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I knew there was one more thing I wanted to document: the only plus I can tell from these years of being in perimenopause. I'm 3 for 3 in being able to donate whole blood at the Red Cross! I'm an over 7 gallon donor, starting with blood drives at Sewanee, and never had iron issues until my late 20s when two changes happened:
1) I'd stopped eating iron fortified breakfast cereal for at least one meal a day
2) the mid-Tennessee area stopped using the ear for iron tests and returned to finger pricks.
I started failing all the time, usually by tiny amounts, but I got very demoralized and stopped going. Even a couple of years ago, when Evan and I first started having 'date Saturdays' every 8 weeks or so to go and donate blood, I would only pass about one time in 3. But the 3 most recent times we've gone, I've passed, and not just scraped by- my iron has been a full percentage point above what was needed. I love that! I really love giving blood and see it as my de facto volunteering until such time as I figure out another way to do so that I find rewarding. I've never become faint while donating, even though most of the time I do so on an empty stomach. Both my sister and mom are unable to donate, so I feel as though I'm doing so on their behalf since their makeup is somehow so different from mine.
1) I'd stopped eating iron fortified breakfast cereal for at least one meal a day
2) the mid-Tennessee area stopped using the ear for iron tests and returned to finger pricks.
I started failing all the time, usually by tiny amounts, but I got very demoralized and stopped going. Even a couple of years ago, when Evan and I first started having 'date Saturdays' every 8 weeks or so to go and donate blood, I would only pass about one time in 3. But the 3 most recent times we've gone, I've passed, and not just scraped by- my iron has been a full percentage point above what was needed. I love that! I really love giving blood and see it as my de facto volunteering until such time as I figure out another way to do so that I find rewarding. I've never become faint while donating, even though most of the time I do so on an empty stomach. Both my sister and mom are unable to donate, so I feel as though I'm doing so on their behalf since their makeup is somehow so different from mine.
