Emotional And Mental Health
Helping others can have a positive effect on the people performing the good deed.
According to the Mental Health Foundation, a charity based in the United Kingdom, people who help others may experience:
- more emotional well-being
These checks may highlight any underlying conditions people are not aware of and help them seek treatment sooner.
Research has looked into the effects of blood donation on heart health.
A 2013 study consisting of 82 male and female participants found an improvement in cholesterol levels in blood donors.
A larger scale 2019 study looked at the effects on heart health in 159,934 people who were regular blood donors.
The study found that regular, long-term blood donation had a protective effect against cardiovascular disease, although only in females.
Also, participants with a high frequency of donation had a lower chance of cardiovascular disease compared with low frequency donors.
People may experience temporary physical side effects of donating blood.
Can You Give Blood On Your Period
“You may give blood during a period, but if you’re having a particularly heavy period it would be better for you not to,” Dunkley explains. “This is because any form of blood loss can reduce the iron levels in your body and potentially make you feel unwell for a short time. If you are having medical investigations please wait until these have been completed, too.”
She adds, “You must also exclude pregnancy if a period has been missed before you give blood. If you have been prescribed medication by your doctor to help cope with period pain or are having heavy or prolonged periods, we ask you to give us a call on 0300 123 23 23 to check this before you make your appointment.”
Other Tests Or Investigations
- You are unable to give blood until you have received your test results from your doctor or nurse.
- This includes if you have been required to take a Covid-19 test and haven’t had your result yet
If you think your test results could affect your eligibility to give blood, please get in touch on 0345 90 90 999
You must not donate if you think you need a test for HIV/AIDS, HTLV or Hepatitis.
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Experts Say That Donating On A Regular Basis Will Lower Cholesterol Levels
How was the study performed revealing that blood donation could improve high cholesterol levels.
Participants had 10 mL of venous blood drawn from each of them, which was transferred into tubes and left to stand in room temperature until it clotted and retracted.
After this part of the experiment, the serum was separated and transferred into cryotubes then aliquoted and stored at -72 degrees celsius.
The results of the experiment were that Markers of increased cardiovascular risk appear to be lower in regular blood donors compared with non-donors as reflected by significantly lower total cholesterol and LDL levels.
Although HDL appears to be significantly higher in the non-donor population, the LDL/HDL ratio which is a better predictor of increased cardiovascular risk is lower in regular blood donors.
Meaning those who regularly donated blood showed signs of low cardiovascular risk along with low total cholesterol and LDL levels.
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Reported Health Benefits Of Giving Blood
The health benefits of blood donation include lowering your heart rate, your blood pressure, and weight. Some researchers have also found that donating your blood regularly can lower your cholesterol and triglyceride levels. It may seem to be an effective way to lower your lipid levels. After all, when you donate your blood, you are donating the lipids in your blood, too, right?
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Side Effects Of Donating Blood
Blood donation is safe for healthy adults. Theres no risk of contracting disease. New, sterile equipment is used for each donor.
Some people may feel nauseous, lightheaded, or dizzy after donating blood. If this happens, it should only last a few minutes. You can lie down with your feet up at the until you feel better.
You may also experience some bleeding at the site of the needle. Applying pressure and raising your arm for a couple of minutes will usually stop this. You may develop a bruise at the site.
- You still feel lightheaded, dizzy, or nauseous after drinking, eating, and resting.
- You develop a raised bump or continue bleeding at the needle site.
- You have arm pain, numbness, or tingling.
Doctors Want Me To Fast Before A Blood Test Why Is This Different
You may wonder why we ask you to eat before your donation as your doctors office might ask you to fast during the 8 hours before any blood is drawn.
This is because of the volume of blood we draw. A blood donation is usually a whole pint of blood, which is quite a bit more than what would be drawn for your labs.
Eating food prior to your donation will allow your body to replace the blood that was drawn much quicker and can help prevent pesky post-donation reactions from occurring.
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Can Diabetics Donate Plasma Find Out With The Help Of Donotpay
Unfortunately, there’s much more to plasma donation than many realize. For instance, there are the following to consider:
Plasma donation is a sensitive topic, especially for people with diabetes.
That’s why you need a guiding hand to help you through the entire process. DoNotPay provides you with the help you need with your plasma donation process. You can use the DoNotPay app to determine if your diabetic condition allows or disqualifies you from donating plasma.
If you want to check if you can donate plasma successfully with DoNotPay, simply follow these steps:
As you can see, DoNotPay makes the process simpler and quicker than most services.
You Must Never Give Blood If:
- you are HIV positive or receiving treatment for HIV
- you are HTLV positive
- you are a Hepatitis B carrier
- you are a Hepatitis C carrier
- you have ever been treated for Syphilis
- you have ever injected, or been injected with, drugs even a long time ago or only once. This applies to any illicit injected drug, including body-building drugs, chemsex drugs and tanning agents.
- you have ever had sex with someone who has previously had a viral haemorrhagic fever
If you would like to discuss any of the above, do not hesitate to get in touch on 0345 90 90 999For more information, read:
If these issues affect you, please visit the Our Partners section of our site for contact details of organisations that may be able to help.
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Can I Give Blood
Sometimes it is not possible to give blood, or we may ask you to wait before donating again. To save you a wasted journey, please read this list of the most common reasons people cannot give blood.
If you have a medical condition, or a question about whether you can give blood, you should check the health & eligibility and travel section before you book an appointment.
If you need to cancel your appointment please give us 3 days’ notice so that we can offer the space to another donor. You can easily cancel or reschedule by signing in to your online account or using the NHS Give Blood app.
Is It Fine To Go Back To Work After Giving Blood
“To help you stay well after you have given blood, you should rest for about 30 mins. You are also encouraged to eat and drink before leaving the donation centre. But after that, you are fine to go back to work. However, it is best to avoid using the donation arm to carry anything very heavy for the rest of the day. It is also best to avoid having a hot bath or shower after you have given blood.”
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Does Giving Blood Lower Cholesterol Levels
If you have high levels of bad cholesterol, you might be familiar with studies suggesting that blood donation may lower your levels. Although blood donation is helpful for supplying blood for emergencies and medical procedures to individuals who need it, it can be surprising to hear that donating your blood regularly may have a beneficial effect on your health. But are these studies evidence enough that you should become a regular blood donor? With this overview, learn about the purported benefits of blood donation and what the research says about them.
Complementary Therapies Which Use Needles Or Break The Skin
You can give blood as long as:
1. the reason you had treatment doesn’t stop you giving blood, and
2. your treatment was performed by an NHS professional or a qualified healthcare professional
If you were treated by someone who was not a registered health care professional, you’ll have to wait four months before giving blood. Registered healthcare professionals include doctors, dentists, registered nurses, physiotherapists and others. Contact us if you’re not sure.
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The Surprising Benefits Of Donating Blood
Every two seconds, someone in the United States requires a blood transfusion, according to the American Red Cross. This year, however, the United States is facing its worst blood shortage in more than a decade, the Red Cross says.
Donating blood saves lives, says Robert DeSimone, MD, director of transfusion medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, who is encouraging people to do their part and make an appointment to donate.
For as long as medicine has been around, weve had to rely on the goodness of other people to give us blood when we need it, says Sarah Vossoughi, MD, the medical director of apheresis and associate director of transfusion medicine and cellular therapy at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center. We really need people who want to come and donate. The fact that we can store blood and use it when we need it in partswhether you need the red cells, the plasma, or the plateletshas been a huge medical advance.
While blood donors dont expect to be rewarded for the act of kindness, rolling up your sleeve comes with some surprising health benefits. Heres what you get when you give blood:
Who Can Safely Donate Blood
The term heart disease encompasses a wide variety of conditions arrhythmias, congenital heart disease, coronary artery disease, angina, heart failure, and more though when most people hear the words heart disease, they think of narrowing arteries and heart attacks.
In general, it is safe for many individuals with heart conditions to donate blood but it is important to check with your physician first. Your doctor can help you determine whether your condition allows you to safely donate.
Patients who have high blood pressure and no other issues can safely donate blood if their blood pressure is controlled by medication. Patients with arrhythmias can usually donate blood, though certain medications such as warfarin could make them ineligible.
Keep in mind that the organization through which you donate may have blood donation restrictions that affect people with heart issues. Blood donation centers enforce these rules to protect both the recipients and the donors.
The Red Cross, for instance, will accept blood donations from people who have had bypass surgery, angioplasty, or a heart attack, but only if its been at least six months since the incident and the patients medications have remained the same during those six months. Similarly, for patients who have angina, the Red Cross requires that six months lapse after an episode before donation is allowed.
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Do Any Health Conditions Rule You Out Of Giving Blood
“Although most people can give blood, there are some restrictions – depending on things like your health, medication, and whether you’ve been abroad recently, or if you’ve recently had a COVID-19 vaccine. You are usually able to give blood provided you are: fit and healthy, weigh between 7 stone 12 lbs and 25 stone, or 50kg and 160kg, are aged between 17 and 66, or over 70 and have given blood in the last two years. If you are underweight, pregnant, receiving IVF treatment, are on certain types of medication or have previously received a blood transfusion, you are unable to give blood.”
What To Do Before Donating Blood
Donating blood is a great way to do some good in the world. By donating blood, you are helping to save lives and also focusing on your own by receiving a wellness screening and gaining access to some of your vitals, like blood pressure and iron counts and cholesterol levels. But if youve never donated before, you may be unsure of what do before donating blood.
Blood donation preparations should start right away, at least a few days prior to your scheduled donation.
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Can One Donate Blood With Diabetes Cholesterol Controlled Blood Pressure And After Cured Tuberculosis
Medical Conditions and blood donation
As per the Drugs and Cosmetics Act and guidelines from national blood transfusion council the medical conditions mentioned for deferral is vague and incomplete and hence the medical officer has got the discretion to take or defer donation based on recent developments in modern medicine.
According to Dr Sunder Periyavan, Additional Professor, Officer in charge, Transfusion Medicine Center, NIMHANS, Bangalore –
Diabetes with medication: A. Type I diabetes who is on Insulin are to be deferred. This is because these patients can have extreme levels of blood glucose with or without insulin. Lower levels of blood glucose will have effect on blood donation because blood removal will further bring down the glucose level to bring about symptomatic hyplogycemia which is dangerous. And type I diabetes will have higher chance skin infection at the site of needle prick.B. Type II diabetes who is on oral diabetic drug can donate blood. This is because the blood glucose levels are not that extreme and even with 350/450 ml of blood with drawls will not cause symptomatic hypoglycemia. Since their blood levels are fairly maintained the chances of skin infection is less.
Diabetes without medication: Since we do not know the blood glucose levels-high or low and at the camp site we do not test for glucose levels it is better to avoid bleeding the donor.
Find Out If You Can Donate Blood If You Have Hypertension
Written by Mansi Kohli | Updated : June 2, 2017 1:24 PM IST
Hypertension, better known as High Blood Pressure, is when the force of blood passing through the blood vessel is routinely high. Here are some blood pressure numbers we all must know of:
- 120/80 Normal blood pressure
- 139/89 Pre-hypertension
- 140/90 High blood pressure A.K.A. hypertension stage
DrAmbannaGowda, diabetologist and Consultant, Internal Medicine, Fortis Hospitals, Bangalore says that a person with hypertension can donate blood, as long as the blood pressure is normal at the time of blood donation and there s no fluctuation. Acceptable blood pressure rate for blood donation is below 180 systolic and below 100 diastolic at the time ofdonation. Even though, the donor is on regular medications, one must understand that medications for high blood pressure do not disqualify you fromdonating blood. Provided, you don t have side effects related to your medication.Also, the person shouldn t be suffering from other co-morbid diseases associated with hypertension. People who have fluctuating blood pressure with irregular treatment must stay away from donating. Read more about 7 ways to control hypertension without medicines
Things a hypertension patient needs to take care of before donating blood:
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Can I Donate Blood If I Have Low Blood Pressure
June 14 is World Blood Donor Day, and it comes just two days after the mass shooting in Orlando. The sheer number of casualties during the Pulse shooting generated an immediate need for blood, and reminded the world how crucial giving blood can be. If you’re interested in being a blood donor, there are a few questions that might be on your mind, like can you donate blood if you have low blood pressure? There are a bunch of different factors that determine whether you can or cannot donate blood, so here’s what you need to know.
The World Health Organization has made this year’s World Blood Donor Day theme “Blood Connects Us All,” which is particularly poignant in the wake of the shooting. And, although Orlando specifically is working hard to replenish its blood supply, it’s not the only location that needs a constant stream of donations. According to the American Red Cross, someone in the U.S. needs blood every two seconds, and a single car accident victim can require as many as 100 pints of blood. Donating blood can save lives, and it doesn’t require anything other than patience and a willingness to feel a little dizzy.
But not everybody can donate. It’s an unfortunate fact that sexually active gay men are not permitted to donate blood. That’s due to an FDA regulation, but other factors, like height and weight, genetic blood disorders, and drug use can also prevent donation.
Are There Tests You Have To Undergo Before Donating Blood
“When you go for your appointment, the staff will carry out a pre-assessment to make sure you are able to give blood on the day. You can visit Blood.co.uk and answer NHS Blood and Transplants interactive questions which cover the most common reasons donors are unable to donate when they attend their appointment.”
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