Advantage and harm of blood donation: 12 delusions about donorship

Transfusion of donor blood has almost century history. In spite of the fact that this procedure is quite usual for many people, process of blood donation is still surrounded with numerous myths. Today we aimed to discredit the most widespread of them.

To take a blood test it is unhealthy

The amount of the blood circulating in the adult's organism averages 4000 ml. It is proved that periodic loss of 12% of this volume not only does not exert negative impact on health, but also works as the peculiar training activating a hemopoiesis and stimulating resistance to stresses.

The volume of one-time delivery of donor blood does not exceed 500 ml (from them about 40 ml take for the purpose of carrying out analyses). The organism quickly compensates blood loss, without any negative effects.

The procedure of blood donation is painful and tiresome

Modern blood donor centers are equipped by all necessary in order that the person taking a blood test felt conveniently and comfortably. Unpleasant feelings of the donor come down to instant pain at the time of introduction of a needle. The further procedure is absolutely painless.

Delivery of whole blood occupies about a quarter of hour. After its termination the donor can test easy fatigue therefore in day of holding a procedure it is not recommended to do hard manual work or to go to a distant trip. Delivery of components of blood (plasma, thrombocytes or erythrocytes) can borrow till one and a half o'clock.

There is a danger of infection of the donor

Many consider that the donor risks to get one of the dangerous infections which are transmitted with blood (for example, a virus of hepatitis C or HIV). Now it is absolutely excluded: for blood sampling only one-time tools and devices which unpack in the presence of the donor are used, after the procedure immediately utilize them.

The need for donor blood is small

Patients to whom do difficult surgeries, women in labor with the complicated childbirth, people with severe injuries or burns need hemotransfusions. Donor blood and its components are used at treatment of leukoses and other oncological diseases. There are artificial blood substitutes and plasmas, but their use has a number of contraindications as sometimes results in negative side effects.

Completely to provide a health system with necessary amount of blood, 40-50 people from each one thousand have to be donors. In some European countries such ratio is reached, but in Russia this indicator is much lower than norm so far.

Statistically, every third person on our planet at least once in life needs hemotransfusion or plasmas. At the same time blood of all groups, and not just rare as it is sometimes considered to be is demanded.

Any person can become the donor

It far not so. In Russia the donor it is impossible to become:

• aged more young 18 or 60 years are more senior;
• having body weight less than 50 kg;
• being the infected hepatitis, a human immunodeficiency virus or tuberculosis;
• having any disturbances of composition of blood or a disease of blood (the hemopoietic bodies);
• having an oncological illness.

Temporary restrictions of blood donation extend on:

• pregnant women (blood will accept not earlier than in a year after the delivery);
• the feeding mothers (it is possible to become the donor in 3 months after the termination of a lactation);
• women in the period of periods (blood donation is allowed not less than one week prior to its beginning or in a week after the termination);
• the people who had flu or a SARS less than a month ago;
• the patients who transferred surgical dental intervention (there have to pass not less than 10 days);
• the people less than a year ago treated by an acupuncture method, or who made a tattoo (piercing) of any part of a body;
• the patients who recently transferred vaccination (the term which passed before blood donation depends on a type of a vaccine and makes from ten days to one year).

Besides, branch can be received from donorship if analyses in day of the procedure show existence in an organism of inflammatory process or traces of alcohol, body temperature is increased or there are serious deviations from normal indicators of arterial pressure. Men can take a blood test not more often than five, and the woman – four times a year.

Blood donation for transfusion assumes a responsible attitude. In two days prior to the procedure the donor has to refuse alcoholic drinks. It is necessary to refrain from smoking at least within an hour before blood sampling. Three days prior to the procedure it is necessary to stop reception of the medicines reducing indicators of coagulability of blood (among them aspirin and anesthetics).

The donor has to eat high-calorific products before and after the procedure

One day before blood donation it is necessary to refuse the use of greasy, milk, meat food, eggs, smoked products, chocolate, bananas, canned food and fast food.

It is important that future donor did not make mistakes which can negatively affect on his health. It is better to take a blood test in the first half of day. Before the procedure it is necessary to sleep, have breakfast well, having given preference to porridge or pastries and sweet tea. After blood donation it is necessary to eat it is balanced (whenever possible not less than 5 times a day) and not to forget to drink more liquid to compensate blood loss.

The procedure of blood donation provokes a set of weight

Donorship in itself (including regular) does not affect body weight in any way. The risk to grow fat is at those people who, having misunderstood recommendations about catering services, begin to use strenuously high-calorific products for blood donation, and cannot stop in time.

Donorship badly affects appearance

Some women do not decide to take a blood test, considering that it will have an adverse effect on complexion and elasticity of skin. Actually regular donorship speeds up work of the hemopoietic bodies, forces blood to be updated quicker, well affects functioning of the immune, cardiovascular and alimentary system.

Donors, as a rule, have no problems with a tone and skin color of the person. They are vigorous, tightened, active and positively ready.

Regular donorship causes accustoming

In this case it is possible to speak about accustoming only in sense of the increased resistance of an organism to various stresses, diseases and negative impact of external environment. So, regular blood donation accustoms to fill quickly an organism blood loss that can play a positive role in case of an injury or a disease from which nobody is insured.

It is clinically confirmed that donorship reduces risk of development of cardiovascular pathologies. Some men note that regular blood donation positively influences a potentiality.

For success of hemotransfusion the donor and the recipient have to have one nationality

The statement has nothing in common with reality. Compatibility of the donor and recipient (the person to whom transfuse blood) depends only on composition of blood, that is existence or absence in it certain proteins. For transfusion matter compatibility of blood on groups (AB0 system) and to a Rhesus factor. These indicators at various races and ethnoses are distributed almost equally.

At suitable proteinaceous structure blood of the donor can be transfused to the recipient regardless of a sex, age or a nationality.

Personal qualities of the donor can be transferred to the recipient

Prejudice has very ancient roots. It is conformable to ideas of primitive people that having eaten bodies of the enemy it is possible to get his force, bravery, mind and other fine qualities. The similar delusion occurred also in the Middle Ages when blood was considered as the bearer of a part of soul of the person.

Actually hemotransfusion does not add to the recipient any personal qualities and abilities of the donor. It can only aggravate problems with health if the unfair donor dared to take a blood test, without refusing addictions. The reason here at all not in transfer of information ciphered in blood, and that decomposition products of nicotine, alcohol and other toxins capable to do harm to health can get to a blood stream of the recipient. For this reason the donor has to be very responsible, and medical personnel – attentive.

The church considers donorship inadmissible

Donorship is approved by the main faiths as the act of self-sacrifice and the business aiming at rescue of human life. The adherents of some sects refusing hemotransfusion and not allowing to carry out the procedure to the children make a huge mistake which can bring and quite often leads to a lethal outcome. Some authoritative representatives of orthodox Christians consider it direct disturbance of a precept "Thou shalt not kill".

Reserves of blood and its components are necessary for rescue of people, and the procedure of delivery is painless, safe and is even useful to health. You should not deny also positive psychological effect of donorship: consciousness that you make a disinterested and noble act raises a self-assessment. In the absence of contraindications donorship can only be welcomed.