Blood donation and Exercise

0utshined

The IBTS guys are in my area again. Does anyone know if there are general rules about when it's safe to lift weights again after donating? I'm thinking the next day but can't find any info after looking over their site.

If anyone knows could you let me know? I appreciate it's going to be dependant on the individual but a guideline would be great.

hunnymonster

THe usual advice from IBTS is to avoid lifting any heavy objects for 24 hours.



Blood donation is one of the few things I feel guilty about in life. I used to go on the dot every 3 months but as I got more into running and read up on it and the very significant effect it has on things like VO2 max I have let it slip. I just can't reconcile wanting to do what I know is right with knowing it;s harming me.

JayRoc

The first time I gave blood I felt grand and just did my usual weights session about four hours afterward, with no adverse effects.
I then made the mistake of mentioning this the next time I donated and the poor bloke had an absolute s**t-fit and refused to let me donate ever again unless I promised to wait at least 24 hours before training from then on.

(In retrospect it probably wasn't the smartest thing)
I'd say for me, 24 hours is loads of time.


(Hunnymonster, any chance of links to some of the negative impacts of donating on training, only if you've them handy? You've got me intrigued)

hunnymonster

jayroc, Not sure what access you have to the literature. Here are some ref's. If you can't get them let me know an e-mail address and I'll send you some pdf's. This is far from a comprehensive list and most appear to be concerned with oxygen uptake rather than strength issues.

Am Heart J. 1995 Oct;130(4):838-40.
Experimental physiology 2005.032805v1 91: 499-509
JAMA. 1993 Jun 23-30;269(24):3167.


In the past I have run and even raced within 24 hours of donating and you can seriously feel it. I have also races a month later and could still feel the effects. I used to donate the day after big races but then someone said to me that it was selfish. My blood is probably of lower quality then and not what a very ill person needs..... It really eats at me this issue.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Cheese Princess

I've only donated blood twice. The first time I was playing indoor soccer the next day and felt absolutely fine. The second time I almost fainted the next day just getting out of bed and couldn't do much activity-wise for nearly a week, just felt completely drained and weak.
So it's hard to give a definite guideline because it seems it can have different effects at different times.

hunnymonster

daveirl wrote:

This post has been deleted.

I'm a quantum scientist not a physicist (edit biologist, I am actually a physicist of sorts!) but from what I understand running does lower the quality of blood. Something to do with the iron separating from the Haem...eyes gloss over..... It's one of the reasons ultra runners are so often aenemic (sp?). What I try to do though is hassle everyone I know into going. I regularly gang-martch the entire office (minus the english dudes) over to D'Olier street.

justsomebloke

hunnymonster wrote:

I'm a quantum scientist not a physicist

I think we have a new winner of nerdiest person on the fitness forum:D

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

hunnymonster

daveirl wrote:

This post has been deleted.

I have no idea if it matters. The doctor in IBTS seemed a bit hazy on it too.

Iompair

I've been donating on and off for a few years now, sometimes I feel fine the next day ready to play football or hit the gym. Occasionally it takes an extra day or 2 to get over it.

Just go by your how your body feels, and drink plenty of water the day you donate and the day after.

quozl

I think you're thinking of foot-strike haemolysis, hunnymonster. Where the repeated impacts actually destroy red blood cells. How weird is that!

http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/0648.htm

They do test your blood iron levels before taking your blood anyway. If you're doing the mileage you're doing and you're far from anaemic then you're not going to be anaemic after just running 50-100% further on one particular day.

All the usual caveats about me not being a doctor, but I'd not rule out giving blood. You're definitely right about not giving blood for a couple of months before a big race though.

At least they'll take your blood! The Frenchies pumped me full of some of their blood after a snow-boarding accident and I'm forever tainted according to the ITSB

Why do you zink I have zis outrageous accent?

0utshined

Thanks for the info guys. They gave me a card afterwards with Do's and Don'ts and on it it said no heavy lifting for th rest of the day. I asked the nurse about it and she said I should be grand the next day. I ended up taking it a bit easier, just felt better doing that.

microgirl

daveirl wrote:

This post has been deleted.

Dear, sweet Jesus, what do you think we do? Mix all the blood up in a big tank and then just take a scoopful out when someone's sick? :P

Blood has to be the same blood type, for one thing. You can't go giving pooled blood to someone. God knows what you'd be giving them. The not-quite-a-pint that's taken out of your arm into a completely sterile bag, in a sterile manner, is what's transfused into the patient, bar production work like removing the plasma and the white blood cells (which can cause serious illness).

And the people who need blood are *precisely* concerned about anaemia, since that's what they need the blood for! Yeh daftie People who are anaemic can't donate, because it would do them harm. Similarly, if the haem is separating from the red cells (as hunnymonster said - I have no idea if that's the case or not since blood chemistry is not something I've much knowledge on) then it's not going to be much good at carrying oxygen, and since that's what you need blood for, it's not going to be much use to you.

OP - don't do any training for 24 hours after donation, and build slowly back up to your full training level over the course of a week or two would be my advice. Eat plenty of dark green veg and some red lean meat after donation, to build your blood back up. And Vit C to help chelate the iron.