Anyone else get denied for giving BLOOD?

GoneForever · Jan 23, 2008

2nd time this crap happend to me. When they do the finger prick test, hemoglobin can only go to 18.5 and anything over is too high and you cant donate. Well, donating is how I get my hemoglobin down in the first place so now what am I gonna do. They say iron is too high and blood is too thick to give. What can I do next time? I only had about 10oz water when I woke up with a shake, so maybe I was dehydrated? Maybe only eat chicken the day before to keep iron down? Maybe take like 800mg aspirin the night before? What works?

AWN2004 · Jan 23, 2008

Go get some bloodwork done. That does not sound too good bro.

GoneForever · Jan 23, 2008

I just had some done about a month ago and everything was perfect. Iron was great and hemoglobin was on the high side but still in range. The guy at the bloodbank told me for someone my age and size its not a big deal and probably due to not being hydrated enough. Im gonna make sure I have at least a gallon of water before I go in next time. It sucks b/c my dad's hrt doc said even on just hrt, hemoglobin will always be slightly high, especially on bodybuilders who eat lots of meat, and he advises to give blood to lower it, but its a catch22 b/c sometimes you cant

oh well, this happened before and I stopped taking all vitamins, and ate no red meat the night before and was hydrated and it worked, so I guess im just gonna load up on aspirin next round and be extra hydrated.

I think the guy at the bloodwork knew I was on aas b/c he told me every bodybuilder he has seen give blood, it was always thick blood.

Massive G · Jan 23, 2008

Going in hydrate is fine, hell you might want to add some glycerol as well which increases plasma volume.

I have no idea if it works.

Blood thinners are a no no-meaning no aspirin, bromelain and supplements for a few days before the test.

It interferes with the clotting factors and if they are off they won't use your blood.

My Iron is also very high when they take it and hemoglobin is 17.4.

thebrick · Jan 23, 2008

I like the super hydration idea the best. Including the glycerol to hold more water. Try that. I don't think your diet the day before or even days before will effect your blood iron levels as that is something that has built over time. Definitely no aspirin or blood thinners as Massive said. Also, for those that take a multi-vitamin and use gear, make sure its a NO IRON ADDED version. And once they let you donate, give the double red cells. They take double platelets and not your plasma.

GoneForever · Jan 23, 2008

I tried to donate the double rbc but they said they only do that on 0- blood.

So no aspirin huh? They said my blood was too thick and doesnt aspirin thin it out? I would think a little would help no?

thebrick · Jan 23, 2008

fourthgen said:
I tried to donate the double rbc but they said they only do that on 0- blood.

So no aspirin huh? They said my blood was too thick and doesnt aspirin thin it out? I would think a little would help no?

Aspirin doesn't really "thin" the blood, it just helps to keep platelets from sticking together and forming clots. What they meant by your blood was too "thick" was that your platelet count is too high.

I didn't know that about double rbc donation is only for universal "O" donors. I guess I am lucky in that I am.

jesse7159 · Jan 23, 2008

My blood is too precious to just give away

Dog-Slime · Jan 23, 2008

fourthgen said:
I tried to donate the double rbc but they said they only do that on 0- blood.

So no aspirin huh? They said my blood was too thick and doesnt aspirin thin it out? I would think a little would help no?

I am A+ and gave doubles the last time I went. It feels weird when they send your cold plasma back in you...

dragonfire101 · Jan 24, 2008

When they do the finger prick test, hemoglobin can only go to 18.5 and anything over is too high and you cant donate.

The Redcross sent me a special invite to come every 4 weeks because my RBC and Plasma were both very high and wanted to use my plasma for cancer patients.

Just checked all my labs work for the past year hemoglobin was just under 18 all the time. Between 17.4-17.9, RBC 17-17.5, and Hematocrit 51-54. This is not on gear at all. Imagine if I was. I give blood all the time and my levels are this high. Crazy.

GoneForever · Jan 24, 2008

So weird that I got denyed b/c in my last blood work my rbc,iron,platlets hemoglobin,hematocrit, and crp were all in range. It must that the night before I went to bed and had a protien shake. Slept 10hrs woke up and had a shake with 10oz water and gave blood 2hrs later, so in a 12hr span I only had 10oz water. I wonder if that was it.

Neanderthal · Feb 17, 2008

like they say

If you drink more water it will help. I used to donate plasma and my hematocrite was too high. Twice a week I would donate and after drinking a gallon of water a day, my levels dropped everytime I went in. I wasnt on nothing and I got turned away before the water routine was implemented cause my hematocrite was too high.

MrStick · Feb 17, 2008

They just get a few drops of my blood and drop it into water, if it falls then I have enough iron I have never been denied for having too thick blood. I have been denied before because of traveling outside of US in certain countries though.

lynx · Feb 17, 2008

I got talked into donating about a month ago and I was fine until they told me how big the needle was.

A student was there for extra credit and held up her fingers about 2" apart and I thought she was giving me crap. I told her to quit lying! Then the Red Cross lady said that she was right. I almost got up and ran away...I don't like needles that much. They did ask me how much water I had up until then, I showed them my gallon that was half gone and they said, "OH, you'll be fine!" So maybe it had something to do with not drinking enough?!?

gten79 · Jul 22, 2008

I had one question. Assuming if your giving blood this should be done on an off day, so you can resume training the following day?

thebrick · Jul 22, 2008

gten79 said:
I had one question. Assuming if your giving blood this should be done on an off day, so you can resume training the following day?

You will have to wait until the next day to train. They leave a pretty big hole in the arm from the needle and you don't want that to start bleeding again from the stress of training.

MacMan · Jul 22, 2008

It's never made much sense to me, but before giving blood they always ask have you used AAS or HGH in the past twelve months or have you had sexual contact with anyone that has. My wife knows of my use and was not allowed to give blood because of her sexual contact with me. That seems to be stretching the envelope a bit.

I don't know if it is the use of AAS or HGH or that they are usually administered by injection that causes the concern.

GoneForever · Jul 22, 2008

I think its mainly b/c of the injection, they figure you could be using dirty needles,etc.. as far as the hgh, i think they are still thinking about the old school hgh derived from pituitaries of the dead, i guess that shit caused people problems and thats why they ask now. Just my guess.