Blood Donation - past due! COMPLETE

[Shock6050]

Been a bit but finally got my double reds donated today. Hematocrit and RBC have typically been a bit elevated (not so much now that I’m not on cycle). However, always strongly suggest donating blood especially if you have prior history being enhanced as well as if you have a genetic predisposition for high BP. All turned out well even though had a rough time a couple times ago where they f-d up my arm (see pic). Surprised as my veins are pretty easy to see, but it is what it is. All turned out good. Just have been a bit tired afterwards and dizzy, but now feel almost 100%. I did take today off training knowing I’d be donating this amount of blood. Just took me 20 min for the double reds being a bit competitive knowing they said it’s take 30 min to complete (intensely squeezed out that hand ball to push the blood out)!

 

[Poppy]

I haven’t been in a while. Got doc apt next week. I’ll see what labs say.

 

[woodwalker1889]

I need to get mine done as well.

 

[Dirtnasty]

Haven’t donated in long time

 

[Shock6050]

Yeah me neither. No excuse…just put it off even though I know it’s generally good for my health let alone helping others. Surprised they haven’t rolled up in the blood mobile based on the number of calls and emails I’ve been getting as I have that golden O blood.

 

[Dirtnasty]

Now that they say it’s not as important for health unless things get too elevated I figure I’ll just wait till after my meet and it lose a few o days of performance even if just mental

 

[Shock6050]

Makes sense as long as you know your current blood values. I’m also overdue for a full metabolic panel (been a few months and values were just a bit higher than normal so thought better safe than sorry!), but wanted to get this done now as it’ll take awhile to get my next test complete and results back.

 

[Poppy]

golden O blood.

Same here

 

[Shock6050]

Just curious is there a specific recent publication addressing this view? Makes illogical sense if not elevated though….just haven’t seen the specific research. Could just send a pubmed citation if you have it handy!

 

[Poppy]

In general…donating blood is ok… it won’t hurt anything.

BUT… it’s not necessary unless you have excessive pudding blood.

Usually staying hydrated throughout the day will help.

Mine was so terrible that my pcp prescribed me to have blood taken at the hospital orrrr I could donate at RC. Probably be stroked out or suffered a heart attack if I didn’t take action. Per my doc I was on the ragged edge. He’s got a great sense of humor… he said the upside was I would probably not bleed out except for a extremely bad wound like losing a limb.

 

[Poppy]

Fyi… I always felt much better after giving up a pint.

 

[Dirtnasty]

@Neuro would be better here

 

[Shock6050]

@NeuroRN is always my default for most all things medical or research specific! We are very lucky to have him here

 

[Poppy]

We are very lucky to have him here

Agreed to say the least

 

[Neuro]

Lemme dig around, I feel confident I have it somewhere.

Unless your H/H is habitually and critically high… blood donation shows no medical benefit. All it does is cause your body to signal that it needs more blood and your H/H in the 24-48 hours after donation can be higher than your original lab work.

If you wanna help people with your O blood, please, we fucking need it lol

 

[Aude_Aliquid_Dignu]

Bloodletting is great. It helps out a lot of people.

Buuuuuut it isn’t necessary, and it doesn’t provide us any positive medical benefits unless it’s a very extreme case. It’s broscience.

They say, tongue in cheek, “why the fuck would you want to give it away? It’s expensive.”

 

[Cluster]

Last time i did mine at home it was like cranberry sauce by the time i got a pint, but it was only slightly out of red cross acceptable range, so i figure a blood brick probably aint the best

 

[Shock6050]

Yeah at this point I’m doing it more to help others as O blood supply seems to be pretty low. Donating double reds every 4 months or so (that’s the most you can do due to the amount) has never been an issue aside from the time they wrecked my arm up! Plan to keep it up.