To think that more women may be happy to give blood if the NHS treated any resulting anaemia properly?

[Herriet]

I realise this may just be me, and if it is then I am definitely unreasonable!

I gave blood every three months for years and during those years I slowly became more and more anaemic. I was in my twenties, healthy and eating well, and my periods were not heavy.

We know that heavy periods (over 80ml per month) can cause anaemia. This equates to 240ml every three months. But for some reason the NHS doesn't mention that giving away 470ml in a donation might cause anaemia too.

I've since had babies and ended up with an iron infusion. These are expensive. But now I have a lovely iron store, likely to last me years and years. I see the NHS is desperate for donors (link below) - should I restart donating and give it all away again? If I get anaemic again they will say 'take iron pills', but I've tried a variety of these before and they do not agree with me. So I can choose to give blood and eventually need iron pills and be permanently constipated, or I can choose not to, and be happy and healthy. I would donate if they would give me an iron infusion at a reasonable 'ideal' level of ferritin, rather than only doing it once ferritin is 5 or whatever and I can barely function.

I'm O negative. The NHS really really wants my blood, according to the article below. But not enough to offer me another iron infusion in future if I become anaemic again due to donating.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c98p0pj7dypo

Not unreasonable at all. I donated semi-regularly for a few years in my 20s. I'm o-negative, so it always felt like something really good that I could do.

But tbh it always made me feel really awful for the next few days - light headed, dizzy, breathless after any exertion and totally exhausted.

I eventually decided to stop because it felt like quite a high personal cost. Had some blood loss after a c section when my DS was born and didn't feel nearly so bad!

I might give it another go in a few years and see if it's still the same, because it is a good thing to do, but not right for me currently!

Thank you. For me it's probably something to do with haemoglobin...Yeah I don't have enough blood or something weird? Basically my weight is too low. I wish I could donate though. My dad was O- and donated a lot.

Basically you have haemoglobin in your blood, and then ferritin stores elsewhere in your body (liver and bones etc). When your haemoglobin gets a bit low, your body releases some iron from your ferritin store and haemoglobin stays at a good level. The blood donor centre tests haemoglobin and if it's good you can donate, but they don't test ferritin so they can't see what reserves you have left. Everyone is different, but for me, my body released ferritin very effectively until the store reached rock bottom and only then did my haemoglobin start to decline. So by the time i became mildly anaemic based on haemoglobin tests, I had already depleted my entire iron reserve without knowing. I felt rubbish but so many things can cause that.

It's hidden anaemia, if you like, so they don't know you have it because they don't offer ferritin tests to regular donors.

Hope that helps explain. I appreciate that if you've never had iron trouble that you won't be aware of ferritin etc.

You are quite right. The problem is that nothing in the NHS is joined up.

Thank you. I think I do have low haemoglobin and I think that's why I can't donate. I wish I could though. X

I feel very lucky - my ferritin was just measured at 8 and my haemoglobin at 95. I've got appointments for two iron infusions in the next month, and multiple investigations for the (hopefully not sinister) cause. The NHS is so variable in its provision.

I've been turned away twice from donating as my iron level was below the threshold to donate. Worrying, the second time was even with taking iron supplements because of the first time! Because the threshold for blood donation is higher than general, it was still within normal levels, so packed off home with a leaflet to read while munching my Tunnocks teacake (still got blood donation snack so all was well)!
I read that the amount of red blood cells removed can take several months to replenish, so when I was donating every 3 months my iron never fully got back to where it needed to be. Add in heavy periods and it's a wonder I wasn't badly anaemic.
When I first went to donate, women had to wait 16 weeks between donations. I'm not sure when it changed to 12 weeks, presumably for equality?
I agree something needs done to monitor women and iron levels, especially those of us with periods.

I took iron tablets for a number of years many moons ago and would still had one or two donations turned down if the finger prick test showed it was too low, but I kept going along and have given nearly 15 pints over the years. Occasionally they can’t find a vein too, but mostly if you keep trying eventually they can take a donation.
The problem I have lately is I can only make the late afternoon appointments from 5pm because of work and they are often cancelled at the very last minute or the sessions are fully booked up.
You don’t even get a hot drink anymore either. Only cold drinks ( first world problem I know!)
They have to be so careful around who donates there is now a shortage ( read this online today) , but it isn’t always easy and you do need to set aside an hour or sometimes more to go along and people are time poor or don’t want to take children along with them or scared of needles ( it honestly doesn’t hurt , but I do understand the fear !)

Men do make more suitable donors. They have more blood on average, are less likely to be anaemic and can give blood at shorter intervals, so you get more blood per donor. They don't have the antibodies in their blood that women do after a pregnancy that makes the blood unsuitable for some purposes.

Giving blood can also be beneficial for men, as it prevents a build up of iron in their blood. Women don't have this health issue due to periods. Too much iron can be problematic, as can too little.

But currently the percentage of male donors is less than 50%. A drive to recruit more would seem to be a good idea.

YANBU. I have been fobbed off for years with a variety of rubbish iron tablets which I can’t tolerate. Never once has someone said let’s try to find a reason as to why you’re anaemic/iron deficient.

my ferritin dropped to 3 and still had to pay privately for an iron infusion. It’s ridiculous.

I can no longer give blood now anyway after having to have a couple of blood transfusions which is a shame. I get why having a blood transfusion may disqualify you a long time ago but not now when the screening process seems very thorough?

The nurse at my last donation in feb said that it’s roughly 50/50 men and women donating in my area.

This just doesn't pass basic medical ethics, let aside the cost/benefit of it. Causing people a health problem that you then have to fix isn't ethical when the procedure that causes it doesn't benefit the patient. We make an exception to this for living organ donation, but there the pay off to the recipient is so extreme, and there is a reason that people almost always do it for a loved one not a stranger. It isn't 'not joined up' to not let one branch of the NHS cause a problem for another to fix - to be blunt, they don't need the OP's blood as desperately as this is assuming they do. They do need more donors, but trying to use people who aren't medically suited to giving blood isn't the best or most efficient solution.

I’m in exactly the same position, have been donating every 4 months for a couple of years now but currently iron and B12 are too low, not sure if it’s because of donating but I don’t feel able to currently which is a shame as it was important to me.
ive been prescribed B12 and iron but can’t take the iron as I hate what it does to my guts!
apparently Holland and Barret do ‘gentle iron’ which doesn’t have the same effect but I’m yet to be organised enough to try it out.

I bought the Holland and Barrett gente iron. Is it useless?

I nearly fainted after I gave blood earlier this year, and I felt awful for a good few days afterwards.

I'm not sure whether I want to do it again really!

I stopped donating due to this. Ferritin was 9. Had to get a bit shirty with the blood transfusion people to get them to stop repeatedly trying to convince me to come back.

When I first started there often volunteers at the sessions (usually in church halls or community centres) and they would sit with a child in a buggy and read them a story while you were being done or would sit with a newbie and chat. They would be making the tea. The sessions would be run by nurses and there would be a doctor in the room to put the needles in.
Efficiency, risk and safety dictates how to do things now donor carers are fantastic but are paid at NHS band 2 or 3 so not much more than minimum wage so will move on quickly and just one qualified nurse per session. Any questions involve looking things up or contacting head office.

I also stopped donating because the appointments NEVER ran to time. More importantly, they didnt let anyone know they were running late. Ended up sitting 40 minutes past by booked time to be told that there were 5 people in front of me. Total shambles.

Remarkably unfair comment.

I really enjoy giving blood, not afraid of needles, all good. But the low iron knocked me for six and it's taken ages to maybe fix. It's pretty serious.

I have given blood more than 50 times, I always look at the figure when they check my haemoglobin, sits between 135 and 140, so I assume my ferritin is OK, but from this thread it possibly doesn't quite work like that. I do feel fine while and after giving.

They are so picky about who can donate , which is as it should be, but it means many people can’t so they are up against it constantly to get people through the doors I think. Must be a headache and they desperately need blood.

I have given blood for 30 years and never been anaemic so not sure you can blame that.
Also had periods for 40 years and a pregnancy with relevant blood loss.

Just want to say a huge Thank you to those of you who have donated blood. Your blood may have literally saved my life twice and helped on multiple other occasions when blood transfusions etc were required THANK YOU!

Not an evidence base

OP have you tried experimenting with iron tablets to see if there is an amount you can take while avoiding constipation? I was first diagnosed with anaemia aged 10 (interestingly, didn’t start periods till 13 so not sure why) and have taken tablets on and off for 30 years, initially prescribed for 3 times per day. Over the years I’ve experimented a bit and now take 1 tablet per day of ferrous fumerate which doesn’t cause me constipation when I’ve been taking it a while (if I stop then start it will for a few days, and taking 3 tablets per day would cause a big issue). This seems to be enough to avoid symptoms, I haven’t had a blood test in years but well recognise symptoms of anaemia.

any other kind of supplements (floradix/spatone/multivits) contain a tiny amount of iron in comparison and won’t treat symptomatic anaemia in my experience, even the higher dose iron tablets can take some time to work.