9 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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There's a lot of good medical types chiming in here, so what I'm going to say will probably be stupid - but: make sure, before you start boosting your iron intake because someone thinks you're anemic, that you really are. There is a blood condition - the name escapes me at the moment, but it's relatively common in us folks of Mediterranean descent - that often looks like an iron deficiency, but is actually the opposite - too much iron. And if you start boosting your iron intake, you really screw yourself up. My Mother has it, and I've got a very mild case of it myself. Anyway, the medical honchos here undoubtedly know what I'm talking about, and will tell Dol she's got nothing to worry about in that regard. |
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| apple | Jan 9 2007, 07:47 PM Post #10 |
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one of the angels
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i'm deferred about 1/2 the time. i try tho. |
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| katie | Jan 9 2007, 08:16 PM Post #11 |
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Fulla-Carp
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Just talked to my geek here ...His advice ... See your doc for a work up. Your dude would probably want to repeat a Hb check, check your CBC (complete bllod count), serum iron, transferrin, ferritin, total iron binding capacity, peripheral smear, reticulocyte index, investigate for other causes of decreased production of iron, and perhaps check into your family history a little more (like for thalassemia). He'd likely recommend an iron supplement as well as looking into ways to improve the absorption of dietary sources of iron. It's the tanic acid, specific to tea, for instance that more readily binds to the cells (competes for iron) (that's my tidbit, not his ). As a little aside if you want your Hb test results to "look good" prior to donation, we both had a few "suggestions" :1) You could come for a visit in high altitude Alberta and workout alongside me the week before your test (that could artificially boost your levels). I'm talking running, walking, hills & stairs. 2) At night, I'd take you out drinking, thus get you real dehydrated before sending you off back home. This would concentrate your Hb. 3) You could sleep in a hypoxia tent . You might want to do that alone though. 4) You could load yourself up with EPO (like the bikers do). 5) Then there's blood doping (not as good as other doping ), but that could improve those levels for donation .... Seriously, It's great you're a donor. It's great you'd volunteer too. I'm on a marrow registry myself. I'd be proud to donate if called.
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| LWpianistin | Jan 9 2007, 08:17 PM Post #12 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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Keep trying! Donating blood is sooooo great! I'll do it soon. I have wanted to for a while. All this with Andy in the hospital...wow. He went through 5 units of blood that night. So, thanks guys.
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| dolmansaxlil | Jan 10 2007, 03:27 AM Post #13 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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I'm giggling at your suggestions, katie! The dehydration one especially - I'm a really slow bleeder. I drink a ridiculous amount of water the day before/day of donation because I know I'm a slow bleeder, but every time, I have a nurse hovering over me near the end, wondering if the pint will finish before my time runs out. So far, I've always made it, but it's always a close call. If I drank the night before, I might get through the hemoglobin test, but I'd never get a whole pint donated before time was up! If I'm deferred again, I'll go into my doc to get checked out. I've never worried about it being a bigger problem, because when I was initially deferred, there were a whole bunch of circumstances that meant it made sense that my iron would be low - and every time they checked me after that, my numbers had creeped up a bit. I also had given blood many times before that with no problems. But it's been long enough now that if it's still an issue I suppose I should look into it.
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