Refreshment and Recovery. Enjoy the feeling of accomplishment knowing you are helping to save lives. Take a selfie, or simply share your good deed with friends. It may inspire them to become blood donors. What Happens After My Donation? A person can usually return to most daily activities within a few hours of donating blood. There are a few ways to help the body recover.
Certain foods and drinks, for example, can help with recovery from blood donation. Also, there are some activities to avoid immediately afterward. In this article, we look at how long recovery takes, what to do after donating, what to avoid, possible adverse effects, and when to see a doctor. During a standard donation a person donates whole blood. It contains red cells, white cells, platelets, and plasma. After donating whole blood, a person often sits and relaxes for about 15 minutes.
An attendant may offer water, juice, or snacks to help prevent or address any fatigue or dizziness. When the person feels ready, they can return to most of their usual activities, often within a few hours. The body makes around 2 million red blood cells every second. Still, it may take a few weeks to replace the pint of blood drawn during a donation. In the meantime, few people feel any effects of the lack of blood. A person must wait at least 8 weeks between donations to ensure that their body has enough time to recover.
Donating blood lowers levels of key nutrients the body. By eating and drinking certain foods, a person can help their body recover. The blood contains iron, and each donation may cause the body to lose — milligrams of the mineral. Eating iron-rich foods can help replenish levels of the mineral in the blood. Foods that contain plenty of iron include:. Vitamin C helps the body absorb iron, so it is also a good idea to eat foods rich in the vitamin, such as citrus fruits, bell peppers, and tomatoes.
Like iron, B vitamins , including B-2, B-6, and B-9, help create new red blood cells. Some dietary sources of B vitamins include :. People with vegetarian or vegan diets may benefit from taking a B vitamin supplement if they find it difficult to get enough from their diet. There are also cookies available for a snack. A skilled, professionally trained staff member will collect your blood.
Except for a slight sting when the needle is inserted, you should not experience any pain during the donation. Your body will replace the blood volume plasma within 48 hours. It will take four to eight weeks for your body to completely replace the red blood cells you donated. The average adult has eight to 12 pints of blood. To help keep everyone attending Red Cross blood drives and visiting blood donation centers safe as COVID cases are surging again, the Red Cross requires all blood donors, staff and others to wear a face mask regardless of their vaccination status.
For example, what if they have a medical condition that makes it difficult or impossible to wear a mask? Valve face masks protect the individual wearing the mask, but do not protect those who come into contact with them. The Red Cross is committed to ensuring the safest environment possible for all those who engage in our lifesaving mission. If a donor or staff would like to wear a valve mask, they will need to place an additional mask, such as a surgical mask or cloth mask, over the valve mask while at the blood drive.
An antibody test screens for antibodies in your blood. An antibody test assesses whether your immune systems has responded to the infection, not if the virus or infection is currently active. A positive test result indicates that you were likely exposed to the virus, regardless of whether you experienced symptoms or received a COVID vaccine.
Individuals who receive a positive or reactive test result may be contacted by the Red Cross to request additional information and conduct further testing as part of a research study. An antibody test assesses whether your immune systems has responded to the infection, not if the virus is currently present. This test measures total antibodies, unlike some tests that measure a single antibody. A positive result indicates that an individual may have had previous exposure to the virus that causes COVID and their body has developed specific antibodies to the virus.
However, antibody tests are not perfect. On Sept. As standard practice, the Red Cross does not reveal the identity of an individual in relation to their test result unless required by law and data are most often supplied in aggregate. However, based on previous data during other coronavirus outbreaks, such as SARS, antibodies remain detectable in blood for many months, but levels start to slowly decline soon after infection clears.
Antibody loss may be quicker in persons with mild illness or who have had no symptoms. To that end, upon request, we have shared summary, de-identified testing data with 28 state health authorities. The Red Cross only discloses testing data as required by law. In fact, there are currently studies to understand if there may be some level of benefit to the patient.
Currently, our primary efforts are the prioritized expansion of red blood cell and platelet collections to meet surging hospital demand and have discontinued our convalescent plasma program. We will continue to monitor the situation in the context of emerging information, the evolution of the pandemic, and hospital demand to determine if we should resume our convalescent plasma program in the future.
An EUA is used by the FDA to allow more timely access to medical products and devices to help respond to a public health crisis and protect the health and safety of the public. At the end of the public health emergency or if the product receives formal FDA approval or clearance, the EUA will be terminated. The phrase FDA-approved is strictly limited to those items that have completed the rigorous FDA trial and review process.
Per standard procedures, only successful donations are sent to our laboratory for testing. Another less common explanation for a reactive result is that both tests were unable to completed.
It takes one to three weeks after the first does COVID vaccine to reach a detectable level of antibodies. As with all tests, false positives, or a test result that incorrectly states the presence of antibodies, can occur. The Red Cross may contact the donor to request additional information and may test the sample for additional test results. And how can donors access test results? Certain blood characteristics are inherited making them more likely to be found within certain donor groups.
These matched blood products provide a more compatible unit for transfusion to patients in need. In some cases, this is because the Red Cross immunohematology-reference laboratory may have previously tested their donation for sickle cell trait at the request of a hospital to fulfill a specific product need. In these cases, the donor may have received a previous result of negative or positive. While the Red Cross will work to resolve many inconsistent results, portion will remain inconsistent.
Carrying the sickle cell trait does not mean that an individual has sickle cell disease. Individuals who only carry the sickle cell trait are eligible to donate blood. This screening is performed on a blood sample given during the standard donation process to look for the presence of an abnormal type of hemoglobin, called hemoglobin S or sickled hemoglobin, a key indicator of sickle cell trait.
This means it is likely the individual inherited one sickle cell gene and one normal gene from their parents. If an individual receives a positive result, they should consult their medical provider to discuss their test results and pursue additional confirmatory diagnostic testing. We are also looking into other possible funding sources. While, carrying the trait does not mean that an individual has sickle cell disease, health experts recommend that individuals with sickle cell trait be aware of their status and consult their medical provider on what it means for them.
In general, many individuals who carry the sickle cell trait have no medical problems related to sickle cell trait. However, these screening are not perfect. As with all tests and screening, false results, or a screening result that incorrectly states the presence of abnormal hemoglobin, can occur. This is why those who receive a positive result are encouraged to consult their medical provider for confirmatory testing and discuss what their results mean for them.
Like other blood donation screenings, sickle cell trait screening is part of the blood donation testing process which occurs at no charge to the donor. In addition, this screening helps the Red Cross identify compatible blood types to help sickle cell patients more quickly. Per standard donation procedure, only successful donations are sent to our laboratory for screening.
This means that the individual is likely not a sickle cell trait carrier.
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