I used to. “Why not?” would be the reason. I never felt anything at all afterwards. I would schedule my donations so I don’t have any hard exercise later the same day, but otherwise it wouldn’t impact my life at all.
I stopped after going to my GP for an entirely unrelated reason and being told that I had severely low iron levels. I don’t believe it was related to donating, but it does mean they couldn’t use my blood.
Each time you donate blood, you lose between 220-250 mg of iron. It may take up to 24-30 weeks for your body to replace the iron lost through a blood donation. That time may vary, depending on what your iron level was before donating and if you take iron supplements or multivitamins with iron.
AFAIK many people are fine (no symptoms) with having low iron levels.
I’m one of these people! The only downside I’ve ever noticed to being somewhat anemic is that I can’t always donate blood which irks me a little bit I guess it makes sense!
In the UK they’re unbelievably serious about it. If your iron levels are a fraction below their threshold you’re out and barred for 12 months (unless you get a blood test by your GP).
I used to. “Why not?” would be the reason. I never felt anything at all afterwards. I would schedule my donations so I don’t have any hard exercise later the same day, but otherwise it wouldn’t impact my life at all.
I stopped after going to my GP for an entirely unrelated reason and being told that I had severely low iron levels. I don’t believe it was related to donating, but it does mean they couldn’t use my blood.
You lose quite a lot of iron when donating blood:
AFAIK many people are fine (no symptoms) with having low iron levels.
I’m one of these people! The only downside I’ve ever noticed to being somewhat anemic is that I can’t always donate blood which irks me a little bit I guess it makes sense!
In the UK they’re unbelievably serious about it. If your iron levels are a fraction below their threshold you’re out and barred for 12 months (unless you get a blood test by your GP).