I went to red cross today and my hemoglobin was to high to donate (20.5) their high limit is 20.0. It costs 200.00 to have a therapeutic draw so I’m hoping to hydrate more and maybe get it down a bit, I scheduled another appointment in two days. Any suggestions?? THANKS
Hydration can help if you were dehydrated. I find it best to schedule appointments in the late afternoon because (if you are like me) your are probably dehydrated in the morning hours after a long sleep with little water. My experience is that there can be about a 1 point difference between morning and afternoon hemoglobin levels. Also, I have lots of data from my PCP from morning fasting lab draws, and they show that my hematocrit is consistently <3X my hemoglobin, which indicates dehydration. I have a couple of afternoon lab draws from labs I have purchased myself that show hematocrit is about 3X hemoglobin or slightly higher. In a non-dehydrated state, your hematocrit should be 3X hemoglobin.
Also, I drink lots and lots of water and/or sugar free electrolyte drink on the drive to the donation center (as much as I can get down while driving). Keep in mind that it takes about 30 minutes for the fluid you drink to make it to your blood stream.
Finally, you should get on a regular schedule for blood donation and lot let your hemoglobin get out of hand. If this still does not help, it may be time to consider a dose reduction.
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After reading the link above I came away with a question, if aspirin thins your blood wouldn’t that have an effect on HGB levels much the same way that hydration does??
So I just got back from my blood donation attempt, it went good, my hemoglobin was 19.8, two days ago it was 20.4 and they turned me away (red cross) because the cut off is 20.0. Here’s what I did, maybe it could help others. I hydrated a lot starting about 36 hours before my draw just like two days ago, the difference was what I drank. The first try I drank water with electrolyte powder mixed in just to make it easier to drink. This time I found a product called LiquidIV, Hydration multiplier and used it the same way as my first attempt. The main difference is sodium, the liquid Iv has about 10 times as much. I also added more salt at dinner last night. Of course there’s no way to know for sure but I’ll be using it next time. I think the body tries to keep the salt/water ratio steady so if it takes in water it need to have sodium to make it salty, if you don’t have enough sodium and have extra water then it dumps the water in an attempt to keep the sodium/water ratio where it likes it.
Aspirin probably not a good idea, they flag for it on the questionnaire.