Category: health

10/01/08 08:56 - ID#45884

Bad Blood

I tried to give blood last week but the blood donor center wouldnâ€™t take it. They said my iron, and some other thing identified by 3 letters that I didnâ€™t know what it was, were too low. Can anyone tell me how far in advanced of giving blood I have to stock up on iron-rich foods to get it high enough for them to take? When I was a teen/young adult I had some problems with borderline anemia, but not so much in the past 10 years, at least not that Iâ€™m aware of. I was giving blood regularly about 5 years ago but stopped after about a year because I got a tattoo (no - not a midlife crisis - kind of a tribute to my husband). Anyway, I didnâ€™t have any iron problems at that time. After a tattoo, they donâ€™t want you to donate for a year, and I just sort of got out of the habit. So, I made a conscious effort to go back and then, go figure, my blood is too weak. Anyway, I want to try again but need to get my iron up. I canâ€™t take vitamins with iron as they make me sick to my stomach, so I guess itâ€™ll have to be the good old-fashioned red meat and spinach way. I just donâ€™t know how long I have to do that before my levels are any good.

metalpeter writes at 06:45:05 10/02/08 - Comment #39573: I'm not a doctor but I would think having Anemia might stop you from giving blood. I all ways thought that Anemia was that your RBC (red blood Cells) and not the White Blood Cells didn't carry enough oxygen but I could be wrong about that, it has been some time since I've studied that in school. Well I was close it is that there isn't enough RBC's here is a link to some more information about the different kinds :::link:::

gardenmama writes at 04:04:09 10/02/08 - Comment #39545: Thanks for all the info Tiny.

tinypliny writes at 10:34:12 10/01/08 - Comment #39495: Your iron storing capacity is controlled by the relative balance between your "absorb-able" iron intake Vs iron-loss via menstruation. I lose a lot of blood every month and I am a vegetarian so this puts me on a shaky footing for a healthy iron level. In fact, if I stopped my iron supplements, I would turn anaemic in a heartbeat.

The type of iron that you eat matters a lot. Iron from animal sources (Eg. red meat) is very good because the iron compound is in the form (Haem Iron) that is easily absorbed by your body. Ferrous Sulphate, on the other hand, is a notoriously tough to absorb form of iron. Unfortunately, this is the form that most multivitamins or stand-alone iron tablets have since its cheaper to produce in mass scale, stable and has more shelf-life. It also causes the most stomach upsets and constipations. :/

Ferrous Fumarate is better absorbed and tolerated better (with almost no side effects that sulphates have). The drawback is, it is costlier.

Spinach and green-leafies are good sources of iron but again, the iron form is very tough to absorb! You end up absorbing hardly 5-8% of the total iron content of the green leafies!

You can increase your iron absorption and make it more efficient by drinking any citrus drink (eg. lemon juice, grapefruits, or vit C tables) immediately after eating an iron source (red meat, spinach, iron tables etc). This is because vit C increases the bio-availability of iron in your stomach.

Good Luck in the fight against Anaemia!

tinypliny writes at 10:18:29 10/01/08 - Comment #39493: Detailed eligibility criteria for blood donation are are here: :::link:::

You need to have a Haemoglobin level of 12.5 grams per decilitre of blood. Haemoglobin is the protein that carries iron in your blood. Your Haematocrit needs to be more than or equal to 38%. Sometime this is abbreviated as Hct. It gives you an idea of what percentage of whole blood is red blood cells. Since red blood cells contain haemoglobin, Hct is also an indicator of iron.

paul writes at 09:52:50 10/01/08 - Comment #39485: Since I am gay and I traveled to Africa my blood is considered unacceptable too, despite the fact I do not have AIDS. I actually have never donated blood.