anyone donating blood plasma while on keto?

Freischuetz

i started to donate blood plasma, but since i am on keto my blood pressure is low (usually around 105/75).

with my weight i should give 850 ml plasma, but at 820 ml i almost passed out and machine stopped cause my blood pressure went low.

i needed five hours to feel somehow „normal“ after this.

does anyone have knowledge about it and what can i do, to regenerate faster?

Fyreside

This reminds me to check my BP. I can't help with your question sorry.. Major needle phobia proves to be a barrier I'm yet to overcome. I will be following this topic to see what people report.

KnitOrMiss

Possibly increase your sodium and fluid intake prior to donating?

tcunbeliever

I don't donate plasma, but I do donate whole blood, and have done so both as low carb and keto. My blood pressure is usually 90/60 or lower - in order to ensure it is high enough to donate I will have 4 shots of espresso (caffeine increases BP) and take the stairs...doing this I can usually get a BP reading around 100/65 at the time of donation. I think the highest I have ever managed was around 112/70.

I try to donate around 9-10am. I do at least 2 doses of salt prior to donation, 4+ cups of water, and I try to eat some cheese or eggs that morning - usually I do not eat breakfast, so for me this is a challenge, but I feel better if I don't donate on an empty stomach.

Immediately after donation I always drink the orange juice - I don't know why it makes me feel better, but it does, and I know it's not keto, but I don't care because it makes me feel better. None of the other juices though, just the 8oz OJ. I skip the other snack offerings and I usually try to eat some peanut butter instead. Then the rest of the day I am not terribly strict about calories, if I go over a bit because I'm hungrier than normal, then I go over a bit.

Keep up the salt, make sure you eat, maybe try some caffeine to boost bp, feed your body...hopefully you can find a tip or trick that will help.

AND THANK YOU FOR YOUR DONATIONS!!!

Freischuetz

thank you for your insight, i will try next time for sure and i will drink some salt during donation too.

how long you need to recover, or lets say to feel normal after donation?

tcunbeliever

Usually I go to bed early the night of donation, because I'm tired, and by the next morning I feel pretty much back to normal. Might be tired for a few days and if so I just try to get to bed a little earlier than normal.

Depending on where the donation day falls in relation to my weight lifting schedule, I might see some drops in performance, but nothing major...just might tire out faster and have to lower the weights a bit to finish the routine.

auntstephie321

I agree with knit you need sodium. I have naturally low bp its never an issue donating blood as long as I don't try to rush getting up. but when low carb it tends to drop pretty low and if I were to donate during those times it would be really rough. try drinking some ketoade leading up to it see if that helps any

RAC56

Another vote for sodium.

tayusuki

I'm amazed you guys haven't had them complain at you. When I've gone to donate plasma, we are told not to eat fat. I didn't listen and it was a terrible experience! It hurt and the machine kept messing up, and they said I was clogging it because if the fat in my blood.

On topic, salt and water. Don't overexert yourself either. I had to walk a mile just after donating once when I locked my keys in my car and almost fainted.

goatlady6

I WISH I could donate! I keep getting differed cause my hemoglobin is low.

ut26a22

I am all for donating and encourage anyone who safely can to do so but the reason that there are guidelines for blood pressure to donate are for your safety. No donor technician wants to jeopardize a patient and we worry when our patients have reactions or poor outcomes. Also, those events have to be tracked and reported to the FDA. If you can get your blood pressure into a safe to donate and healthy range with liquids and salt then I would suggest that you should try to maintain that type of intake regularly, it is probably much better for you. And temporarily elevating your blood pressure so that you can donate is a recipe for a really bad reaction that could be very dangerous to you and to others if it occurs after you leave the donation site and are driving home.

Sunny_Bunny_

tayusuki wrote: »

I'm amazed you guys haven't had them complain at you. When I've gone to donate plasma, we are told not to eat fat. I didn't listen and it was a terrible experience! It hurt and the machine kept messing up, and they said I was clogging it because if the fat in my blood.

On topic, salt and water. Don't overexert yourself either. I had to walk a mile just after donating once when I locked my keys in my car and almost fainted.

There shouldn’t be a lot of fat in your blood if you’re metabolizing it for energy.
There may be some sneaky sugars or starches in your low carb diet preventing your body from utilizing those fats.

tcunbeliever

I've never had anyone ask about my fat consumption for whole blood donation - I had to google that, apparently they recommend no fatty foods for 3 hours prior to plasma donation because the recently digested fat is circulating in your blood for that time period. Things you learn on the interwebs!

I'm a fan of temporarily boosting my blood pressure to donate - the blood pressure drop from donation is equally temporary, a few glasses of water later your body stabilizes, long before the caffeine has worn off. But I wouldn't drive if I was feeling woozy (for any reason, not just donation). I've been donating for over 20 years, so far no problems other than sometimes deferral due to iron levels. I get to donate to babies, sometimes I get a free t-shirt, for January they are giving us socks - what's up with socks as a donation gift, seems weird, hope they are warm.

soechsner09

I'm glad to see this thread. I used to donate blood regularly, but haven't in a long time due to my work schedule and not being able to find a drive that worked for me. So, I started donating plasma because I could make that work (also my dad had a stroke in Nov. and the neuro ICU nurse let me know they utilize plasma up there regularly). However, when I first began it went really smoothly but later donations were more difficult with the machine stopping or having to switch arms/adjust the needle. To be fair I wasn't keto when I began donating, but I am now. Low blood pressure hasn't been an issue for me at all either. I'll have to try out extra salt/water and see if that helps.

chinatowninchina

I'm from the UK and have given blood all my life, (my 18th birthday my parents who both gave blood regularly took me to a session to do my first donation!!) It's a free donation in the UK as I believe it is in the USA. Anyhow I've never had any problem Keto or not. We are told to have a light meal and drink plenty of fluids beforehand, while you wait there are drinks available to encourage you to keep your fluids up. Once you've given blood you have to sit for a short while and have a drink again. Also I'm pretty sure our blood, once taken, is separated out in to plasma and many other factors and used as needed so I've never heard of specific plasma donation so can't comment on that part, just the keep up the fluids part!

Freischuetz

i donated again today and everything went just fine!

i eaten much more as last time one hour before, and drinked a lot of water with salt, even 1/2 ltr during donation.

thx all for the nice help!