Can you give blood when you have low blood pressure?!
Question: I have lower than normal blood pressure - would it be dangerous for me to give blood? (plus the fact that needles and seeing blood makes me faintish)...
Answers: I have lower than normal blood pressure - would it be dangerous for me to give blood? (plus the fact that needles and seeing blood makes me faintish)...
if donating blood causes you so much stress, try volunteering at a soup kitchen.
Yes, you can. The Food & Drug Administration regulates the donation and administration of blood, and their guidelines say you can donate, "as long as you feel well when you come to donate." Each blood donor center can interpret this as they choose and each center probably has is own policies regarding how low your BP can be.
You don't mention what your "low" BP reading is, or whether you have a medical problem that causes it. If you're on medication that causes low BP, or if you have a disease that causes low BP, you may want to avoid donating blood.
If your BP just runs a little low (120/80 is considered normal) without being caused by any underlying medication or disease, you may be fine donating. Your only difficulty might be that as you're losing a pint of fluid your body may replace it more slowly if your BP is low.
If you're a fainter, it's important that you tell the phlebotomist (person who's sticking you). He/she can put icepacks on your chest and the back of your neck and raise your feet. He/she can also stay with you during the donation to help distract you.
Quite often fainting in response to blood and needles is just a "vasovagal" reflex, which simply means the sight of blood stimulates your vagus nerve, which closes your blood vessels, which lowers your BP and makes you faint.
Of course you can. The notion of "low blood-pressure" is a total myth, existing in the minds of the medical profession and the public.
Everyone has a heart that generates pretty well the same pressure at the left ventricle. Yours is no different. What your doctor measures near your elbow isn't true arterial pressure.... so give blood, and be proud and happy while doing so. You may well save somebody's life. What a prize! Go for it.....