Mmm, iron.

[brigdh]

*pouts*

I, apparently, do not have enough iron to give blood. I made plans to prevent this! I ate chicken on Tuesday, and fish this afternoon! I've been eating more meat than I have in years. So why do I not have enough iron? I should have iron! I should not have blood that bobs straight to the surface during the iron test instead of sinking like it's supposed to.

I was even there with a friend who had never given blood before, but whom I'd convinced to come. She got to give blood. See how unfair it all is? Life is so cruel.

Stupid... blood.

Comments

[eag.livejournal.com]

Maybe you need a steak?

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but, but: steaks! Ew! They're all bloody and chewy and ugh.

[aithine]

Eat strawberries. :)

(Life definitely is cruel. *g* I've had slightly too high a temperature a couple of times lately when I've tried to give blood, 'cuz our work building is always too hot for me.)

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

...strawberries have iron? Now there's something I could get into eating more often!

[aithine]

Yep. :) Plus they're high in vitamin C, which aids in the absorption of iron. Spinach, broccoli, kidney beans, potatoes (with the skin), etc., are also all (relatively) high in iron.

More than you ever wanted to know, right? ;)

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Nah, actually, it's all kinds of useful. I'd much rather be told to eat spinach and broccoli and potatoes and other such yummy things than steak or red meat, which I don't like.

[thebratqueen.livejournal.com]

That happens to me too. Sucks, because I'd so give blood if I could =/

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Aw. This is the first time it's happened to me, and I felt more healthy than I have in the past (more iron-y? I dunno, what's irony feel like? Like rain on your wedding day.), so I was really surprised by it.

[xandria.livejournal.com]

Try adding iron pills to your diet for a month before you wish to donate blood.

I can't donate blood because not only do I have no iron, I have almost no hemoglobin. My doctor routinely looks at me as though she wants to force feed me a cow. But I have a medical condition.

Lots of heavy greens and iron supplements should help you though.

xo

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'll probably try that, since it can't be too healthy to have such low iron anyway.


Mmmm, greens.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I don't weigh enough to give blood. I tried to sneak in once when there was an emergency and the hospital was declaring that it needed blood, but the chief nurse demanded to know if I'd been weighed with my clothes on, declared that once three pounds of clothing was subtracted I was under the limit, and bounced me. Sucks. Eat a nice juicy steak.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

*laughs* You should have lied- I've never actually seen them weigh anyone, they tend to take your word for whatever number you give them.

Though I suppose if you look small enough, they'd be more doubtful.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

No, they weighed me with a nurse looking on. I am small though...

[wolfpilot06.livejournal.com]

^^;; Heh, last time I tried to give blood, my blood sank halfway and then started to slowly rise to the surface again. They took another blood sample and did something involving a centrifuge (d'ya know how much it sucks to have two of your fingers pricked? OW) and ended up letting me give blood after all. ^^;;; I'd advise eating more red meat?

**Wolf**

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

They did the centrifuge thing to me too, but they just took that blood from the same finger.

And I would eat more red meat, but I don't like most meat. ^^; I tell people I'm a vegetarian except when I don't feel like it, but usually they laugh at me. It's true, though. I only eat meat when I have a particular craving for it, and that tends to happen just a few times a month.

[p-zeitgeist.livejournal.com]

I didn't even know they tested for iron. They've always bounced me for not weighing enough, which must happen before they get to the part where they check for whether your blood is up to their standards.

But Xan's right: most people need to start the iron-building process weeks in advance, not days in advance. If you have been, and you're still losing weight no matter what you eat, you might want to check in with your medical people and make sure there isn't some issue that you should be aware of. If only because having enough iron in your blood is likely to help with being miserable and chilled in the winter.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Yep. After they've finished asking the questions (how much do you weigh, when was the last time you've donated, have you paid someone in money or drugs to have sex with you, have you ever had brain covering matter injected- the questions just get more bizarre as you go along), they take your temperature, blood pressure, and pulse, and then prick the pad of one of your fingers, take a few drops of blood, and test it for iron.

Everyone I know agrees that the one little needle prick hurts more than the actual donation, but I don't know why.

And yes, the nurse told me that it'd take about a month before I'd be able to donate. I'm not particulary worried about it; I'm sure it's just because I don't eat meat and not a serious medical issue. I've always tended to have fairly low iron because of my diet- I decided I was a vegetarian back when I was 15, and though I'm much less strict about it lately, I still avoid meat most days. I think I'd know if it was serious. I had anemia once, and I don't feel at all tired and engeryless like I did then.

[shes-unreal.livejournal.com]

Ha, I keep thinking of giving blood and then I get my tattoo poked at and have to wait another five months.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

*laughs* Yeah, I forgot about that.

Is it only 5 months, though? I think they might have increased it to 12 for tattoos and piercings.

[shes-unreal.livejournal.com]

Really? Ha! And I was thinking of getting another tattoo this spring. I'll never give blood!

[questionable537.livejournal.com]

I'm one of those AB negative people, and I kept getting calls from the blood center (those people are vampires) every couple weeks after the first time I gave blood. The last time they tried to reach me was nearly two years ago. I decided to go and give blood, but they changed the rules sometime during the month or so since the last time I had donated, saying that since I lived for more than four months on an American military base in Europe I am not permitted to donate.

I'm not entirely sure why, since they were going on about tainted beef from Scottland. I didn't even have my teeth yet...

Meh. I failed the blood count, too. ^^"

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Yeah, they added a bunch of new rules back when people first started getting Mad Cow disease. Though if you didn't have teeth, I'm pretty sure there's no way you could possibly have it.

The most offensive questions, though, are the ones about AIDS. No gay men or bisexual men or men who've ever slept with another man or women who've slept with a gay/bisexual man are ever allowed to donate, even if it's been decades. That's cutting out a fairly large percentage of the population right there.

[questionable537.livejournal.com]

Yeah, my little brother's gay, and he's not allowed to donate anymore. It's really annoying. There are blood drives on campus every week, and we usually get accosted by community service types with fliers.

We know that it's good to donate. It's just that we aren't allowed to.

Good luck on your next attempt to donate. ^_~

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

That's got to be so frustrating. I'm sorry.

But thank you.