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Carbon_Rod t1_jdxb01z wrote

I've donated about 10 gallons. Don't know how she was able to do it so consistently, as I keep getting deferred for low iron (ironically from donating so often), and usually women have lower iron levels than men.

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Dr-Retz t1_jdxb18c wrote

Bloodworth indeed,what an excellent person!

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falcon_driver t1_jdxdso4 wrote

Holy crap...did the police investigate? Where the hell did she come up with the other 21.5 gallons?!

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imgray95338 t1_jdxey28 wrote

I feel selfish for how happy I am when I donate blood. There really are no selfless deeds!

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JBatjj t1_jdxfh29 wrote

Did she change her name after donating so much, or was it more of a calling that she felt she had to live up to?

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ZenPokerFL t1_jdxj104 wrote

Replying to Carbon_Rod (#2,401,248)

I donate every 8 weeks and my iron levels are usually marginal, around 13.2-13.5 (lowest allowed is 13.0). I’ve started taking a daily iron supplement a few days before my donation date and have a steak for dinner the night before.

Interestingly, when I initially began donating my iron levels were 14+ and have trended down since then. It looks to have stabilized in the low 13s.

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Carbon_Rod t1_jdxk7xh wrote

Replying to ZenPokerFL (#2,402,455)

I donated every 56 days for years, until I was below 120 two donations in a row, and had to go on iron pills to build up my reserves. Iron pills, for me, are very unpleasant. I space out my donations now to every three months, and I still sometimes am below the minimum.

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expiredeternity t1_jdxqiyk wrote

So 50 years is 600 months.

"S"He donated ~every 2 months, so "S"he went ~300 times to donate blood.

The typical amount of blood donation is 1 pint.

So "S"he donated ~300 Pints of blood

There are 8 Pints in 1 gallon.

300/8 = ~37.5

"S" He donated closer to 37 gallons than 23 gallons

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reeny706 t1_jdyjxhh wrote

I would like to personally thank her, and anyone that does this. My kid had leukemia and needed a lot of blood or platelets. I was always thankful for the donors.

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SafariNZ t1_jdz3xd1 wrote

Replying to Carbon_Rod (#2,401,248)

I’m about the same amount but had to stop due to my iron being too high.
I did a full blood work up and EVERYTHING was good but other issues have slowed my donating.
I’m aiming for 111 donations.

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Treadcc t1_jdz41c4 wrote

Tell me if I'm wrong here but I always think about why this has to be a donation and this can't be something people get paid for. Isn't the hospital turning your donation right around into a profit? I'm not trying to dissuade charity but honestly this seems like something twisted to me.

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drengr84 t1_jdz5u7h wrote

Replying to lonewulf66 (#2,408,189)

I healed completely between blood donations; it's only every couple months. Plasma donations are much more frequent. I started looking like a heroine addict with all the needle scars. My employer decided to "randomly" drug test me.

If I remember right, plasma "donations" are up to twice a week (you donate blood and sell plasma). It's a long slow process, over an hour, compared to the 5 or 10 minutes donating blood.

Blood and plasma donation do not affect veins at all, other than a tiny amount of scar tissue from frequent plasma donation.

This isn't directed toward you, just hoping someone might read this who is afraid of donating.

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Helmann t1_jdz6667 wrote

"How often can you actually donate blood?" "Is there... a limit?" "I thought there was. Well, your body only has a certain amount."

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musicmad-123 t1_jdz6kuh wrote

Wow! I'm the UK women have to wait 4 months between donations. I wonder how they determined it was safe after only 56 days

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DumbbellDiva92 t1_jdzd7m1 wrote

Replying to Echo71Niner (#2,409,452)

IMO the American standard probably isn’t the best, feel like a lot of women would quickly become anemic by these standards. I know I did.

OTOH guess this lady did fine every 56 days? Maybe with really regular donors like that we should just be investing in periodic ferritin testing rather than focusing on setting an arbitrary timeline.

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NaiiaN6 t1_jdzhnta wrote

So she's a Vampire familiar.

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electricjeel t1_jdzk01t wrote

Bruh this makes me feel so fucking uncomfortable. 23 gallons got me feeling weak

1

Abbatoir0 t1_jdzntg2 wrote

Who is that guy, her Vampire husband?

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Jaggedmallard26 t1_jdzubp9 wrote

Replying to Treadcc (#2,410,974)

Donated Blood testing is done in bulk and paid donations attract donations from people desperate for money which tends to include drug addicts who are at significantly higher risk of diseases. By making it donation only you reduce the risk of people lying about their activities to donate. Paid plasma donation where the risk is significantly lower lead to the contaminated blood scandal and a lot of dead haemophilliacs.

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shruggedbeware t1_jdzynk9 wrote

Everyone knows adult humans have like 10 gallons of blood in their body, booooooooo

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DumbbellDiva92 t1_je00yyx wrote

Replying to musicmad-123 (#2,411,256)

This lady might also just be an outlier. I’m not convinced having the same limit for men and women like we do in the US is actually a good idea. I know I got anemic when I tried to donate as often as allowed. At minimum, periodic ferritin testing should be implemented if they are going to keep the recovery time that low.

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DumbbellDiva92 t1_je03wlc wrote

Replying to musicmad-123 (#2,415,929)

They test our hemoglobin before as well but that’s different from ferritin. Think you need more blood for that (can’t just use a finger prick), but you can sometimes have iron deficiency that doesn’t show up by that (but would show up as low ferritin).

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Treadcc t1_je08vo3 wrote

Replying to Jaggedmallard26 (#2,414,331)

Interesting. I think better screening would solve that issue. Just screen people and set them up for repetitive donations. Have a meeting a couple of weeks before they can donate, test their blood, and then clear them if they are good. Then this can still be a thing that helps people especially poverty stricken ones (without ailments).

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World_in_my_eyes t1_je0qm6y wrote

Replying to drengr84 (#2,411,173)

I donate platelets every month and I heal between donations, but I have small dark scars in the crooks of both arms. It’s especially bad right after I donate because it’s a double needle procedure and I’ll be rocking bruises and marks on both arms for a couple of days. The American Red Cross allows platelet donations every seven days, but that’s too much for my body.

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HRPuffnGiger t1_je17dh5 wrote

OP really missed their shot by not using the word "Bloodworth" in a pun

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DataWeenie t1_je4be41 wrote

Not that impressive. I'm up to about 19 gallons and she has 30 years on me. Where I used to donate there were a lot of ex-military people which let them donate every 4 weeks instead of every 8 weeks and the Red Cross would have printouts of the high donors and many were over 40 gallons.

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