Blood Donation - How (and Why) To Donate Blood

* Donate Blood To Save Lives

People suffering from diseases like hemophilia or sickle-cell disease or thalassemia requires frequent blood transfusion.Your blood donation can save their lives and what would be better feeling in this world than that you saved someone's life.

*Donate Blood For Your Own Health

Excess Of blood in our body can lead to excess of iron.This iron result in formation of free radicals,which damage body cells and tissues.These free radicals can also become cause of many life-threatening diseases like cancer and several heart diseases

*Donate Blood To Reduce Body Fat

Blood Donation reduces the extra calories and reduce cholesterol level and fat in your body.The Decrease in red blood cells,after blood donation, result in decrease of calories count and fat.Our body reproduces new red blood cells and thus refreshes the whole body system.

*Donate Blood To Know Better About your blood and body

Before blood donation several test are carried out to make sure that the donor is not suffering from hepatitis B, hepatitis C, Syphilis, HIV/AIDS and malaria.Also your blood pressure,hemoglobin level and weight is checked to make sure that your body is in healthy conditions for donating blood.Thus you can keep a check on your body health.

There are 3 types of blood donation based on the recipient and donor relationship :-

1. If Donor gives blood to a blood bank for transfusion to unknown recipient than it is called allogeneic (or homologous) Donation.

2. If Donor gives blood to specific individual (often family member of friend) than it is called Directed Donation.

3. The Hybrid of above two donation is called Replacement donation.

Different Body Products are used for different uses.

Blood product

Main uses

Whole blood

Open heart surgery, newborns

Red blood cells

Trauma, anemia, surgery

Platelets

Cancer patients receiving chemotherapy

Fresh frozen plasma

Massive transfusions

Plasma

Burns

Cryoprecipitate

Hemophilia

Below is a chart that shows the distribution and requirement of several blood types.Group O is often cited as the "universal donor" but this only refers to red cell transfusions. For plasma transfusions the system is reversed and Group AB is the universal donor type.

Blood Type

Distribution of Blood Type in U.S. Population*

Percent of U.S. Population You Can Receive Red Blood Cells From

Percent of U.S. Population You Can Give Red Blood Cells To

O

38%

45%

84%

O -

7%

7%

100%

A

34%

85%

37%

A -

6%

13%

44%

B

9%

56%

12%

B -

2%

9%

15%

AB

3%

100%

3%

AB -

1%

16%

4%

Before Donating blood make sure that your body is in healthy conditions plus your donation goes by all the rules and laws of your country.

Minimum Health Conditions Required To Donate Blood :-

Your Hemoglobin level Should Not Be Low. Your Blood pressure Should Not Be Low.You Must not be suffering from hepatitis B, hepatitis C, Syphilis, HIV/AIDS and malaria.

Age and Weight Requirements :-

Your age and weight should be according to the rules and laws of your country for blood donation.Minimum age in most of the countries is 18 years and minimum weight is 110 lbs./50 kg.There is no specific rule for how old to donate blood.Many scientific experiments have proved that blood donation in old age re-energizes the donor.

Can You Donate Blood With a Tattoo :-

The Short Answer is Yes.The American Red Cross Tattoo Eligibility Guidelines for blood donation are as follows :-

"Wait 12 months after a tattoo if the tattoo was applied in a state that does not regulate tattoo facilities. This requirement is related to concerns about hepatitis. Acceptable if the tattoo was applied by a state-regulated entity using sterile technique. Only a few states currently regulate tattoo facilities, so most donors with tattoos must wait 12 months after tattoo application before donating blood. You should discuss your particular situation with the health historian at the time of donation."

How Much Blood Can you Donate :-

For Health measures and safety many blood drives asks for 1 pint (450 ml.) of blood from healthy person.An Adult Body has averag 10-12 pints of blood so it won't make any difference after blood donation.A Very Small percentage may feel temporary dizziness.

* Do not Donate blood for 24 hours,if you had a minor dental procedure.

* Drink A Lot of Water ( 6- 8 Glass) Before Donating Blood. (Follow This If you are donating plasma or platelets)

* Do Not Drink caffeinated drinks and other liquors as it will cause your body to repel water.

* Eat 3 Hours Before blood donation.

* Do not eat fatty foods and fast food 24 hours before donating blood.

* Eat Iron Rich Food Like rread, Muffins,Cereal,Water Melon, Strawberries, Bananas,Raisins, Dates, Prunes, Figs, Dried Apricots,Dark Leafy Greens and spinach FOR TWO WEEKS before blood donation.

* Drink healthy drinks and juice like Prune Juice, Tomato Juice, and Apple Juice.

* Rest For 5 - 20 Minutes on donation site after donating blood.

* Drink Water,Juice and light snack with high sugar so that you can recover your blood sugar.

* Avoid Works that require lots of physical attention,so that you don't faint.

* Eat Healthy Food (Continue with your diet that you followed before blood donation,mentioned above) For 1 week to recover red blood cells.

* Don't Drive after blood donation,in case you faint.

* Keep a check on your health.

* Don't exercise (Avoid Running bicycling and swimming) for 24 hours after donating blood.

* The healthy time period between two consecutive blood donation should be minimum of 56 days (8 weeks).

* Avoid consuming alcohol until you have eating something

* Don't smoke for next 30 minutes.

* If fainting or dizziness occurs, either lie down or site with the head between the knees

* If there is bleeding from the phlebotomy site, raise the arm and apply pressure

* Remove bandage next day and Resume all normal activities if no symptoms occur

James Harrison (Order Of Australia Medal Winner) Holds the world record of maximum number of blood donations (at least 1000 times) in his entire life.He is Australian and was born in 1935.

The Birth of The Noble Cause :-

At the age of 13, he underwent a major chest surgery to extract a lung with metastasized pneumonia, and required 13 liters of blood. After surgery, he was in the hospital for three months. Realizing that the blood had saved his life, he made a pledge to start donating blood as soon as he turned eighteen.

A Blood Donor Who Saved Two Million Babies :-

After Few Donations he discovered that his blood contained a rare antibody that prevents infants who receive his blood from dying of Rhesus disease, a deadly form of anemia.The uniqueness of his blood also created the Anti-D vaccine. When he originally began donating blood, his life was insured for one million dollars.His blood has helped to save around two million babies with hundreds of thousands of women being treated with his antibodies.