Exercising after giving blood

JeepHair77

I gave blood yesterday. I've given blood plenty of times, and never had any ill effects - I wasn't dizzy after or lightheaded or anything like that. Yesterday was no different. I ate well and slept well last night and felt normal this morning. Ate my normal amount of breakfast.

Lunchtime kickboxing class - I had to leave class after about 20 minutes. I felt weak, lightheaded. A little nauseous. WAY more tired than I usually would.

Normal? Maybe it's unrelated to blood donation - I don't know. Maybe I'm just getting sick (AGAIN!) But that's never happened to me before.

usmcmp

It can take me up to 3 days to feel normal when exercising after giving blood, especially if I've been cutting calories more aggressively than usual. It's not the same for everyone or for every blood draw.

TR0berts

usmcmp wrote: »

It can take me up to 3 days to feel normal when exercising after giving blood, especially if I've been cutting calories more aggressively than usual. It's not the same for everyone or for every blood draw.

Me, too. That's why I wait until I'm on a deload week to donate. That way, if I'm not feeling up for lifting, no problem.

eta: I've had times where I've been able to go to the gym (for light weight/volume) the next evening, others where I've had to take almost the entire week off.

apullum

It could very well be related to your blood donation. I don't have any health problems that would make it hard for me to give blood, but the last two times I tried, I nearly passed out. (As it turns out, people at the Red Cross are VERY quick to take care of you when that happens.) I was well hydrated, had recently eaten, and don't have a particular fear of needles. It just happens to some people. I would say rest up and see how you feel in a day or two. And thank you for donating blood!

usmcmp

TR0berts wrote: »

usmcmp wrote: »

It can take me up to 3 days to feel normal when exercising after giving blood, especially if I've been cutting calories more aggressively than usual. It's not the same for everyone or for every blood draw.

Me, too. That's why I wait until I'm on a deload week to donate. That way, if I'm not feeling up for lifting, no problem.

eta: I've had times where I've been able to go to the gym (for light weight/volume) the next evening, others where I've had to take almost the entire week off.

Yep. I feel guilty about not giving blood, but the way my training is set up at the moment I simply don't have enough days rest to be able to do it. I've also had a time where I had to take a week off. Giving platelets actually worked well for getting back into lifting quicker except my body has a negative reaction to the anticoagulant.

JeepHair77

Yeesh - I guess I'll have to be more careful next time. I haven't been cutting calories - in fact, I've probably eaten at a slight surplus the last week because of all the graduations and running around and whatnot we've been doing. This never happened before, but until recently, my only exercise was running. If I went for a run the day after, I'd slow down or walk for a while when I felt crappy, and I'd probably chalk it up to a crappy run - not ever reaching the "lightheaded, nauseous" stage.

I've always given blood, but about a year and a half ago, I had a health emergency of my own and had a blood transfusion - 2 units. I feel VERY strongly that I need to put those 2 units back!!!

StaciMarie1974

AS I understand it - it takes 2 days for the body to replenish the blood volume and weeks to replenish the red blood cells. I understand its normal to need to take it easy after.

I gave blood last week and was perfectly fine after. I even did my treadmill walk, though nothing strenuous. I think I was good because I was very well hydrated. No issues the day after either, but again my day to day is nothing strenuous.

canarysal

I'm at 71 donations so far. Only once made mistake of exercising few hours after, felt really faint! Can exercise following day fine. Think hydration on day of giving very important.

CSARdiver

Been a regular donor for close to 30 years now and never had an issue, but as previous posters have stated - everyone is different and every donation is different.

The US Cycling team released the results of the participant donations (they are all regular donors) and it took ~1-2 days to get back to peak performance after a donation. Surprising that there was little distinction between the apheresis and whole blood donors.

I especially remember...or don't... a blood drive hosted by a pub "Give a pint get a pint". Quite possibly the worst medical advice, but they broke all previous donation records by a wide margin. Put me down for two please.

Jruzer

I just did a double red yesterday, and I was dragging massively in the gym this morning. It might be psychosomatic, but I see no reason to push it, either.

peckchris3267

Due to a medical condition I had to give a pint of blood per week for 16 weeks. At the beginning it didn't effect me but towards the end I had to rest the day they took blood and the next day. I was usually fine after that.

JoRocka

usmcmp wrote: »

It can take me up to 3 days to feel normal when exercising after giving blood, especially if I've been cutting calories more aggressively than usual. It's not the same for everyone or for every blood draw.

yep. I always plan lighter lift days- a day or two after- I can't lift same day- I can barely dance. And the older I get the longer it takes to recover.

GiddyupTim

I donate blood quite often.
Sometimes it doesn't affect me at all. The next time I am fatigued going up the stairs afterwards.
I haven't figured anything out that predicts.

canadianlbs

i donated regularly for a while and had a bad experience only once, during my ride home from work a few hours later.

i know they check your [something] levels first, but something went wrong that time. i'd had blood drawn for other reasons a few days before the donation and a few days after it my gp phoned to tell me that my [whatever] was about 75% of the minimum level acceptable. so basically, i was probably anaemic already and i somehow got through their precaution net.

the other thing that affected me once was hydration level. i really had no awareness of being 'dehydrated' (and i wasn't, technically). but on that day they threw me out after almost a hour because my blood was too sludgy to fill up the bag. and whoa nelly i was tired for the rest of that day.

raquele3394

Blood sugar low?

Bianca42

I usually workout in the morning before donating and then either take the next day off or do a gentle yoga routine. I'm definitely not up for an intense workout for a couple days.