When you give blood . . . .

[tokolosh]

I'm confused about the figures that you stated here - 117 & 125. Normal hemoglobin in an adult female ranges between 12 & 16.

Canadian units? I don't know what the difference is there, but those are definitely the numbers they quoted to me and wrote down on the forms. I saw it on their little analyst-machine readout too. Could it be my mistake in saying they count hemoglobin, whereas they're actually looking at iron?

tho it doesn't make sense that they wouldn't take it if it was above 12.5

I think that was my fault for being unclear. They won't take your blood if you come out under 125. My 'fail' score has always been 117, for some reason. They will take your blood if you're 125 or higher, and the times when I've passed I've always been 127. Again, for reasons unknown.

But those are definitely the numbers involved.

[smokey the elder]

I recently tried to give blood and I was rejected due to low iron. The Red Cross iron spec is set deliberately high so that you won't become anemic from giving blood. The requirement of minimum 8 weeks between donations is so your body can regenerate hemoglobin.

I think the Red Cross spec is 12.5 (I should remember; it was only 2 weeks ago!) Not sure of the units, though.