Low Hemoglobine?

Question

Hi, I have a question regarding Hemoglobine. About a month and a half ago I donated blood. Before letting me donate they checked my hemoglobine and it was 14. Today I got back a complete blood test results I requested from my doctor and it says I have 11.5 of hemoglobine. Can donating blood lower my hemoglobine that much even though it was on March the 22th?

Answer 1

Hemoglobin is the protein in red cells that binds with iron and carries oxygen throughout the body. It is measured as the amount in grams hemoglobin found in a deciliter of whole blood (g/dl).

The hemoglobin value can drop if the number of red cells decreases or if the amount of hemoglobin in each red cell decreases. That can be due to sudden blood loss or a lack of iron available to build new red cells. Generally, losing a unit of blood during donation will cause your hemoglobin to decrease by about 1 g/dl, but the body will quickly regenerate the lost red cells over the course of the next few weeks.

The hemoglobin value can also drop if the plasma volume increases. If your blood was drawn while you were well hydrated, your blood volume would increase, but the number of red cells would stay the same. Think of a pot of chicken noodle soup - if you add more water to the soup pot, the number of noodles per cup would decrease, but the total number of noodles in the pot would stay the same.

There could also be a laboratory error. Normally, you can run the same sample into a hematology analyzer minutes apart and get slightly different results. However, if there are any unresolved problems with the machine, the error could be greater. If the test was run in a doctor's office laboratory, keep in mind that the personnel running the test are often not qualified laboratory technicians and may not spot analyzer problems right away.

So, your unexpectedly low hemoglobin could be due to a number of factors: blood donation, iron deficiency, menstruation, over hydration, lab error, etc.

You should have your hemoglobin level checked again in a few weeks to see if there is a change.

Answer 2

Your HG likely fell due to the donation (since I am transfusion dependent, thank you for donating!).

In fact, that is why you can't donate again until 90 days or so has passed. The HG test is "robust", that is to say not real precise, but a drop of 2.5 points does show a real drop in HG.

So my answer is yes.