Tired after donating blood?

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AmberMagdalena
AmberMagdalena Posts: 461 Member
in Motivation and Support
I donated blood on Tuesday afternoon (two days ago now) and I'm really feeling tired today. I took Tuesday off from exercise and had a night high iron meal of extra lean beef and broccoli. I went to my normal Zumba class last night and when i came home, I was wiped out! I barely had energy to get a shower. I went to bed about an hour early, and today I am just feeling too tired. I took some extra B-12 and couple extra egg whites, but I'm just not able to shake this today. I guess my question is does anyone have any suggestions on how I can recover faster? I have extreme Zumba class every day for the next 8 days, and I'd really like to press on and finish this.

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  • leslisa
    leslisa Posts: 1,350 Member
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    Maybe it's coincidence and you are coming down with something? I have huge issues giving blood and it still doesn't take me 2 days to recover.
  • cori5128
    cori5128 Posts: 1 Member
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    I have a family member being kept alive by transfusions from generous donors and so first I thank you ....
    The humgan body normally takes 3 days to generate blood cells , so it will be at least that before your red blood cells are at their normal level. Drink lots of fluids, eat dark greens, and other foods containing iron. You'r energy will return soon...
  • Elimac49
    Elimac49 Posts: 6
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    I donated blood last night and feel the same I am taking more fruit as your blood level drops after giving blood and I tend to be on the lower blood level so along with iron foods you could add some glucose foods.
  • ZoeyRobinson
    ZoeyRobinson Posts: 301
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    I used to donate blood but I felt major fatigue and dizziness afterwards. Turns out I was anemic and can no longer donate blood.
  • KitTheRoadie
    KitTheRoadie Posts: 641 Member
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    First off congratulations on doing such a selfless good thing! I love donating and just wish I could do it more often and the body would recover quicker!

    As far as I understood it, it takes up to 8 weeks for your body to return to it's normal red blood cell level, this is why you have to wait a minimum of twelve weeks (in the UK) before you can donate again.

    I'm a keen cyclist and I normally have to take a couple of days off the bike to let my body recover a bit. It sounds like you're doing the right thing food wise, as with the carrying on with your extreme Zumba class, well I would go and just see how it feels. Keep your fluids up and you should be fine, if you feel at all dizzy or light headed, rest and maybe take it easy for a couple more days.

    :smile:
  • Renae_Nae
    Renae_Nae Posts: 935 Member
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    It's normal. I've learned a good smoothie while I'm giving and eating a ton extra for the rest of the day helps but I'll still pass out and take a nap lol. The best thing you can do is listen to your body and let it recover. And true recovery time is 60 days (which is why you have to wait to give more!) If you do platelets only it's much faster (about 3 days).

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