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

I recently had my ferritin measured at 2.8 and haven't been offered an infusion so I can't imagine they would offer one to anybody unless they were at deaths door

I did not say it was. Anecdata, however, is helpful to no-one.

I don’t think they actually want any donors.
When i look at potential locations for blood donations , there are tons within a 20 min radius.
When i want to book, the only one available is over 1 hour drive away. they must be fully booked?

I had one based on a recommendation from MN. I went near Leeds and paid £300 for 1000mg iron. It was done by a nurse and was at a private GP clinic. I was fortunate I hadn’t long had my bloods taken at our GP so I didn’t need to do any there.

iron tablets don’t agree with me and make me feel sick. 🤢

Sorry, I had an NHS one as I was about to give birth.

Would you be willing to share the name of the company @Lolol82?

YANBU.

I would give blood but have very heavy periods and my ferritin levels are shit. Your ferritin has to be virtually non-existent before the NHS deems this concerning.

Sure was called The Vitamin Clinic in Nelson.

Very many thanks, off to Google!

The irony is that for some people, their very low levels mean they need a transfusion themselves.

Thanks, yes I did buy some but I’m worried that in taking them that I might be covering up an underlying cause that we might not be aware of. And how do I know when to stop?

This is because it’s primarily a women’s problem. If it was a common male problem the NHS would be handing out iron infusions the way they give viagra to overweight old blokes 😡

@Herriet how do you know you have a nice iron store and what level is that and how do you know it would last for years?

My middle son is the only one of my kids who inherited my o negative blood..not sure he will be donating when he's an adult though as he's autistic and as white as a ghost (he looks ill most of the time as he's do pale his under eyes look purple)

Because it was retested a few weeks after birth. It was very very high, and the doctor said "this will last you years".

Iron infusions are definitely not risk free. I have to have them due to a medical condition & there are some risks eg reaction - there was a death recently at the hospital where I have mine. Also risk of serious and permanent staining to the skin - I have this & although not dangerous it is a serious disfigurement.

Iron tablets are much, much safer.

Iron infusions do not work any better or quicker for the overwhelming majority of patients & are much more expensive.

Thanks op, What's classified as high?

I agree with you OP and this issue has meant I won’t ever give blood again.

I went through my childhood and adult life up to age 30 with absolutely no problems related to anaemia. Even when I was pregnant and puking (in my 20s) I still had plenty of iron and was never anywhere near being anaemic.

In my 30s, light periods, otherwise healthy, I gave blood for the first time. Just after that, there was a blood shortage so they phoned me up before my next appointment was due and asked that I came sooner than the usual interval for the second donation. I did. So those two donations in quick succession caused me to fail the drop test when I went for the third donation and I had to go on iron pills. I feel like I was abused like a cash cow - I asked the person on the phone if it was too soon to go back for the second time and she said no it was absolutely fine. it wasn’t fine and they aren’t having any more of my blood as they happily risked my health. It’s complete fake news to say that their protocols are ok.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latent_iron_deficiency definitely worth checking this out. I had a ferritin level of 5 after 2 pregnancies in 2 years - my hair was falling out and I developed pica. I was never technically anaemic but my iron stores were so depleted I could hardly function.

Hope you can get yours sorted!

Yep this. The NHS treatment for anemia is so bad. It's mainly a problem for women which is probably why it's not better. Once I had finally got my levels up lots of side effects improved. It should be treated better!

I am going to up this by saying nhs should be giving all post partum women iron transfusions full stop. It is ridiculous we are all just wandering about completely fucked.

I’d agree actually. I don’t think I’ve realised quite how ill I am previously. Eventually I was hospitalised given a blood transfusion then an iron transfusion as they were genuinely concerned that levels were now so unsafe that could possibly be at risk of death.

I’d been anaemic since pregnant with my first born though 15 years ago. I thought I was lazy/ tired/ possibly depressed. I do wonder if it should be thought more as preventative health care. It’s no wonder the UK is the sick man of Europe.

Did a pp not just say that these can come with serious side effects including actual death?

Pretty much everything can come with serious side effects. The risk is pretty minimal they changed the formulation years ago and now it’s much safer than it was. Having had one I'd prefer to take a small risk to feel optimal than not and feel like a zombie for years. I have had many courses of iron tablets and an iron rich diet. I just don’t think I absorb it properly.

This is so interesting. I've been donating blood regularly for years. I just had a blood test which showed ferritin
level of 12.

I have a Mirena coil which means no periods so I was really surprised my ferritin was so low. Then I started to wonder if it was related to my 3 monthly blood donations. I'm vegetarian too which means I probably don't have an iron rich diet.

I've been really exhausted, losing lots of hair, and find exercise hard.

I've got an appointment with GP to discuss it and I suspect she'll say I should take iron tablets. I'm already taking iron tablets though and I'm not feeling any improvement. Should I be asking for an iron infusion?