Blood donation and extreme fatigue

[seaduck]

I've been suffering bouts of extreme fatigue over the last couple of years. I've always just put it down to having 3 kids, a job, and you know life... My youngest child is only 2.5. However, I'm beginning to join the dots and starting to think it's related to donating blood which I do pretty regularly. I donated last in February and am just emerging from a bout of feeling exhausted for weeks and weeks and feeling like I'm emerging from a cloud of just grey tiredness. Has anyone had this?

For context, I am hypothyroid and have been checked recently and that's come back normal. My iron levels are on the lower end I think, when they do the finger prick test at donation it never sinks in the fluid but they do a second test on a gadget to test iron levels and it comes back as within safe level to donate.

I can no longer give blood for this reason. Also have hypothyroidism and iron at the lower end. My finger prick blood test is the same so I think I’m likely just slightly too low & the test isn’t as accurate as they think.

It upsets me as DH needed a couple of blood transfusions at one time, so I know how important it is, but it really made me too ill to continue.

Ah @Agitatethebumcrack that's interesting. I wonder whether it just doesn't suit if you are at the lower end of iron levels.

I think I'm just going to give it a break and see if I see an improvement.

Similarly, I started donating after my mum needed a lot of units in the week before she died. Ultimately, those transfusions were unsuccessful but I wanted to replace them in the system which I've at least done now but it's so important that I wanted to keep going!

My ferritin levels bottomed out. I think part of the reason was blood donations. I read it takes 30 off your ferritin. If you haven't had it checked, I'd recommend you do as it's different from haemoglobin levels - mine have always been ok mostly, but ferritin not.

You might be right about blood donation but ime it's good to keep an eye on thyroid levels too, even when the results are said to be normal. My tsh needs to be on the low side (around 1) for me to feel well.

I only give blood once a year when I’m off work over Christmas, for this reason. I can rest and take it easy for a bit.

Just to add though that I know loads of people who give blood regularly and aren’t affected at all! For me it’s because I’m underweight (but still above the threshold to give blood). I wouldn’t want this thread to put anyone off. It’s such an important thing to do.

I used to have this problem when I donated every four months and still had periods. Always apparently within the right iron level but it was very draining after a while. I've dropped to once or twice a year and it's fine now, I recover more easily and also work a bit harder on increasing red meat intake before and after donating.

If you're at the lower end for iron, have you tried taking a supplement? I was like you, at the very low end of ok for a long time, half heartedly took some extra but always stopped because I forgot or it didn't agree with my stomach..

Finally I got more serious about it after my kids got older and I realised that even without night wakings I was shattered... Floradix taken regularly and properly was amazing for me! It does take months to really kick in, but I feel SO much better, my periods actually improved and my iron levels improved a lot.
It's available over the counter, there are quite a few others too, but for me they always caused gut issues, so am sticking to this one.

good luck and hope you can donating in some way.

I was the same, I used to be a regular blood donor but had multiple bouts of extreme fatigue. I always passed the test where they drop your blood in the water to see if it's floats. My haemoglobin levels were on the lower side of normal but within range. Ferritin was always less than 20. I started taking floradix (multiple times per day for months) and managed to get my ferritin up to 50 and I feel loads better. I will keep going with the ferritin and have asked not to be contacted about blood donation anymore. I'm also hypothyroid.

Interesting - how do you know your ferritin levels? Do you get your GP to run them?

Yes, my TSH is "normal" but I think it was higher end, roughly 3.8 or around there. I heard someone else say that to me once about it needing to be lower to feel okay. I'll ask about that.

Maybe I'll drop the intensity of the donations.

I fail the copper sulphate test unless I take iron supplements for a couple of weeks prior to donating. I recently was told not to donate for a year. I think my horrendously heavy periods were not helping (I now have a mirena coil, so feel miles better). Having said that, I don’t feel tired after giving blood, but I do feel very weak and lightheaded in the immediate aftermath.

I think it takes at least 6 weeks for the body to make up the haemoglobin, so if you’re on the low side anyway, it might make sense to donate less frequently?

It could be related. Your body doesn't know the difference between a blood donation and any other type of haemorrhage and will respond in the same way, and if your haemoglobin is borderline for donating anyway it could be that you're anaemic and have low iron stores for a lot of the time between donations. It's worth checking; sometimes iron supplementation can help.

Yep you can ask your GP to test your ferritin. It's a specific test that's not covered in a "full blood panel". Mine was tested because I kept going back complaining of exhaustion. The symptoms I get when I am low on ferritin are very similar to when my TSH is out of range (exhausted, cold, dry skin).

I had the same thing in January - Hb was just on the safe limit to donate, so I did, but then had a month of feeling exhausted, night sweats, memory problems. Dr did my bloods and my ferritin was 8, though my Hb was low end of normal. I had been dieting too in January so think the combination just meant I didn't bounce back. I've been taking 400mg ferrous sulphate since then and feel much better but I've been told to take it for at least 3 months, and to leave longer gaps between donating blood.

What do you mean by pretty regularly? Where I live (Spain) women are restricted to 3 blood donations per year, 4 for men.
Do you know what hemoglobin level you had?

I usually donate every 4 months, but a few months ago, the finger prick test showed low iron levels so I was sent away, and told not to rebook for 12 months. Got blood tests done by hospital and everything was OK.

I tried Floradix tablets from Holland and Barrett (I was prescribed iron tablets while I was pregnant but gave me constipation). Definitely would recommend Floradix as it improved my energy levels without any side effects.

It sounds really sensible to take a year off and see how you feel. Blood donation isn't nothing, and I personally feel that women who are still menstruating are at a bit more risk of finding it a physical challenge.

I empathise I faint after giving blood, done it twice and they said no more but please encourage others too.

I feel so guilty as when I had my c section I needed a lot of blood. I haven't even contributed back what I took.

Please everyone give blood if you can, you never know who might need it. For the general population they are fine afterwards.

Yes just for the record this is not to put people off donating! I did for years without issue.

Floradix sounds like it has a lot of recommendations so will look into it.

@Anyonebut I donate usually when I'm able to, in the UK, it's apparently every 16 weeks for women. I can't remember the exact level but I know it was considered acceptable enough to donate, if on the lower end.

Thanks for your help on this thread, got my ferritin levels checked and came back at 13 so am going to try some iron supplements and lay off the donations. Hopeful that I might see an improvement now 😊

Thanks for update. Hope you feel better soon.