hi y'all. i'm 5'8 and 135 lbs. i recently donated around 1-1/2 liters of blood to a friend who desperately needed it. i was told by the physician that it would take me roughly around 3 months to "regenerate" all the blood i donated away. i don't think it should really take that long, anybody else would know how to roughly compute the rate at which i'll get it all back? i had to play basketball a few days ago due to our company's sports fest. i play SF and my role is primarily to defend their best small player so i run around and take charges a LOT. because of my physical training in MA, i can play the entire without subs, and i finished the game without any problems aside from a minor scrape. after two days, my legs hurt like crazy, i've never experienced it before because the pain lasted for more than 3 days. before, even if i jog AND squat AND deadlift on the same day, the legs would hurt a maximum of 2 days. it's now the eve of day 3 and my thighs are still killing me. i'm afraid i can't do any MA because my legs feel like lead, i can't even do a decent RH. does this have something to do with me donating a lot of blood? (physician recommends only 1 liter, i pushed for 2, but he only allowed 1-1/2). the reason i'm asking this is because i want to get back into MA asap as i miss my gym terribly already. all i've been doing are crunches!! would anybody know how long i should "rest" before i get back in it? three months is a terrible long wait.
He's a Physician for a reason and probably knows much more about it then any MA or Fitness fanatic on an Internet Forum. If he says 3 months then you can be pretty confident in going along with what he said. I really dont think its wise for you to be doing extensive exercise with lack of Blood. A Human body only has about 5.6 litre's of blood so you'll have just over 4 litre's, a lot less then usual. I dont know much about it but from common sense I can imagine there isn't enough Blood to get oxygen around your body properly and you are therefore basically starving your muscles of Oxygen and Nutrients, thats why they are hurting and taking longer to heal. Another possible theory I can think of is that because your Muscles are taking in less Oxygen then usual because of the lack of the Blood they are producing Lactic Acid in trying to get the necessary energy, so basically you are having a constant 'Stitch'. The best thing for you to do is to go and see your Physician, better to be safe then sorry.
Good summation. You nailed the main causes of the pain; Lactic acid build up and improper nutrient delivery due to lack of blood volume. I can't anser your main "calculation" question but I can say that you should increase your intake of water. What is the first thing a paramedic or EMT does after taking vitals? He hangs and IV. Why, to add volume to a leaking patient's blood supply. You may not have complete blood volume after giving blood for 3 months but you can have complete volume, allbeit dilluted.
In the U.S you can only give 500 ml every 8 weeks, so I expect that you are way over the limit. If you have doubts, ask another physician.
When I gave blood, I think it took 3-4 weeks before I felt fully fit again. I only gave around 500ml, so that's only 1/3 of what you gave. Drinking more fluids is a good idea as people stated. Most research I've read suggests 3-6 weeks to fully recover. But that's with only 500ml taken out, so it's gotta be longer for 1.5L.
If it took up to 4 weeks (a month) for you to feel fit again after losing 500ml of blood then his Physician saying 3 months after him donating 1.5L sounds about right.
Crikey - that's more than an arm full! You are ill, and it will take time to recover. Hope your friend is OK! (Incidentally, if you donate blood and they test it, do you have to tick a "Have you ever been tested for aids" box?)
It could be something like your cell counts, if they are low then your immune system will be and even if you feel o.k often a low immune system can mean longer reovery time from excercise and stuff like that. I am O Negative and anyone can have my blood (all my friends think of me as their walking blood bank), so if you need some, just ask. I was thinking about giving blood but now I am not so sure. I never realised it takes upto six weeks to recover for 500ml, I thought they gave you a cup of tea and a biscuit after and by the time you finshed it you were back to normal. Well I did not realise it took so long. How does it generally make you feel for the first week after giving blood? Can you still just get on with things as normal? Lots of love :love: Lucy
Woah, 1 1/2 litres! That's 30% of your blood volume. No wonder you're feeling crap. Max recommended adult allowable blood loss (ABL) during surgery is 75ml/kg. So at your weight that would be just under half a litre. Yes, it will take your body a long time to manufacture all those red cells again. Iron consumed, to red cell haemoglobin takes around 6 weeks. So even if you stuffed yourself with steak everyday it would only help in 6 weeks time. Meanwhile, your muscles are getting a 30% drop in available oxygen! You'll get tired easily, cramps etc. You must be a really good friend
Next time listen to the doctor. If he says 1 litre, give him 1 litre. If he says wait 3 weeks, wait 3 weeks. When they say things like this, they aren't guessing or having a giggle. You don't know more than they do, not matter what you think. You'll get over it, you're probably aneamic or something. Rest and eat iron rich foods like leafy green veg and lean red meat. Building back up your blood takes time, and you won't have helped the process by giving more than you should have.
When I gave blood in the US (probably the 500 mL), they told me to take it easy that day, get a good dinner, and drink plenty of fluids. I have still trained the same day, but modified for lighter activity levels. I'm usually tired the first week or so, and it does take time to feel back up to full. Donating as much as you've done, I have no gauge. Three months is probably how long before you could donate again. I'd definitely recommend eating well, drinking fluids, and SLOWLY returning to your former activity level.
whoa. in any case, i've already donated the blood, so no point in going over what i should have, not should have done. btw, it's day 4, it still hurts like crap, and i've since cut down on my caffeine. i drank a total of 28 cups the past 3 days because i felt really tired and i forgot that it might be because i donated blood. yes, thank god my friend is ok. yes, and i have to tick a lot of boxes like have you ever been to prison (??!), have you ever paid for sex, have you ever tried drugs, have you ever paid for sex with a partner who used drugs, have you ever had sex with the same sex, 5 page surver. weird stuff like that. just for the record, i wasn't being macho when i donated more than the recommended amount. my friend who was obviously hospitalized that time had continuous internal bleeding, he had been bleeding for 3 days before he was brought to the hospital. by that time, he had lost a total of 3.5 liters of blood and cannot see, walk, or raise is foot. first day at the hospital, they still couldn't figure out what was causing the bleeding, he needed transfusion and my blood was a perfect match since a lot of my buddies got rejected because they took aspirin, drank alcohol the day before, smoke, is underweight... lots of reasons. i'm glad he's ok. oh well, i guess i'm just going to have to sit it out. i'd like to relate a funny incident though. after donating a liter of blood, the doc said that i should- theoretically, feel a little woozy- since i'm only 133lbs- (apparently, the bigger you are, the more blood you can give, i'm near borderline- 120 is the minimum). since i was really fit. i stood up after the ordeal and i didn't feel anything. so i requested to donate another half liter. you have to lie down to do that sort of stuff, so after i finished, i felt the same way as i have been before i underwent the blood donation, so i quickly stood up again. lo and behold, my head felt like granite and i quickly fell into bed. first time to donate blood my friend's wife and the nurse couldn't help but laugh. i miss my workouts already
actually, they gave me OJ and an egg. i AM in my first week. because i played bball for one game without subs, i feel like crap. the day after i donated blood though, i still went to work (even after i called in late the day before telling them that i'll probably be absent... sheesh...) the morning turned out fine, but after lunch, my knees feel all wobbly and jelly like. i am a project manager-site architect for a large development company (city within a city sort of thing) so i walk around a lot- about 70% of my time on average, sometimes more than that. things go on as normal because it has to, not because i want to does that mean that if my arm gets cut, i won't bleed as much? i don't understand the last part. does that mean that even if i take iron supplements everyday (or double the amount) it won't speed up the recovery process? it is nice to help friends. especially friends who won't hesitate to help you out if ever the situations are reversed.
I've given blood a few times (at the amount they normally take in Britain...whatever that is). Never felt any effects whatsoever. Not at the time and not a week after either. Have a biccy and a cup of squash and bob's your uncle. Went and did a normal class the next day although I took it easy the same evening. Sadly a couple of times I didn't bleed enough and couldn't give a full donation so I've stopped going now. Although I've known people faint after giving blood. 3 months sounds like a really long time to make a litre and a half of blood though. I'm probably wrong but I bet you replace your entire blood supply in that time anyway ( bit at a time obviously).
No you can't really speed up the process as the body takes time converting iron in the diet into haemoglobin for the red blood cells. Generally 4-6 weeks. So for the time being you are actually suffering from temporary anaemia. General symptoms of anaemia include: * tiredness, * breathlessness, * palpitations, * dizziness, and * headache. If the anaemia is severe, chest pain, and leg pains can occur. Your body needs iron, folic acid, vitamin B12 and vitamin C to make new red blood cells. So eating well is your best bet for getting back to normal. Iron can be found in leafy green vegetables (e.g. broccoli, spinach, do you say sayur in the Phillipines?), lean red meat (e.g. pork, lamb or beef),strawberries and fibre-rich or wholemeal foods. Vitamin C helps the body absorb iron, this can be found in orange or cranberry juice or taken as a supplements. Tea and coffee affect the body’s absorption of iron and should be reduced or eliminated from the diet. Folic acid can be found in green leafy vegetables, root vegetables, mushrooms, fruit, nuts and pulses. So there you go. Egg and an OJ is a much better choice than a cup 'o' tea and a biccy And no live blade sparring for a while You don't want to get cut
First of all, kudos to you for being a great friend. Second, you lost a LOT of blood and should keep that in mind when exercising. As far as iron supplements, if you are not iron deficient I think taking iron supplements could cause more problems that it solved. Personally i would give my doctor a call and ask him for advice as far as recovering goes.
If he'd lost that much blood in an operation they would have hooked him up to a litre Other than that, there's nowt much anyone can do other than eat well and take it easy for a while. Seconded on that
i have regular folic acid, iron, B comples, and C supplements. i even have calcium, lecithin, vit A supplements. i don't know what's sayur though. i don't think i can live without tea or coffee. if i'm not drinking tea, i'm drinking coffee. if i'm not drinking one of those, i'm sleeping. i think that's going to be my biggest obstacle... i don't think our secretary can handle a week of me being the grouch while suffering from caffeine withrawal
