Blood donation

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Mtns2Skies

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Mtns2Skies
Any specific regulations on a time frame between donating blood and flying? If no approximately how much time to fully recover and/or stop feeling adverse affects? aka, ~ how long until it is safe to fly?

I haven't given blood in a while because of the fear that I would not be able to fly for a good amount of time afterwards.
 
Our company manual at work requires a 72 hour wait. That might be a little overkill but that's the way it is.
 
There is no regulation, but when I asked that question of the Regional Flight Surgeon, the answer was 48 hours recommended.
 
Everskyward said:
Our company manual at work requires a 72 hour wait. That might be a little overkill but that's the way it is.
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For some people it may be overkill, but for enough people it's not really that I pretty much agree with 72 to cover emergencies since it could impact the time you have available to don O2 after decompression. For unpressurized planes and pilots on O2, not so critical, 48 hrs should be well and plenty.
 
72 hours was what I got from USAF flight surgeon for flight in the flight levels, for the reasons Henning mentioned. I got the impression that Time of Useful Conciousness (TUC) was diminished for 72 hours after a normal donation.

This was ten years ago during an altitude chamber ride.
 
I have dinner with a doctor friend of mine a couple of times a year. HE's not my doctor. Yet technically I'm visiting a health professional. No, I don't report it. I don't report blood donations either.
 
When donating blood with Red Cross I have always been given an information sheet after the donation asking not to pilot an aircraft for 72 hours.
 
DanielH said:
When donating blood with Red Cross I have always been given an information sheet after the donation asking not to pilot an aircraft for 72 hours.
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Welcome to PoA!
Thanks everyone for the info. I'll use 3 days as a rule of thumb. For some reason I had it in my head that it would be several weeks for full recovery. I'll get to donating, I do have O+ afterall, universal donor.
 
Actually, Type O neg is universal donor (has none of the big antigens), while AB pos is the universal acceptor. Still, it's great that you donate.
 
Mtns2Skies said:
Welcome to PoA!
Thanks everyone for the info. I'll use 3 days as a rule of thumb. For some reason I had it in my head that it would be several weeks for full recovery. I'll get to donating, I do have O+ afterall, universal donor.
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For FULL recovery, that is correct, that however is not necessary.
 
So basically, what I take away from this thread is I can't fly within 48 hours after mountain biking.
 
I have been giving blood since I was old enough. I'd certainly give great pause to do it in under a day. After I started running I found that I was no good for distance work for a couple of days after a donation. I don't know if that's due to low red count or just general dehydration.

Now I generally do double reds. Great thing about that is that they not only give you back your plasma and platelets, but they throw in some extra IV fluid in the process. I no longer feel I have to have a few drinks before I leave the donation center. Cuts down on the number of donations per year as well. Maybe next time I'll have Margy fly the next day and put my finger in the pulse ox and see what my sats are.
 
AcroBoy said:
Actually, Type O neg is universal donor (has none of the big antigens), while AB pos is the universal acceptor. Still, it's great that you donate.
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And in a shortage, or major pinch, we will give O pos to someone and deal with the consequences later.. (we have jedi mind tricks we play on the immune system to think it never happened) :yes: If you aren't a woman of childbearing age, the risks of an Rh mismatch are minimal down the road.
 
Mtns2Skies said:
Welcome to PoA!
Thanks everyone for the info. I'll use 3 days as a rule of thumb. For some reason I had it in my head that it would be several weeks for full recovery. I'll get to donating, I do have O+ afterall, universal donor.
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Plasma volume is usually restored after 24 hours. You are correct that it takes weeks to restore previous hemoglobin/hematocrit values (and corresponding oxygen delivery capacity). 3 days is likely overkill, because if you were donating, you were NOT anemic to begin with, and BARELY anemic after donation... so once the volume is replaced you should be good to go.
 
They still use a lot of O+ even though it IS the most common blood type. It can be given to any other positive recipient (which is most of them). Since in most cases you still crossmatch the donor and recipient blood, they don't need to resort to O neg by default.
The one exception is newborns which you can't get a good type on. My favorite IV tech always points out I have the "baby blood" since I am both O- and CMV neg. It gets dumped into a different kind of donation kit because of where it is bound.
 
TMetzinger said:
72 hours was what I got from USAF flight surgeon for flight in the flight levels, for the reasons Henning mentioned. I got the impression that Time of Useful Conciousness (TUC) was diminished for 72 hours after a normal donation.

This was ten years ago during an altitude chamber ride.
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When I flew air ambulance for a hospital the hospital policy was 72 hrs as well.
 
In a normal, non iron-deficient human, phelgbotomy results in two disturabance: (1) The intravscualr volume takes about 24-48 hours to replete, as the proteins are sucked out as well, and they maintain volume.

The loss of red cells is usually compensated in the healthy adult by the release of almost-mauture red cells from the bone marrow (reticulocytes). But this takes a few days, not hours.

So the physiologic answer would be around >2 days, not any less....
 
So I should actually be better off with my plasma pheresis which gives me almost all of my platelets and plasma back (and maybe about a few hundred ml of normal saline to make up the difference) than if I gave whole blood?
 
flyingron said:
So I should actually be better off with my plasma pheresis which gives me almost all of my platelets and plasma back (and maybe about a few hundred ml of normal saline to make up the difference) than if I gave whole blood?
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Henning said:
What about the other way around when you give plasma and get the rest back?
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I've also wondered both, but are either as helpful to the patient/hospitals/redcross/military as donating whole blood?
 
Mtns2Skies said:
I've also wondered both, but are either as helpful to the patient/hospitals/redcross/military as donating whole blood?
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The place I do double reds says it is indeed very helpful to them. For me it means I only have to donate every 16 weeks. In addition to flying, it kind of kills the weekend (if I do it late in the week) for my long runs. They will only do it for the O negs and a few others.
 
Henning said:
But how much negative effect do you think the loss of just the plasma would have in that 48hrs, especially if you make up volume with saline?
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Saline and other ordinary fluids are called crystalloids in medical parlance. They remain in the vascular space a relatively short period of time.. couple hours at most... usually less. Its a temporary measure, and in a healthy person the excess fluid either passes into the tissues or is excreted by the kidneys. Saline replacement after transfusion gives minimal and temporary protection against lightheadedness/dizziness that may result from the lost blood volume.

Plasma, blood and other subtances with large protein molecules are called colloids in medical parlance. They are too large to easily pass through the capillary walls in the tissues and kidneys so they tend to stay in the blood vessels, and they exert an osmotic "pull" to help keep fluid in the vessel with it.

My point I'm trying to make is that any saline replacement given after the donation is already gone from the vascular space before you go to bed that night and is not a factor a couple days down the road. Some fluids are expected to leave the space in minutes, let alone hours, and we use those fluids in people (sick people) who cant tolerate excess fluid well.

You would be better served drinking plenty of fluids/fluid loading, particularly on the day of event. Anything in excess of your needs will pass right on through. Your oxygen delivery capacity will still be diminished, and your heart will make up for it by increasing the heart rate, within limits. Most healthy people have a significant cardiovascular "reserve" capacity that they can dip into without major impairment. The blood/volume loss dips into that reserve, and its typically not a major deal. Of course, the older you get or if you have significant cardiovascular disease, this "reserve" starts to disappear. Which explains how someone comes down with pneumonia and suffers a heart attack from the physiological stress of the illness.
 
The saline consumption the pheresis is minimal. While they hang a liter bag, most of it was still in the bag at the end of the sequence. Nearly all of the plasma and platelets goes back into the donor. It may be the saline is consumed by other parts of the apparatus.
 
flyingron said:
The saline consumption the pheresis is minimal. While they hang a liter bag, most of it was still in the bag at the end of the sequence. Nearly all of the plasma and platelets goes back into the donor. It may be the saline is consumed by other parts of the apparatus.
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The biggest use is to prime the tubing of the apparatus.
 
Before I was stationed in the UK in the early eighties, I donated blood regularly. Since then, I've been told thanks but no thanks. Could it be because of Chernobyl or mad cow disease, both of which were headline news when I lived abroad?
 
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