Donating Blood

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lowviz

Solo Diver
Rest in Peace
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The topic of donating blood and diving has come up before, but the threads seem to drift towards who is best qualified to give a good answer. I'm more interested in any personal experiences, the stuff that doesn't get reported. I donate regularly and haven't had any incidents until just recently. Usually donate every couple of months, slightly longer than the recommended wait time.

I was diving in 42 degree water last week and was at about 20' when I didn't give a prompt reply to one of my buddy's signals. Buddy re-signals while I was assessing how I felt. Second missed signal, buddy thumbs me. At the surface I told him I felt tired. Surface swim back, felt even more tired getting out of the water. No missed meals or anything that would provide an obvious answer. Felt fine after an hour or so. I'm pushing 60 but in excellent health. The DAN site says I'm good to go after a day:

DAN Divers Alert Network

It seems obvious that it was the combination of donation, age, and cold. Anyone else had a similar experience? I'm posting here (rather than in Incidents) because this is a regular component of my diving and need to correct for it.
 
I've never dove less than several days after a donation but I have run, and I find both high-output cardio capacity and endurance easily take at least a week to ten days to get nearly back to normal.

BTW, just to be clear for everyone, I'm assuming we're both talking about the 'one pint of whole blood' donation. In some parts of the world, the standard donation is considerably less, which obviously can change things.
 
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I've never dove less than several days after a donation but I have run, and I find both hihg-output cardio capacity and endurance easily take at least a week to ten days to get nearly back to normal.

My suspicions also, Thanks.

BTW, just to be clear for everyone, I'm assuming we're both talking about the 'one pint of whole blood' donation. In some parts of the world, the standard donation is considerably less, which obviously can change things.

Yes, one pint.

-taking an IANTD course this year, don't need this happening at real depth...
 
I find it hard to believe that a 1 gm decrease in hemoglobin would adversely affect a healthy person starting with a normal hemoglobin. Hydration following the volume loss may also be a factor. That being said, I routinely donate, but have never dived in less than 3 or 4 days from donation. You may want to ask this question of Dr Deco in the Marine Science and Physiology section.

Good diving, Craig
 
The DAN Q&A that you referenced really answers the question, "When is it safe to dive after donating blood?"

This is a different question than whether or not you may experience a decrease in performance if you dive after donating blood. This latter question is not a simple question to answer because there are numerous variables, some of which are highly subjective.

The objective factors include the donor's hemoglobin (blood) level before donation, the hemoglobin level after donation, whether volume loss was replenished, the presence or absence of heart problems (known or unknown), the health of the lungs, and the overall conditioning of the donor -- which can also include such factors as recent illnesses, medications, etc.

As for the subjective factors, in my experience as a hematologist who has worked with high performance, national-class athletes in the past, I can tell you anecdotally that the more fit someone is, the more likely that person is to notice some decrease in his/her performance after blood donation. While one might initially think that the less fit people would notice this more, the opposite actually seems to be true.

The reason, I believe, is because sedentary people never push themselves enough to be able to detect small changes in their physical capacity. If their hemoglobin levels drop one or two points, they may not even notice. On the other hand, people who push themselves with exercise or athletic endeavors often complain that they have lost some of their capacity after donating blood. And why not? It is just the opposite of blood doping, if you think about it.

Now, while that is a nifty explanation, one could argue, "Yeah, but scuba diving isn't that strenuous." True, but cold water is a physiologic stressor by itself. It might not take much else to notice a difference.

Is the perceived decrease in performance real or imaginary? Hard to prove one way or the other, but it seems real enough to those who experience it.

So to answer both questions: When is it safe to dive after donating blood? For most folks, within a day or two, provided there were no issues surrounding the donation, that the person has rehydrated adequately, and that the dive plan is not unusually strenuous.

When might a person be able to dive and not notice a difference? It could take a few days or a few weeks, depending upon how long it takes the body to replenish the cells which were lost. In healthy people, this can vary with age, taking longer in older folks than younger.
 
I am a regular blood donar and WVE's explanation makes sense to me as well from my experience.
 
Thanks, wve, that does make sense. I donate blood regularly and dive in cold water, and have noticed a slight decrease in endurance diving 2-3 days after a donation.
 
I'm a pheresis (platelet) donor. Would that affect my diving in any way? It is usually several days after donating that I dive and have not noticed any difference. I found out that after my trip to Roatan this coming April I will not be able to donate for a year due to possible malaria in the area. Thanks. First real post to the board, been lurking all this time.
 
I'm a pheresis (platelet) donor. Would that affect my diving in any way? It is usually several days after donating that I dive and have not noticed any difference. I found out that after my trip to Roatan this coming April I will not be able to donate for a year due to possible malaria in the area. Thanks. First real post to the board, been lurking all this time.

Probably not. With pheresis they remove the platelets and give you back everything else.

Malaria is a risk in Honduras. I've been there twice in the past year. We took malaria prophylaxis, but didn't really encounter many mosquitoes where we were.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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