After work I went to the community center in town to donate blood for the American Red Cross. Unfortunately, I was not allowed to donate because of my my low hematocrit reading. Your hematocrit reading should be at 38% in order to be accepted as a blood donor, and mine was at 36%. I was so close, but not close enough! A low hematocrit level results from not having enough iron in your diet, which means I really need to start eating healthier. Even though I have started my cooking class (which is going well) I have still been eating very unhealthy. I feel like I never have enough time to prepare healthy meals, seven days a week.
Weather: very sunny, 74 degrees
Time: 20.24
Miles: 2 miles of the "speed work-out" and .5 mile warm up/cool down
*In the evening I met my cousin Karin and we played for tennis for almost an hour. What Fun! :)
Wednesday, August 18, 2004
Low Iron
Posted by April Anne at 8:58 PM
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7 comments:
Props for trying, at least. To the both of you.
Giving blood has always been hit or miss for me. My hematocrit the last two times has been 36, and I know I should be getting more iron, but I really have trouble eating meat, and I'm not a huge fan of the after-effects of beans! 36 isn't that low, though. I had my iron level tested at home, and it was just fine... no where near anemic (they say something around 30 or 32 gives you cause to worrying about anemia). -Dani, dani@manyfires.com
At least you tried...I mean, too many people won't do that.
I'm glad that cooking class is going well. That sounds like a lot of fun. I might have to look into one here because I sure could use some variety in my meals.
when did they start testing for iron when you give blood? I wonder if they do that up here now (it's been a few years since I gave)?
As long as I've been doing it (1990-present), they put a drop of blood in the Copper(II) Sulfate solution (vial of blue liquid) and see if it solidifies and sinks. If it does, you've got enough iron. If it doesn't, not enough. Never got a % reading. Were they doing it with some sort of meter this time?
Richard-Thanks for the Mexican food idea. Do you (or any one else) have any good/quick recipes?
Jank-You're right, they placed a drop of blood into some sort of reader machine, which gives an electronic percent reading. Technology never ceases to amaze me! (I'm not sure when they started testing for iron. It was only my second time attempting to give blood, so I don't know how things have changed over the years.)
I tried to give blood on April 1, 2005 and my iron level is at 24. My doctor said that is critically low! I never realized low iron was a problem for runners until now.
:(
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