Thursday, September 09, 2010

Donating Blood and the wonders of multivitamins



If you've been reading my blog for a while, you may know that I've been donating blood routinely for about 5 years now. I try to donate every 2-3 months. As strange as it sounds, it's something that I really enjoy doing. I have no problems with needles, or blood, so I feel like this is something I can easily do to help others.

Unfortunately, I found that after I donate 2-3 times in a row, my iron level would then be too low to donate for the next several months that I would try. It's not that I have low iron - it's just that it was just barely too low to donate. When I was able to successfully donate, it was only because my iron level was just barely high enough to qualify. This always bums me out. I hate being turned away. I keep the list of iron-rich foods that the blood bank gave me on my fridge, and I think I eat plenty of the things on the list.

I started taking multivitamins earlier this year. Can't remember when I started exactly, but maybe in February or March.

I just looked at my blood donation history, and I see that today marks my third successful donation since April! I was able to donate in April, June, and again today. The best part is, each time, my iron level was well above what it usually is - in a perfectly fine range.

I attribute this change to the vitamins I've been taking. They are multivitamins with iron, which I figure could only help. Apparently, it has! I'm pretty stoked that my iron level doesn't seem to be an issue anymore! :)

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