Donating blood and hiking at elevation

One of the things to consider is your red blood cell count and the hemoglobin within it that transports oxygen to your organs.  With the loss of blood and its hemoglobin, you will already be at a deficit before you get to elevation and its thinner, oxygen depleted air.  There is a reason our bodies start producing more red blood cells at elevation, it needs more hemoglobin to compensate for the lack of oxygen and why athletes train at elevation, they get the benefit of more red blood cells to power their bodies, which is a legal form of blood doping.

When I was 19 I would hike the same day, within a few hours. Highest one I recall started at about 7500 ft, topped out at 10,000. Probably wouldn’t try that today.

Most sources say 2 months to fully recover after donating whole blood. Low-dose iron supplements can shorten that to 5 weeks, according to one study. But everyone’s different.

I donated blood regularly for about 15 years. As I aged, it kicked my butt harder and harder each time, so I stopped. YMMV.

Quotes and references below.

— Rex

Transfusion journal (2008):
“After donation of approximately 550 mL of whole blood, the lost amount of [hemoglobin] was recovered after a mean of 36 ± 11 days (range, 20‐59 days).”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18466177

Red Cross:
“Red cells need about four to six weeks for complete replacement. That’s why at least eight weeks are required between whole blood donations.”
https://www.redcrossblood.org/faq.html

UK National Health Service:
“Male donors need to wait a minimum of 12 weeks between whole blood donations and female donors 16 weeks.”
https://www.blood.co.uk/the-donation-process/after-your-donation/how-your-body-replaces-blood/

Runner’s World (2010):
“Wait at least a month before running a serious race, meaning a marathon or fast-paced shorter race. Two months would be safest, especially if you plan to run at an altitude that is higher than where you usually live and train.”
https://www.runnersworld.com/health-injuries/a20785818/say-i-donate-blood-how-long-till-im-back-to-normal/

Runner’s World (2012):
“… everyone responds to blood donation differently.”
https://www.runnersworld.com/training/a20787976/7-strategies-for-giving-blood-while-running-and-racing/

Outside Magazine (2015):
“The jury is still out … high-performance competitive athletes may experience marginally decreased exercise tolerance for about one week, and perhaps as much as five weeks, before red blood cells are adequately replaced”
https://www.outsideonline.com/1785486/will-donating-blood-affect-my-training

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center:
“It will take four to eight weeks for your body to completely replace the red blood cells you donated.”
https://www.mskcc.org/about/get-involved/donating-blood/faqs-donating-blood-platelets/whole-blood-donations

Taking low-dose iron supplements after donating helped significantly. Hemoglobin recovery to 80% took 5 weeks instead of 11-23. JAMA (2015):
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/bouncing-back-giving-blood-can-take-months
https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/study-shows-iron-supplementation-after-blood-donation-shortens-hemoglobin-recovery-time
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2108889

IIRC, scientists can’t predict who will get altitude sickness (or worse) for any given trip – with some extreme exceptions.

Sometimes I get sick, mostly I don’t, and my fitness level doesn’t matter.

— Rex

Thanks Rex. That’s interesting, especially that the UK is much more conservative with the donation schedule than the US – waiting double the recovery time.

It may or may not make a difference, but I guess I’ll forgo the next couple appointments in favor of at least ruling out one potential problem. In general except for the day or and possibly the day after donation, I feel no difference. I don’t do a heavy workout those two days, but by the third day I’m back to doing whatever. But if I were at 10,000 feet it might be more challenging.

Thanks for being a blood donor. I used to give regularly when there was a location locally (now it’s 160 miles away).

45 is on the high side of the normal range for women, although I assume you have it checked BEFORE each donation.

An anecdote, not data: mine is always on the high side for men (55-ish) and I never noticed reduced athletic performance after donating (but I hike, I don’t run). Also, I’ve always done better than average at 12,000-14,000 feet regarding altitude sickness than hiking companions, including those were better conditioned, muscularly.

An aside: sometimes, when donating, they’d observe I was a little dehydrated.  That’s not fixed with a glass of water an hour beforehand, but with extra intake every day for several days beforehand.