Blood donation issues?

(Kiri Graves) #1

Good morning! I used the search feature but I wasn’t finding the answer I was looking for, my apologies now.

I gave blood on Monday. I made sure I drank a ton of water and was properly “fueled” going into the whole thing (no drinking on easter makes bunny something something…). I also made sure I have healthy snacks for after (salted nuts/jerky). My hemoglobin was awesome as well. :wink:

Normally I am tired after donating but yesterday I ended up being “dead to the world” for a majority of the day. The ability to function even after coffee and a healthy breakfast escaped me! My doctor is no help (sadly) since this diet is of course the cause of all bad things in the world. How did I screw this up? Any advice on what I did wrong/how to prevent this in the future would be awesome!

#2

If you’re a frequent donor, it’s good to get your doctor to check your iron and ferritin (stored iron) levels. The blood donation place will check your hemoglobin and they may say your iron is good, but they’re not explicitly checking your iron levels.

I was a frequent donor and everything had always been fine until one day it wasn’t anymore. I had a physical but hadn’t gotten results back, and then donated blood and felt half dead for days. It turned out that even though my hemoglobin had been fine, my ferritin was a single digit number (you generally want it to be closer to 50 minimum).

It’s good to know what your ferritin level is, and if it’s low, you should be taking iron to keep it up. If that is your problem, it takes effort to bring it up again.

(Nick) #3

I donate blood every three months. I’m O-neg, so they don’t let me miss an appointment!

When I first started, I would be very tired, but I recently feel it much less. It’s partially adaptation, and partially that I feast on biltong and then take a big vitamin C tab a few hours before, which massively ramps up iron absorption.

(Kiri Graves) #4

You guys are awesome, thank you for the ideas and help!!

I’ll give the Doc a hollar since I want a full fasting blood panel done anyhow. :smiley:

Thank you again!

(Clare) #5

I donated on Tuesday. I felt totally fine that day - but yesterday, I could feel a little fatigue and according to my ketonix my ketones were dropping to a point where I looked like I might be dropping out of ketosis. Also, my cycle ride home actually felt tiring - which it doesn’t usually as it’s only a couple of miles.
When I saw my ketones dropping, I ate a high calorie lunch and ate an enormous steak with a blue cheese and butter sauce for dinner.
I woke up around 4.30am and found my mind working through a problem I’ve been having with a spreadsheet at work. This morning, I feel great - I want for a 7 mile bike ride before work and my ketones are all jacked up.

I’m normally only a moderate score on my ketones. I’ve been at this nearly 2 years and I’m quite well fat adapted. I wonder if the blood loss just drained my extra reserves somehow.
Anyway, everything seems to have normalised but I may try and make sure my ketosis level is higher before I next give blood, by overfeeding for a day or two beforehand, so that I can withstand a drop a little better.

(Kiri Graves) #6

I love this idea, thank you! It makes sense that one needs to not only hydrate but fuel to offset the loss of blood/energy huh?

(Clare) #7

I think so. That’s my excuse for piling into the macadamias and I’m sticking to it.

#8

A bit off topic, but does this mean the recipient gets blood that’s full of ketones? How cool is that?

(Nick) #9

One needs an excuse to pile on the macs? :wink: