Giving Blood - AKA The Stupid Thing That I Did

[scubagirlj]

your heart was in the right place-blood banks are way down on inventory(live near one & they have huge sign showing how much they need)- i go once a year, should go more often(guilt kicking in..)

[No Misses]

Originally Posted by scubagirlj

your heart was in the right place-blood banks are way down on inventory(live near one & they have huge sign showing how much they need)- i go once a year, should go more often(guilt kicking in..)

I never thought much about it. But, you can not give blood as often as I thought. For the "double red cells" it is once every 16 weeks. For a regular pint, it is every 8 weeks.

[CompuDude]

What a minute... am I missing something here?

DAN's warning was about donating blood before diving. You donated blood after diving.

If you were planning to dive the following day as well, then yeah, whoops. But otherwise, I'm not seeing any problem with what you did (in the order you did it).

[mocepts]

I had a similar experience a few months ago. I gave blood at work, and without even thinking, went for a dive after. About 10 mins into the dive, it struck me "Hmm, maybe I shouldn't have dove today...". I give blood often, and I just didn't even think about it as it's never fallen on a day when I was going to dive.

And I don't think your being tired was in your head. I too could barely keep my eyes open the next day.

[Desert_Diver]

Originally Posted by Lulubelle

Personally, I think they should let go of the travel restrictions for blood donors. There are not enough donors to throw out a low risk group like this imho. I read up on this after my trip to China.

Vlane, get over it, suck it up and try to donate. Take a valium beforehand. Good think you won't ever have to give birth, eh?

The phlebotomists are not at all clear on which areas are restricted. I used to donate regularly (about every six months) before I got certified. Then I got regularly "deferred" because of the places I dived. If you board a liveaboard in Miami, and don't go ashore thereafter, you are disqualified because essentially the whole Carribbean is a malaria zone. (At sea? Well away from land?) My latest trip was to Thailand. A liveaboard out of Phukhet. Phukhet is specifically exempted, but once the phlebotomist saw Thailand, I was out of there. Didn't go ashore until the boat returned to Phukhet. Makes no difference. <shrug>

Art

PS Same with Bonaire. It's a frikkin' DESERT. Where are the mosquitos going to breed?

[No Misses]

Originally Posted by CompuDude

What a minute... am I missing something here?

DAN's warning was about donating blood before diving. You donated blood after diving.

If you were planning to dive the following day as well, then yeah, whoops. But otherwise, I'm not seeing any problem with what you did (in the order you did it).

I could not find an example of Donating blood after diving. But, see if you can follow my logic.

-Dehydration after diving has been linked to DCS.
-Red blood cells are responsible for gas exchange.
-After a day of diving, my DC tells me that I have a heavy nitrogen load in my tissues.
-Let's use 18 hrs as the "standard time to "off gas". Wouldn't it follow that since my "off gassing system" was diminished, I would need more than 18 hrs to accomplish the same amount of diffusion?

Note: I am not a doctor and I did not stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

[wgt]

Red blood cells are not integral to the transport and exchange of nitrogen. As long as modest blood loss does not impair tissue perfusion, then off-gassing ought not to be affected significantly.

Concerning risks of DCS (re: diving before or after blood donation), lowered blood volume might become an issue in the event of tonically lowered blood pressure, perhaps rendering higher-risk tissues (e.g., spinal cord) even more vulnerable. Intervals between surfacing and donation could also be a factor, with shorter intervals further increasing the risks.

p.s. Concerning risks and a blood donation before a dive, I would be more worried about drowning precipitated by orthostatic hypotension (as might arise as a diver reorients from the horizontal to the vertical [head-up]).

Originally Posted by No Misses

I could not find an example of Donating blood after diving. But, see if you can follow my logic.

-Dehydration after diving has been linked to DCS.
-Red blood cells are responsible for gas exchange.
-After a day of diving, my DC tells me that I have a heavy nitrogen load in my tissues.
-Let's use 18 hrs as the "standard time to "off gas". Wouldn't it follow that since my "off gassing system" was diminished, I would need more than 18 hrs to accomplish the same amount of diffusion?

Note: I am not a doctor and I did not stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

[John Yaskowich]

Originally Posted by Lulubelle

Personally, I think they should let go of the travel restrictions for blood donors. There are not enough donors to throw out a low risk group like this imho. I read up on this after my trip to China.

My wife in an RN with Canadian Blood Services so she has access to all the travel advisories and restricted areas (the lists change from time to time depending on diseases that are found in areas). She does a good job of helping to plan our trips so we don't run into later donation restrictions. We did run into a problem a couple of years ago -we were at an All Inclusive in Dominican Republic and I booked a couple of days diving out of another town. Both the AI town and the dive town were OK but the 8 mile road between them was not, so I got a year deferal because of that.

One of the debates we have had is over the restrictions on gay men (CBS imposes a lifetime deferal for any man who has had sex with another man, even once, since 1977). My take is that the blood from a gay man who has been in a mutually exclusive relationship for a number of years is probably going to be a lot safer than from a man or woman who slept around for the past 10 years, even if it is outside the "infected but not detectable" window (~6months). I hold that CBS should look at the risky behaviour in specific and not throw down a blanket restriction. (I use the examples of George Takei vs Samantha Jones (from Sex and the City - I know she is fictional but it got the point across))

I did see a report that the UK is looking at lifting their restriction on donations from gay men Gay Blood Ban to End? | Health

(Would someone help me down off this soapbox that seems to have sprouted under my feet? Thank you)

[Vlane]

Originally Posted by Lulubelle

Vlane, get over it, suck it up and try to donate. Take a valium beforehand. Good think you won't ever have to give birth, eh?

I'm not so sure it would go over too well, I'm pretty sure I would pass out. I don't know why but just looking at a needle can get me light headed. I'm just a weenie when it comes to them. I wish I could give blood though, you can donate plasma around here for like $20 a time. Talk about easy scuba money .

[Rockhound76]

Kudos for having your heart in the right place. My son, now 14, had over 700 pedi-units of blood and blood products prior to his bone marrow transplant. Single-donor platelets worked best for him.

I don't know much about the risks, particularly for donations post-dive. Total saturated liguid volume would go down, but the ratio would remain the same. The smaller volume might slow down CNS, fatty tissue and some other outgassing rates, but I doubt you would increase the risk that much.

I would be more concerned about diving post donation, as there might be some risk of blood-pressure related dizziness (orthostatic).

I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn Express, but my wife made me watch Grey's Anatomy. A lot. Really. She made me.