Giving blood whilst on your period.

I know you hardly lose any blood whislt on your period but is it advisable? I mean, they do take a pin out of you...

this is probably a really stupid question.

Reply 1

Helenia

Unless you have really heavy periods and/or are anaemic because of them, it's fine.

Reply 2

Sparrow*Gal

well it would probably cause a lot of pain! ....well i think it would!
cos you get a lot of pain from periods so imagine what its like if you get blood sucked out of you at the same time!

Reply 3

Clare1986

I've done it before and its fine!

so it doesnt hurt?

thecatinthehat

I know you hardly lose any blood whislt on your period but is it advisable? I mean, they do take a pin out of you...

this is probably a really stupid question.

They actually take less than a pint of blood. It's called a pint of blood because they used to collect the blood in glass bottles that looked a bit like milk bottles - hence the term a pint of blood.

Giving blood during your period is absolutely fine! :smile:

Reply 6

Tednol

Sparrow*Gal

so it doesnt hurt?

It hurts a bit more than a normal injection. If you are worried about the pain just tell them and they will give you an anaestetic which is administered with a tiny needle which you hardly feel. After that, you can't feel the slightly larger needle going in.

Reply 7

Annik

ive done it before and felt fine.. its perfectly safe :biggrin:

i am gonna hurl!

as long as you feel ok when you give blood you should be ok. remember that on your period you actually only lose like 2 tbsp of blood.

does anyone know how long after surgery you can give blood? i looked on the leaflet my brother got sent the other day and it just said you might not be able to give blood because of it but didn't specify for how long

lou xxx

Reply 10

black_mamba

2 tablespoons? Urgh, trying to past the mental image but; that doesn't sound like much at all...(for me). :eek:

Reply 11

SammyD

I don't know how long exactly, it must depend on what you have done, but I know that you can't give blood if you received any during your operation. Phone 08457 711 711 or just ask the doctor. They'll talk you through your recovery, you can ask about it then.

Reply 12

Jenna999

Technically its fine but on my period my haemoglobin levels drop slightly to under the lowest acceptable level. It happened three times while I was on, my HB was 109 or something and it needs to be 120. Obviously this wont happen to everyone, but apparently it is more likely to happen to girls when they're on.

Reply 13

Coombe

it's fine because they do a pin pick test before you give to blood to check your haemoglobin levels...if you're too low, they wont let you give.

Reply 14

Magicam

Why don't you just give the blood FROM your period....that would solve the problem :biggrin:

don't be silly....

What? Seems like a fairly obvious suggestion to me.

Reply 17

Helenia

Wow, there are some idiots on this thread.

Sparrow*Gal

well it would probably cause a lot of pain! ....well i think it would!
cos you get a lot of pain from periods so imagine what its like if you get blood sucked out of you at the same time!

It's not "sucked" out, the only bit that hurts is the needle actually going in, and then the blood just flows out into the collecting bag. That part of it doesn't hurt at all.

Magicam

Why don't you just give the blood FROM your period....that would solve the problem

Oh don't be ridiculous. If you want a graphically detailed description of why this is a dumb idea, I can provide one, but I doubt you really do.

Reply 18

Magicam

Joking.....joking....

Reply 19

sugarwhirl89

The only reason why the injection would hurt more is because women become more sensitive to everything during their period (whether physical or emotional)- temperature, pain, etc. I had a blood test while I was on my period. The only thing that came of it was that I had to do it again one week later because they thought that there was something wrong with me since my haemoglobin levels were so low ^^.