How Many Times a Year Can You Donate Blood
Altruistic claret regularly is safe and an of import public service — here's how often you can donate
- You should donate blood a max of half-dozen times per yr.
- You can donate platelets 24 times a year, and plasma 12 times a year.
- Meaning women, people with anemia, dementia, or HIV should not donate blood.
- Visit Insider'due south Wellness Reference library for more communication.
If you requite blood regularly, don't fret. Contrary to common misconceptions, blood donations are non associated with premature expiry or cancer. By donating blood, yous'll exist saving multiple lives.
Every two seconds, someone in the Usa needs some type of claret transfusion, and a single donation can save equally many as iii lives. Moreover, it's rubber to donate blood several times a year, and institutions use sterile equipment for each donor to eliminate the gamble of contracting infections.
That said, not everyone tin can get a claret donor. Certain health conditions may affect your eligibility to donate blood, such as dementia or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection.
Hither's what you need to know near how to become a blood donor safely.
How frequently can y'all donate blood?
When altruistic blood, there are several different ways to go about it. You lot can donate whole claret — everything in the vial. Or, yous can donate blood components like plasma, red blood cells, and platelets, where a automobile separates your blood into the various components and and then returns the leftovers to your torso.
The principal difference between each donation is how oft you tin can safely practice it.
"You lot can donate whole blood every 56 days or upwardly to 6 times a year," says Bruce Sachais, MD, PhD, master medical officer of the New York Blood Center. That's considering, "it takes the body four to viii weeks to supersede red blood cells," says Sachais." On the other hand, you can donate platelets and plasma more oft.
"Platelets may exist donated up to 24 times a year and plasma upward to 12 times a year," says Sachais. Y'all tin donate more than ofttimes because the body replaces plasma and platelets faster than crimson blood cells.
"Altruistic blood is a safe activity," says Tho Pham, MD, principal medical officer of the Stanford Blood Middle. However, if you donate too frequently, yous may develop anemia, a condition where your blood doesn't have enough crimson claret cells, he says.
"That'south one of the master reasons why nosotros cheque the donor's hemoglobin level before every donation [—] to ensure that information technology is high enough," says Pham. "Based [on] all-encompassing research over a long period, the FDA has established federal guidelines around how often and how much individuals can donate claret and so every bit not to compromise their health."
Who isn't eligible to donate claret?
Blood donors should unremarkably exist at least 18 years old, simply 16 to 17-year-olds may donate with written consent from their parent or legal guardian. At that place is generally no upper age limit, just some institutions crave a md's letter of the alphabet for donors above 75 years old.
"While about 38% of the U.s. population tin can donate blood, others may be ineligible for a wide variety of reasons designed to protect patients who may be receiving the donated blood products or fifty-fifty to protect the donors themselves," says Pham.
Some factors temporarily prohibit y'all from donating blood, such as:
- Pregnancy: Meaning individuals tin't donate blood because they need additional atomic number 26 during their pregnancy and considering meaning women tend to develop balmy anemia during their pregnancy. They need to wait six months after giving nascence before they can donate claret safely.
- Tattoos: If you recently had a tattoo in a country-regulated facility that used sterile needles and new ink, you lot can donate claret with no problem. Nevertheless, if your country does not regulate tattoo facilities, y'all'll accept to wait 3 months before donating claret to minimize the risk of spreading transfusion-transmissible infections such as syphilis or HIV.
- Medications: Taking sure medications makes you temporarily ineligible to be a blood donor, and the waiting period afterwards your terminal dose depends on the medication that y'all took. For example, you tin only donate claret vii days after y'all stopped taking blood thinners such as Coumadin or Warfilone, but y'all have to wait three years afterward your last dose of Soriatane, the oral retinoid treatment for psoriasis.
- Contempo travel: Visiting areas that are associated with a greater risk for mosquito-borne infections, such as malaria, dengue, and Zika virus, may keep you from donating claret either temporarily or permanently, depending on location.
At that place are enough of eligibility criteria to become a blood donor. If you're unsure whether or not you qualify, you can get in touch with a blood heart near you to walk you lot through your eligibility.
How to donate blood safely
Prior to your blood donation, there are several things y'all have to keep in mind, such equally:
"Since altruistic whole blood temporarily decreases the corporeality of scarlet blood cells, and therefore hemoglobin, in your organization, information technology's appropriate to take an iron supplement, peculiarly subsequently your donation, to give your body a little extra boost as it starts creating more red claret cells," says Pham.
Eating foods that are rich in vitamin C, such as citrus fruits, bell peppers, strawberries, helps you blot fe better.
Insider's takeaway
Yous can donate one pint of blood every eight weeks, and information technology will take your body four to eight weeks to replace the number of red blood cells that you lost. You might non be allowed to donate blood depending on your medications, contempo travel history, or certain health conditions like HIV, hepatitis B or C, or dementia.
Avert drinking alcohol and eating fat foods earlier your blood donation. Instead, get adequate sleep, drink enough of water, and swallow foods that are rich in fe and vitamin C to stay good for you and aid your body create more blood cells.
"Long-term donation is safe. Many claret donors donate regularly over decades without health issues. Proficient nutrition, including eating iron-rich foods, help ensure blood levels return after each donation," says Sachais.
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