Going To Donate Blood For The First Time

[Peata]

Whoa, coming back online.

Feet are warming up, the rest of me is too. Furnace stoking.

Had canned tropical fruit with salt a while ago, and just finished a bowl of chocolate ice cream.

 

[charlie]

Glad you are feeling better!!!

 

[Peata]

Glad you are feeling better!!!

Thanks, Charlie. I'm definitely warm again.

It's strange but since I got home from the donation I've been so tired but chatty, talking my DH's ear off, but like I can't always find the word I need. Sort of "addled".

Though I'm hot again, I'm still very drained physically. Mentally, I feel pretty good, but at the same time sleepy. I just have no energy. I'm gonna try to take a shower if I can muster the strength. Then go to bed.

 

[Peata]

Had no energy for the shower. Could barely get myself ready for bed. Fought off a panic attack at that point by lying on bed with feet elevated. It was brought on by focusing on how I felt at the moment and also thinking back to the blood donation itself.

Been sitting here chatting with a friend online, and that took my mind off things. Now I realize I'm starting to feel more like my old self, and definitely not as weak. OK, time for sleep now.

 

[Peata]

Fell asleep around 11:30 which is early for me. Slept 9 hours.

I feel more like my old self again, or almost there.

I wasn't that surprised really that I got ill during the donation since I've had trouble before getting blood drawn for medical tests. But I was taken by surprise with how I felt after. I had no energy to do anything. I could barely get off the couch for 8 hours after the donation. I should have known something might happen - after all, I had at least 10% of my body's blood removed in minutes. But I didn't see any warnings in the literature like, "After donation, you may experience extreme fatigue, drowsiness, mood changes..." That might have helped me better prepare.

Ah well, experience is often my teacher in life.

 

[Peata]

Two more things.

I woke up with some estrogen symptoms - feeling slight ache in breasts and a large, painful cyst on my forehead. I figure it's from not taking my usual aspirin (last dose before right now was yesterday morning) and also the stress my body went through yesterday. I pretty much kept up my progesterone supplementing, so guess it wasn't enough in that instance.

Also, I'm finally back down on the scale from those 3 pounds (most likely of water weight) I put on a week ago. I read that donating blood takes away over 600 cals. It must be true because I went over 2000 calories for the day yesterday after having ice cream twice that day, lots of OJ, a Mounds candy bar, Loaded Potato Griller and Bean Burrito from Taco Bell among other foods. I know some of those weren't great foods for Peat'g, but they were the best choices I had at the time when I was out and in a hurry.

 

[Peata]

Craved liver this afternoon. Had 2 ounces, then 1 more ounce tonight - the most I've had in one day.

I think my blood pressure has been low today. Some dizziness when standing up or turning a corner/turning around. Checked it at Walmart kiosk and it was 97/73, but I don't know how accurate that thing is, and that was after walking in from the parking lot and the general blah I feel when in Walmart anyway.

It's been about that low before though, with no problems that I know of. Maybe it was low blood sugar. I just know it's happened several times today, to the point where I'm trying to keep my balance.

Heart rate was 102 on that check, btw.

 

[Peata]

I'm pretty sure that donation pushed me into mild anemia. Besides the other symptoms, the undersides of my eyes are pretty pale. When I compare it to my husband's - his are a rich red. Also some of my nail beds are pale. The fatigue is a world better than yesterday. I don't think my brain was getting quite the amount of oxygen it would have liked yesterday evening either. Today I'm doing better cognitively - still feel a bit slow at times with coming up with a word here and there. I guess it was all too much for my system, particularly since last month I seemed to have had more menstrual bleeding than I usually do.

I need to find out what RP says about iron being too low.

eta - My temps seem excellent. I haven't been cold since warming up last night.

 

[Peata]

I am completely back to normal now.

No dizziness, cognition is normal, etc.

I don't know if I could be a little low on iron. I compared my fingernails to DH again and mine are slightly paler, including when we squeezed our fingertips - his were a little deeper red. I think my lower eyelids inside are looking a little more saturated with red than last night. Maybe the liver helped enough. Anyway, I seem to be fine.

 

[charlie]

Peata, glad you are fully recovered.

 

[Peata]

Thank you, Charlie.

 

[Ben]

I wonder why they took both of your middle fingers, and it made a difference. When it comes to my reactions, people thought I looked pale and asked me if I felt weak. I had no trouble walking and everything. My hemoglobin was high, around 17 usually. That was when I was hypothyroid. Now it's likely even higher than this because I take a lot of T3 and aspirin. To make things even more weird, my testosterone is very low, and my estrogen is probably high. Testosterone makes the body build blood cells, while estrogen dilutes the blood and reduces hemoglobin values in women. I wonder if my iron absorption is too high or something.

 

[Peata]

The reading on the finger they checked first was too low for me to be eligible to donate. She tested the other one because (she said) different fingers usually have different levels. Sure enough, it was enough to allow me to go through with the donation.

 

[charlie]

The reading on the finger they checked first was too low for me to be eligible to donate. She tested the other one because (she said) different fingers usually have different levels. Sure enough, it was enough to allow me to go through with the donation.

This happened to me the last time I went to donate. I got a reading of 12.2 I think it was. And the person said 12.5 or more to donate. We tried again and it was 12.7.

Needless to say my finger prick number has been steadily going down. So I think I can take from this that indeed my iron is lowering. I am thinking about skipping the next time around to donate since my number(hemoglobin?) has been steadily decreasing and last time it was almost too low.

 

[Ben]

You can also try slightly dehydrating yourself. I've done it so I could give more blood cells per donation. I had no issue, but I have more blood cells than normal (HC is 17 or so) so it may not apply to anyone else.

 

[jyb]

You can also try slightly dehydrating yourself. I've done it so I could give more blood cells per donation. I had no issue, but I have more blood cells than normal (HC is 17 or so) so it may not apply to anyone else.

Funny, I tried that last time too.

 

[north]

I did my first blood donation 4 days ago.

I ate a big meal of solid food before i left.
Beef stew with gelatin powder in the sauce and 1h-cooked-potato with coffee.
Bit nervous. Drank sugary drink during the donation. I felt a bit "loose headed" during the middle of the donation. I subsided quickly and i felt perfectly fine at the end and afterwards. About 2h after i felt quite sleepy but still okay. Went out to eat at night and i got my energy and mood back up with a big meal of solid food again. Day after i felt really really good, like super good mood. Will definitely keep donating blood.

So ergo of my story, i think big solid meal before going there is very beneficial. Only sugar will probably not cut it.

Fun fact: They gave me iron supps and said to take them. I said Okay thanks and threw them away as soon as i walked out the door lol

 

[Philomath]

Is it a coincidence that I gave blood today for the first time in years and my temps are now at 98.6... The first time I've reached "normal" temps since I've started Peating! They've been creeping up but 98.2 has been my highest til now.
Hmmm...

 

[jyb]

Is it a coincidence that I gave blood today for the first time in years and my temps are now at 98.6... The first time I've reached "normal" temps since I've started Peating! They've been creeping up but 98.2 has been my highest til now.
Hmmm...

I had that effect every time when donating, but it would go back to a more usual pattern after a few days.

 

[narouz]

Is it a coincidence that I gave blood today for the first time in years and my temps are now at 98.6... The first time I've reached "normal" temps since I've started Peating! They've been creeping up but 98.2 has been my highest til now.
Hmmm...

I had that effect every time when donating, but it would go back to a more usual pattern after a few days.

Yeah, same with me.
Never have known exactly what to make of the phenomenon.

But I do think bleeding off some of the iron has been and is an important thing, for me.
In my best phase I was donating as frequently as legally allowed.
Now I'm back to that.