Life can get saved by donating blood. It’s an upfront, unselfish, and nearly painless method to assist your local community or victims of a faraway tragedy. According to gather data in the United States, a patient requires a blood transfusion every two seconds, and a single donation can save up to three lives. Furthermore, donating Blood multiple times a year is safe, and institutions utilize clean equipment for each donor to diminish the danger of infection. However, not all people can be blood donors. If you have dementia or an HIV infection, you may not be able to give blood. A widespread concern is, “How often can you donate blood?”. Is it possible to donate blood while you’re sick? Continue reading to get the answers to these and other questions.
Who can donate blood?
Before answering, “How often can you donate blood?” Let us see who can donate blood. Any blood donation involves a brief physical examination. It is to guarantee that the person is eligible to donate blood. A person must be in good general health and in good spirits to donate blood. We have listed some of the scenarios in which blood donation is permissible.
- Donors of whole blood must weigh at least 110 pounds. All high school donors and those who are 18 years old or younger must fulfill extra weight restrictions. The amount of excess weight a person needs is dependent on their height.
- You can donate blood if you have high blood pressure as long as your blood pressure gets managed with medication.
- Your blood sugar levels should be within acceptable limits, and you should be in generally excellent health.
- A person with a tattoo might give blood if the tattoo was done by a state-regulated institution using sterile needles and non-reusable ink.
- The National Institutes of Health recommends freeing you of cold and flu symptoms for at least 48 hours before giving blood.
Types of Blood Donations
There are four different forms of blood donations, each with its own set of restrictions for donors.
Platelets
Platelets are blood clotting cells that help to stop bleeding. It can get donated up to 24 times per year or once every seven days.
Whole blood
It is the most convenient and versatile option. Red, white, and platelets make up whole blood, which gets suspended in plasma. Every 56 days, most people can provide complete blood, according to the American Red Cross.
Red Blood Cells
Most people have to wait 112 days between red blood cell donations. It is the critical component of blood used during blood product transfusions during surgery. This sort of blood donation is only allowed to get done three times a year. Red blood cell donation is limited to two times for male donors younger than 18 years old
Plasma
Plasma donations are made every 28 days to 13 times per year on average.
How often can you donate blood?
According to the American Red Cross, healthy donors should donate whole blood cells every 56 days (8 weeks) or Power Red every 112 days (16 weeks). Power Red donation is a way of donating two units of blood cells in one donation while also receiving your platelets and plasma back.
A healthy donor can donate platelets up to seven days apart, but only 24 times per year. During a platelet donation, both arms can ger utilized. The blood gets taken by one arm and passed through a specific machine. The platelets get extracted, and the other blood components get returned to the other arm.
Medication and Blood donations
Certain medicines may prevent you from donating, either permanently or temporarily. If you’re on antibiotics, for example, you won’t be able to give blood. You may be able to donate once your antibiotic treatment gets completed.
The items on the following list may have an impact on your ability to donate blood. It all depends on how long it’s been since you last took it. These are just a handful of the medicines that could prevent you from donating blood.
- oral psoriasis medication, such as Soriatane (acitretin)
- rheumatoid arthritis medication leflunomide (Arava)
- Blood thinnersAnticoagulant and antiplatelet drugs
- Vismodegib (Erivedge) and sonidegib are two medicines used to treat basal cell carcinoma skin tumors (Odomzo)
- Hair loss and benign prostate hypertrophy medication Finasteride (Propecia and Proscar)
- Antibiotics to treat an active acute infection
- Acne treatments Isotretinoin (Accutane)
The Importance of Blood Donation
Now since we know the answer to “How often can you donate blood?” We need to understand why blood donation is essential. Today, most medical treatment relies on a constant supply of blood from donors since one out of every seven patients admitted to a hospital needs blood. As cancer care advances, so make the demand for blood and platelet donations.
All health-care institutions must have enough blood to satisfy the urgent demand for patients suffering from trauma and other life-saving treatments such as blood transfusions, saving millions of lives each year. As stated above, donating blood is a quick and painless process and it takes no more than one hour.
Takeaway
We hope we have answered your question about Blood donation. It is a simple way to assist others and might potentially save lives. Every 56 calendar days, people in excellent health can give whole blood. Donating blood may be challenging due to your medicines, travel history, or other health issues.
Before donating blood, avoid consuming alcohol and eating fatty meals. To stay healthy and help your body generate more blood cells, get enough sleep, drink lots of water, and consume foods high in iron and vitamin C.
Consult your doctor or a local blood donation facility to see whether you are qualified to donate blood. You can also check with your local blood donation center to see whether specific blood types are in great demand.
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