Diving and Donating, How long should I wait?

[gotair?]

I donated blood two weeks ago. Is there a set amount of time I should wait before diving?

Thank you in advance for any responses.

 

[Ulfhedinn]

I do apheresis every 2 weeks on Thursday and usually dive on Friday and Saturday following. No issue yet.

 

[gotair?]

Thanks for the reply,This was actually my first time donating. I am not really familiar with apheresis, am I correct in thinking that they actually return your blood to your body? I guess after they extract ???

I do apheresis every 2 weeks on Thursday and usually dive on Friday and Saturday following. No issue yet.

 

[bleeb]

DAN recommends no less than 24 hours.

One thing to keep in mind (which you may already have wondered about) is that you'll loose some cardio capacity. This can affect how hard you should expect to work during a dive, how hard you might be able to work in an emergency, and even how well you generate heat in colder waters. If you're healthy, exercise regularly and eat a good and adequate diet, many donors I've talked to seem to be most of the way back to 100% exercise capacity in 7-10 days, although I personally don't think it's unreasonable to dive before then if you're feeling well. Just take it easy.

BTW, this assumes you did the standard 1 pint whole blood donation, which also takes the oxygen-carrying red blood cells, which affects exercise capacity. Apheresis donations are typically taking other blood components and returning your red blood cells to you, in which case exercise capacity shouldn't be significantly affected at all.

 

[japan-diver]

For easy dives if you are feeling fine after donating go dive- I have donated in the morning and dove in the afternoon. For bigger dives -cold, deco, currents - 24-48 hours should be fine.

 

[Pedro Burrito]

According to DAN:

[h=2]Diving After Donating Blood[/h][h=3]If I donate a pint of blood how soon afterward is it safe to dive?[/h]

Immediately following blood donation, the volume of circulating blood is reduced. Provided the donor eats and drinks normally, blood volume returns to normal within 24 hours. Diving within the first few hours after donating blood is not advisable because of the possibility that reduced blood flow could cause impaired inert gas washout after a dive, and thus an increased risk of decompression sickness. We have no reason to believe that it is necessary to wait more than 24 hours after donation before scuba diving.

DAN | Medical Frequently Asked Questions

This and deferrals were discussed in the following thread: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/diving-medicine/385299-arghhh-red-cross.html

I donate double red cells via apheresis every 112 days and have gone diving a few days after a donation. ​

 

[gotair?]

Thanks again for the info. I feel fine and it has been a couple weeks since I donated. It sounds like I should be good to go dive friday.
Good info to know for future donations as well. I would think each person will react differently to donating. I think just to be safe I will always try to wait at least one week. Anyways thank you thank you.

 

[Sas]

I was told 24 hours if no deco, 72 hours if I was doing a deco dive. I have not had problems diving the next day.

 

[DivemasterDennis]

I am going with Pedro Burrito on this one. DAN has not steered me wrong any time in the past 15 years of being a member.
DivemasterDennis

 

[bug catcher]

I donated blood and waited about 24 hrs and did 30 ft for 30 min/short surface int. about 15min/ 20 ft for 10min/ surfaced and back down to 25 ft for a few min and did 3 min safety stops on each ascent and got bent. Even shallow dives can cause a problem after giving blood although I shouldent have bounced as I did but I thought being shallow it would be ok