Can anyone donate blood??

[Bimzoori]

Since some of you are in the university's blood donation group, perhaps you can enlighten us with the procedures of blood donation..what are the requirments? how long does it take? is everyone capable of donating blood, ho wmany litres of blood can someone give, etc, etc..

[FaHaD]

well great bimmi... sure not every body is able to donate...

well i won't give any answers cos i am sure that there r some members want to contribute..
actually last week i donated blood , and that was my 16th time...

[IceTea]

Fahad plz go ahead and give us the answer and don't try to act smart J/K :D.

I don't know much about this, cuz I never donate my blue bood to anyone :p. I think they first make a test to find out if your blood contains some diseases or not and if the results appear +ve u can donate. It also depends on the person is he/she fit or weak, ofcourse for waek people its difficult to donate cuz they might have lack in thier amount of boold so how can they give.

[4-ever-young]

I have donated blood 3 times now and i ned to go soon ..hmm not everyone can donate..you have to be of a certain weight..and beofre actaully donanting you have to answer some questions about your health and have u blood tested for your hemoglobin..

As far as how long it takes...it usualy doesnt take long approz 10-15mins..accordaing to how fast your blood fils the bag

[FaHaD]

ice tea, i wnat to give the chance to other membesr to contribute cos , and i know some mebers are grat in this... so why don't give them the chance.. i will wait if they don't i will try my best...

[Dr N]

Anyone who is 17years old or older can donate, if they weigh at least 110 pounds and must be in good health with no flu or cold symptoms.
A unit (about one pint) of blood is drawn. This procedure takes about 5-10 minutes. The average person has between 10 and 15 pints of blood in their body. It takes about one month to replace the blood that is donated.
Most donors feel fine, provided that they had a healthy meal and plenty fluid beforhand.
After the donation, it is recommended to rest, drink juice, and have a snack.
If you feel dizzy then sit down and lower your head or lie down, keeping your head lower than the rest of your body.
Avoid any strenous exercising for some time during that day.

I hope this answers your question. Fahad back me up if I missed anything..
:p

[IceTea]

Interesting Dr N :)

BTW what do u mean by "pint" it sounds like "bint" in arabic which means daughter :p

[FaHaD]

Great Dr_N, but I have some comments…
U mentioned some American unit…which are not used in oman..
So can I change them to the one which are used in omani blood banks..

Regarding the weight in female it should be above 45 kg and in males above 50 yrs..
Age, in oman the age should be above 18 yrs old..
Actually I don’t think having common cold stops u from donating..

Pints, is a unit of measuring volume , but in each donation 450 ml is taken to the big bag and other 50 ml is taken to test the haemoglobin.. our baody has about 4 -5 litres of blood thus taking half a litter has no effect and the volume get replaced within 24 hours .. but as we know the red blood cell lives about 120 days ( 3 months) soo the person will be able to donate 3 months after the previous donation… this is why u will see a needle prick in my arm every three months..

After donation, people who donate at first time might feel some kind of dizziness but this will go away if u drink enough water .. actually one cup is enough…

Blood which are taken are tested for hepatitis , HIV thus it is a free way to check ur blood..

Last time I donated blood they measured my serum iron , which is ok..

Plus one day I told them to do screening to my blood for sickle cell anaemia and thalassaemia , and thanx for allah I am not a carrier they told me Fahad u can marry any girl without problem on ur children .. by the way most of the omanies are carrier for thalassaemia genes specially alpha genes.

[Bimzoori]

Thanx for the info..you answered most of my questions...

What about the Heamoglobin level? what is the minimum level you should have inorder to be able to donate?

[Arabian Princess]

Bimmy,
I think the minimum level of homogloben is 12. am I right docters? :)

[Enjoy Ur Death]

in Oman nost of the girls has the Haemoglobin level (Hb) at 10-11 and males at 12-15 . the minimmum Hb level required for ladies to donate is 10 and for males is 12. these values r used in Oman but other countries might use other values.

please correct me if i am wrong

smth i wanted to add
regarding what FaHad say about flue .. in fact having flu is not mth prevent u from donating however it is not recommended to do so for 2 reasons:
1) u might be on medications which is not preferable for donation
2) the high white blood cell count that u have .
i had flu once and i didn't tell the nurse till i donated so she became upset , don't act as me :p

[Bimzoori]

oh great walla..

so, what are the ways to increase your heamoglobin level? any specific diet to follow?

[Dr N]

Great info enjoy your death, but I think the hemoglobin level needed to donate blood for females is 11.5, that's what a nurse told me once when I went to donate, my hemoglbin level was 11.6 and she said that I should be careful, and a few months later my hemoglobin level went down to 11.4 and they didn't let me donate blood.
Bimmi, anything that contains iron can help in increasing the hemoglobin level, green vegetables, esp. spinach (remember popey!), and red meat are very important, iron tablets might help but I'm not sure whether they can be used without a doctors orders, so someone correct me plz! :)

[Bimzoori]

Dr N and others, since you tried donating blood, would you tell us what you feel right after giving your blood..I mean do you feel dizzy and weak? does it hurt when your blood is being removed?

[Thug4Life]

if u r physicaly and psychologicaly fit u wont feel a Thing after the donation process ends.(ofcourse this is doen mostly by answeing sets of questions given to u to make sure u r suitble)...it doesnt take that long...
plus they just take around 450ml from u from total of 6 L in ur body! ...
they give u something to eat or drink after the donation ends...and they dont advice u to use that arm much for carrying heavy stuff for few days....eat well...
now some cases people get dizy due to mainly FEAR :)
with good hands (nurses) u wont feel anything...No pain No nothing!....Its Sooooo EASY and simple

[Mobysat]

i would like to but after one more month coz you have to wait for six months B4 next donation.
by the way its so healthy ot do this periodiclly.

[Dr N]

Yes bimmi, thug is correct, you won't feel a thing.. It might hurt a bit when they insert the needle but that's it, and you won't feel tired at all, but do take some rest after donating and relax for some time then you can resume your daily routine..:D

[Enjoy Ur Death]

Dr-N, thank u for ur information but the only thing i don't agree is eating spinach. Spinach does contain alot of iron however it also contains some other substance which decreases the absorption of the iron into the body ... that's why popey is just joking with us.

other diets to eat in order to have a good Hb is meat cos meat contains iron as well as proteins and both of them r important for the formation of the Hb. folic acid and vitamin B12 r also important. u can find folic acid in the orange and especially for ladies it should always be in adequate amount to prevent peoblems for her self and for her baby even if she is not married yet.

[FaHaD]

yeap thanx friends for ur greta informations, sorry for not being here cos i was awa for few days,,..

regarding diet and sources of iron,, there are 2 type of iron haem iron and non-haem iron, they differ in the electrical charge .. thus the one which has less charge is less absorbed and it is found mainly in vegetables and fruits unlike the other one which is mainly found in the meat...

absorbtion of the iron in the vegertables is largly affected by caffien, cerreals..etc thus it ias advisable not to drink coffee after food , plus vitain C is known to increase iron absorbtion, therefore it is a good habit to add lemon to salad...

[Bimzoori]

whats the highest heamoglobin level a person can get to?!

I've heard that high levels of heamoglobin can be poisoning to the body.. am I right?

[FaHaD]

yeap high hemoglobin is dangerous..
it is called Polycythemia which is the increase of the red blood cell count, hemoglobin, and the total red blood cell volume, accompanied by an increase in total blood volume.

when body fluid decreases like in dehydration, the hemoglobin level also increases but that is not polycythemia...

the causes can be primary and secondary likelung disease..etc

symptoms:
Headache
Weight loss
Weakness or malaise
Dizziness
dyspnea
Visual disturbance
Paresthesias
Other - Fullness, thirst, abdominal discomfort, constipation
insomnia

thses people usually are in danger of thrombosis, cloting of blood..

about teh level, actually they use a different parameter to diagnose it rather than hameoglobin .. like Red cell mass greater than 36 mL/kg for men and greater than 32 mL/kg for women
and
Arterial oxygen saturation greater than 92% .

i know one of my friend who ha sprimary polycythemia.. and his Hb level is around 16.