Blood donation

[Rockford10]

No – not some horrible incident involving shouting men, pit bulls and passing without an audible signal, just normal blood donation.

Are there folks that ride to a donation and then ride away? I’ve got an appointment Friday next to Fairfax Hospital, and am considering riding there and onto work. I believe I will have to be cagey about “yeah, no exercise today. Got it. This is just the bike helmet I carry around with me regularly…”

Should I care? I’m usually OK after donating, but would rather not find out I made a second blood donation on the side of the road.

[Emm]

How far away is work? You’ll likely feel drained MUCH earlier post-donation, and exercise can induce some light headed-ness you may not normally feel. If it’s a short, flat ride and not too hot out it could be done, but it’s of course risky.

Maybe do an experiment–try going for a run close to your house or on a treadmill and get yourself to roughly the same heart rate as you would on your commute shortly after you donate blood. See what exercise does to you. Might be safer to experiment this way before you try to get on a bike in traffic. I tried running once post-blood donation and although walking I felt fine, once my heart rate went up I felt crappy pretty quick. I would personally NOT try to commute the same day as donating since getting faint while in traffic would be terrifying.

[rcannon100]

I got suckered into a blood drive for a hockey team once – that made me quite uncomfortable – so I looked it up.

If I recall correctly, the protocol for other nations like the UK is far more conservative than ours. The recommendation in the UK is no strenuous exercise and no driving right after blood donations.

Naturally telling ‘Mericans that they cant drive wont work so that protocol is not applied here.

My gut is to be conservative. Depending on your ride, that might mean diff things. Just be careful.

[Rockford10]

Hmm. I work in Tysons, so it would be about 5 miles down Gallows Road.

[Vicegrip]

Most of my bike related blood donations are involuntary and to the pavement……

As said might not be a good idea to ride home after unless you know how you will react. A pint from some people is a day of easy recovery and nothing to others.

[bentbike33]

@Rockford10 161206 wrote:

No – not some horrible incident involving shouting men, pit bulls and passing without an audible signal, just normal blood donation.

Are there folks that ride to a donation and then ride away? I’ve got an appointment Friday next to Fairfax Hospital, and am considering riding there and onto work. I believe I will have to be cagey about “yeah, no exercise today. Got it. This is just the bike helmet I carry around with me regularly…”

Should I care? I’m usually OK after donating, but would rather not find out I made a second blood donation on the side of the road.

Check with SteveO. According to his Strava, he just rode to a blood donation and back.

[Steve O]

@Rockford10 161206 wrote:

No – not some horrible incident involving shouting men, pit bulls and passing without an audible signal, just normal blood donation.

Are there folks who ride to a donation and then ride away? I’ve got an appointment Friday next to Fairfax Hospital, and am considering riding there and onto work. I believe I will have to be cagey about “yeah, no exercise today. Got it. This is just the bike helmet I carry around with me regularly…”

Should I care? I’m usually OK after donating, but would rather not find out I made a second blood donation on the side of the road.

Amazing timing. I just got home from donating at the donor center on Prosperity Drive near Dunn Loring, about 6 miles away for me.

I have donated dozens of times by bike. This was the first time they said absolutely nothing about my riding my bike (one nurse did say she noted I rode my bike and that I looked fit, thanks). I haven’t gotten a lot of push back when they recommend not doing any vigorous exercise. When it is mentioned, I tell them I plan to ride easy, exerting myself similarly to as though I am taking a walk (which is true; I take it easy on my ride home, with no ill effects to date).

Ride your bike there, take plenty of time with the cookies and juice afterward, and then just easy roll it into work. You should be fine.

[KLizotte]

Some people feel queasy or lightheaded when they donate but you may be fine. I’ve tried to donate twice and didn’t even make it through the paperwork phase. I looked at the other people with needles in their arms and almost passed out just from the thought of it. I routinely feel lightheaded when giving blood samples for testing. Yeah, I’m a wuss when it comes to some things. I wonder if half of the doc’s advice is due to people having psychological issues with donating as opposed to physical.

Can you bikeshare there and metro back? Demand extra cookies because you’re biking?

[lordofthemark]

No bikeshare in that part of FFX, but if you want to ride there, transit from FFX Inova to work, and then have your bike with you to ride home its easy – take the Fairfax Connector 401 bus, with its handy bike racks. Or you could take the bus to Mosaic, eat something, then ride on to Fairfax. Or you could ride (slowly) the low stress route from the hospital to Mosaic, eat something and ride in from there. Or, if you really do feel up to it, ride the whole way.

[Rockford10]

This is very helpful! I’ve never taken my bike on a bus before, but that’s a super easy bailout if needed. I think I’ll ride over there and see what happens. I can ride to work, ride to Mosaic and nosh, take the bus or Uber if I need to. Worst case, I leave the bike there and bus back in the evening to ride home.

I’ve never had trouble donating, so I *think* I’ll be ok. I didn’t want to get stranded there or worse, make a bad decision. (OK, not like this is going to prevent any of my bad decisions, but it’s a start.)

[lordofthemark]

I might suggest practicing on a FFX Connector first, tonight or tomorrow. I would not want my first time using the rack to be when I am woozy from a blood donation, and a dozen hospital workers getting off shift are waiting to head on their way home. Note, also, the triple bike racks on FFX connector buses are slightly different from the double racks on metrobuses. (I lived in Annandale when I first got back into biking, and so I know the in and outs of taking a bike on the 401/402 route pretty well I think, though its been a few years)

[streetsmarts]

And so glad you asked, cause I had wondered the exact same thing!

[DismalScientist]

I’ve never had a problem biking after donating.
It might even be a good idea to have a stiff drink after donating and before biking. That’s how you maximize your bang for your buck.:rolleyes:

[bobco85]

@Steve O 161218 wrote:

Amazing timing. I just got home from donating at the donor center on Prosperity Drive near Dunn Loring, about 6 miles away for me.

I have donated dozens of times by bike. This was the first time they said absolutely nothing about my riding my bike (one nurse did say she noted I rode my bike and that I looked fit, thanks). I haven’t gotten a lot of push back when they recommend not doing any vigorous exercise. When it is mentioned, I tell them I plan to ride easy, exerting myself similarly to as though I am taking a walk (which is true; I take it easy on my ride home, with no ill effects to date).

Ride your bike there, take plenty of time with the cookies and juice afterward, and then just easy roll it into work. You should be fine.

My experience has been the same, although I’ve had to lie about the distance (“oh yeah, it’s only like a mile away” when really it’s about 5) a few times.

The thing to keep in mind is that biking for you is likely a very easy activity, so you can take it slower without much worry. Just make sure you stay hydrated, sugared (extra snacks), and cool, and you’ll be fine. Another good idea: let someone know when/where you’re doing this and check in with them when you get home/work.

Lastly, thanks for donating! I’ve got to get my lazy butt back for another donation myself, so this is a good reminder.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Rockford10]

For those interested, the donation went just fine.

I got a little turned around with the streets back there (man, what are they doing to the hospital!!), but that was my poor planning. My pulse was a little high, so I needed to wait about 20 minutes before they would take me back.

During and after the donation, other donors and staff asked me if I biked to work (I was wearing a BtWD shirt). I said “Yep, I usually ride to work. In fact, I rode here, and I need to ride to work from here!” The usual blather continued.

After donation, I drank two waters and two juices and had some cookies. Then, to escape the CNN coverage, I left. No one told me not to ride my bike, the only comment I got was to “not exercise.” Okey dokey.

In general, if you can, blood donation is a great thing to do! I got a specific call to donate, and felt I really needed to try and make it happen. I put in the effort to make it happen (via bike) and everything turned out well.

[Author]

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