Blood/Platelet Donation and exercise

1

I just read an article that platelet supply is extremely low in my area and I am considering scheduling an appointment to donate early next week. Today my BIL would have been 45 years old, but he passed away 2 years ago, less than a month after being diagnosed with testicular cancer. Throughout his treatment he required many platelets because of the effects of chemotherapy. I would like to donate to honor his memory and perhaps make it so that another family doesn’t suffer the same loss that we did.

I have donated whole blood in the past, and I know that it knocks out my endurance for several days. I’m wondering if anyone knows if platelet donation has the same effect, or if the effects is lessened since the RBCs are returned to your body. I figure it must be somewhat easier, since you can donate platelets every 2 weeks, compared to every 6 weeks for whole blood.

Any insight into this would be appreciated.

Jenna

2

Hi Jenna,

What a wonderful thing to do :blue_heart:

I am not sure about how long to wait to exercise, but I believe a day or two. The key is to drink lots of fluids to bring blood levels back up.

I have been told that women who have previously been pregnant are more likely to carry antibodies that are believed to sometimes cause post-transfusion complications for blood and platelet recipients-- so they do a test for these antibodies before accepting platelet donations. The same does not apply to whole blood donations.

Have you heard of this?

3

Jenna, So sorry for your loss :heart: My son donates- I called him he said that you have to stay good and hydrated and he takes it easy for that day. Don’t know if it’s different for women and he is 19 sooo also very young…