Yes, it's true. I went to give blood today and they, gasp, turned me away :-(
For the first time in my 27 years of giving blood my hemoglobin was too low. Grrr! When I was young I was once turned away for not weighing enough and once I almost passed out after giving, but NEVER has my hemoglobin been too low. No worries, folks, I'm not anemic or anything. It was 12.1, but the Red Cross requires it to be 12.5 or higher.
So now, the big question is "why?". One possible cause....believe it or not....TEA! Apparently tea has something called tannins in it. Apparently tannins get in the way of iron absorption, so the three cups of tea I had this morning (and the five or six cups i have every day) probably didn't help my iron levels.
So I will wait a month or so and try again, all the while eating lots of read meat, legumes and other high in iron foods.
I am rejected occasionally for my hemoglobin being too low. One time the nurse suggested not to drink coffee before giving. Coffee does not have tannins, it was the cafeine.
ReplyDeleteRemember those donating plasma days? So long ago! On another note we are playing phone tag with a social worker but we made the call- the first step! Scary but exited but mostly scary. We will see what happens.
ReplyDeleteI hope all is well. I forgot to write that.
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