The benefits and harms of donating blood: 12 misconceptions about donation

What to eat before donating blood

For two days, do not drink alcoholic beverages; the day before, exclude fatty, fried, spicy, smoked, dairy products, eggs, butter from your diet; it is recommended - sweet tea, jam, bread, crackers, dried cereals, boiled cereals, pasta in water without oil, juices , fruit drinks, compotes, mineral water, vegetables, fruits (except bananas).

Compliance with these requirements is especially important if you are donating platelets or plasma. Neglecting them will not allow high-quality separation of your blood (separation of the necessary components) and will make donation impossible.

Regular donation is addictive

In this case, we can talk about addiction only in the sense of increased resistance of the body to various stresses, diseases and negative influences of the external environment. Thus, regular blood donation teaches the body to quickly replenish blood loss, which can play a positive role in the event of an injury or illness from which no one is immune.

It has been clinically proven that donation reduces the risk of developing cardiovascular pathologies. Some men note that regular blood donation has a positive effect on potency.

List of contraindications to donating blood and its components

I. ABSOLUTE CONTRAINDICATIONS (withdrawal from donation, regardless of the duration of the disease and treatment results)

Blood-borne diseases:

1. Infectious:

• AIDS, HIV carriers and people at risk (homosexuals, drug addicts, prostitutes);
• Syphilis, congenital or acquired;
• Viral hepatitis, positive test result for markers of viral hepatitis (HBsAg, anti-HCV antibodies);
• Tuberculosis, all forms;
• Brucellosis;
• Typhus;
• Tularemia;
• Leprosy;

• Parasitic:
• Echinococcosis;
• Toxoplasmosis;
• Trypanosomiasis;
• Filariasis;
• Guinea worm;
• Leishmaniasis;

Somatic diseases:

1. Malignant neoplasms;
2. Blood diseases;
3. Organic diseases of the central nervous system;
4. Complete absence of hearing and speech;
5. Mental illnesses;
6. Drug addiction, alcoholism;
7. Cardiovascular diseases:

• Hypertension stage II–III;
• Cardiac ischemia;
• Atherosclerosis, atherosclerotic cardiosclerosis;
• Obliterating endarteritis, nonspecific aortoarteritis, recurrent thrombophlebitis;
• Endocarditis, myocarditis;
• Heart disease;

• Bronchial asthma;
• Bronchiectasis, pulmonary emphysema, obstructive bronchitis, diffuse pneumosclerosis in the stage of decompensation;

• Achilles gastritis;
• Peptic ulcer of the stomach and duodenum;

• Chronic liver diseases, including those of a toxic nature and unknown etiology;
• Calculous cholecystitis with repeated attacks and symptoms of cholangitis;
• Cirrhosis of the liver;

• Diffuse and focal kidney damage;
• Urolithiasis disease;

• Ozena;
• Other acute and chronic severe purulent-inflammatory diseases;

• Residual effects of uveitis (iritis, iridocyclitis, chorioretinitis);
• High myopia (6 D or more);
• Trachoma;
• Complete blindness;

• Common skin diseases of an inflammatory and infectious nature;
• Generalized psoriasis, erythroderma, eczema, pyoderma, sycosis, lupus erythematosus, blistering dermatoses;
• Fungal infections of the skin (microsporia, trichophytosis, favus, epidermophytosis) and internal organs (deep mycoses);
• Pustular skin diseases (pyoderma, furunculosis, sycosis);

II. TEMPORARY CONTRAINDICATIONS

Note:

If the donor has diseases not included in this List, the issue of admission to donation is decided by a commission by a transfusiologist and the relevant specialist(s).

Who should not be a donor?

There is a list of diseases for which you cannot donate blood, since it may be unsafe for the person to whom the transfusion will be given. First of all, these are almost all infectious diseases
, including HIV, syphilis, all types of hepatitis and tuberculosis.
You cannot donate blood if you have parasites
- echinococcus, toxoplasma and other “uninvited guests”.
Those who have malignant tumors, blood diseases, skin diseases, diseases of the nervous and cardiovascular systems, asthma, obstructive bronchitis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, some types of gastritis and ulcers, liver diseases and many other diseases, complete list, do not donate blood
which will be announced to you at blood transfusion stations. In addition, you will not be able to become a donor if you abuse alcohol or other psychoactive substances.

Privileges

If a citizen donates plasma forty or more times, he automatically receives the title of honorary donor.

List of benefits:

1. Providing vacation at a convenient time.
2. Obtaining vouchers for medical and preventive treatment out of turn.
3. Medical care is provided without queues.
4. Payments every year are 10,570 rubles, but this amount is subject to indexation.

Enterprises must comply with legislation regarding donation.

The Church considers donation unacceptable

Donation is approved by major faiths as an act of self-sacrifice and a cause aimed at saving human life. Adherents of some sects who refuse blood transfusions and do not allow their children to undergo the procedure are making a huge mistake, which often leads to death. Many authoritative representatives of Orthodox Christians consider this a direct violation of the commandment “thou shalt not kill.”

Supplies of blood and its components are necessary to save people, and the donation procedure itself is painless, safe and even healthy. The positive psychological effect of donation should not be denied: the knowledge that you are performing a selfless and noble act increases self-esteem. In the absence of contraindications, donation can only be welcomed.

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Time intervals

If you have carefully read all the contraindications, you can first determine for yourself whether blood donation is indicated for you. It is better to find out the rules (how to donate blood) after reading the full list of contraindications.

If you meet all the requirements, the therapist may allow you to undergo the procedure. Many come to donate blood again. But doing this too often will not work. The break between these procedures should be more than 60 days. Men are allowed to donate blood up to 5 times a year, women - up to 4 times.

True, these restrictions are established for those cases when whole blood is taken from a person. The break between donating plasma and other components is 30 days. Plasmapheresis can be repeated every 2 weeks. The same break is established for plateletpheresis and leukocytapheresis.

Beverages

The consumption of liquids by the future donor deserves special attention. As practice shows, they affect test results no less strongly than food consumption.

The list of permitted drinks that can be used for 3-4 days before donating blood includes:

• Regular filtered or boiled water. It will not cause harm to the body, but it will not improve blood quality indicators either;
• Tea . It is best not very strong - for example, green. Sugar can be added sparingly;
• Compote. Any types of compotes made from dried fruits are suitable;

• Morse . In limited quantities and not very sour;
• Mineral water . It is advisable to focus on standard types of these products and not choose medicinal ones, saturated with certain substances;
• Juices . It is preferable to use fresh fruit and vegetable juices made with your own hands from non-acidic varieties of products.

Prohibited drinks

• Alcohol . In any form, from beer to vodka. A number of nutritionists recommend drinking 100 grams of red wine per day, but after the procedure to speed up its recovery;
• Sweet carbonated drinks . Coca-Cola, Sprite, similar products with flavors and other additives are strictly prohibited;
• Coffee . It is a conditionally prohibited drink, but can be used to a limited extent if it is made from natural grains and is not very strong. It is preferable to use substitutes for this drink - for example, based on chicory.

Stages of donating platelets and the essence of the procedure

Platelet donation can be carried out intermittently and by hardware.

In the first case, blood is taken from the donor, platelets are then isolated from it using a centrifuge, and infused back into the human body. The duration of the procedure depends on the rate at which the required number of blood platelets is collected, which, in turn, is affected by the weight of the donor. This technique is used in rare cases due to its duration and complexity.

In hardware plateletpheresis, special units are used that have the ability to continuously centrifuge blood. They allow the healthcare professional to monitor the speed of the procedure and the person’s condition. Typically, Dideco-Exel, Amikus, and Baxter equipment is used.

The non-contact operating principle of the system makes the manipulation absolutely sterile.

The device is controlled using a computer with all information about the manipulation displayed on its monitor

After passing the necessary tests and receiving permission from the doctor:

• The donor sits in a comfortable chair, his arm is fixed.
• A special sterile tube is connected to the device at one end. A sterile needle is placed on the other side and inserted into the vein.
• An identical manipulation is carried out with the second hand.
• One tube carries the blood into the machine, where platelet mass is released. The return of the treated blood to the other arm is carried out through a second hose.
• After manipulation, the donor is given bandages at the puncture site, which cannot be removed for several hours. In addition, they give you strong tea to drink and chocolate to eat. If dizziness occurs, you should rest or seek help from a nurse.

Please note that a one-time blood draw should not exceed 500 ml. Obtaining a sufficient number of platelets is achieved by distilling the blood several times, which significantly increases the duration of the manipulation. So, if a typical blood donation does not exceed 15 minutes, plateletpheresis can last more than two hours.

The isolated platelet mass (orange-brown) is collected and stored in sealed bags for no more than 5 days with regular stirring to avoid the formation of clots.

Analyzes

At the beginning, you should undergo the simplest procedure for a donor - a general blood test. The material is taken from the finger. Thus, a number of indicators are checked, for example, the level of hemoglobin in the blood. Doctors carefully examine the patient to identify various abnormalities. At this time, the results of testing for hepatitis C, A, B, syphilis and HIV infection are being prepared.

It should be taken into account that a full examination is necessary every six months. If you do not show up for examination and tests on time, the donor blood will be destroyed. Only with positive results can the material be used.

Donors who have a decent amount of experience and donate blood every year regularly undergo a full examination. It is very important. The therapist must provide a certificate of illnesses suffered by the patient during the year. Women should obtain a health certificate from a gynecologist.

The importance of plateletpheresis

Platelets are one of the components of blood that protects the body from bleeding. Damage to blood vessels causes the blood platelets to stick together with the subsequent formation of a blood clot, clogging the damage and preventing blood loss.

Anucleate bodies stimulate hemostasis, participate in the delivery of nutrients to the endothelium, and also promote tissue healing and restoration by releasing growth factors.

An increase in platelet count is required for patients suffering from platelet deficiency caused by:

• thrombocytopenia (low concentration of blood platelets in the blood);
• thrombosthenia (hereditary pathology, accompanied by dysfunction of platelets when their number is normal);
• DIC syndrome (impaired blood clotting);
• local bleeding (uterine, gastric, etc.);
• heavy blood loss during surgical interventions;
• frequent nosebleeds or blood discharge from mucous membranes.

Thrombocytopheresis is also prescribed when there is an increased content of platelets in the blood in order to reduce their concentration and reduce the risk of blood clots.

The level of platelets can be determined using a general blood test prescribed by the attending physician in the presence of certain symptoms (increased bleeding, the appearance of hemorrhages on the body for no reason, etc.). In some cases, donating venous blood is advisable. The procedure is safe and is performed in most clinics.

Platelet mass is also necessary for the manufacture of blood substitutes and some medicines.