blood plasma donation vs. high red count

J

Jasson

New member
I have donating plasma 2x a week for a long time.... a routine cbc was done as a complete physical for 50 yrs old. A high rbc count was found and as a precaution to rule out a lab error a second was done 3 weeks later with the same result. I was wondering if donating plasma may be a contributing factor for a high red blood cell count.

concerned mike
 
mwilliam,

No, donating plasma would not cause you red blood cell to be elevated. I however do question the safety of donating plasma as frequently as you do. It is usually advisable to only donate plasma once a week and it is best to only donate once every two to three weeks. I would guess that your veins must be getting pretty scarred up. I used to donate plasma every three weeks and my veins got so scarred that I was restricted to using the machine that only requires one arm. I would alternate which arm was used, unfortunately, I am not a the best patient for blood draws. I am very patient, however, I have been known to have 4-5 tries to obtain a sample of blood or to have an iv placed.

I am sure that your doctor is going to be looking into the cause of your high red blood count, I can tell you that the treatment for such an disorder is frequent blood donations.

Let me know what you find out.

Brenda
 
Yes, the frequent plasma donations can be one of the causes of high red blood cell count. According to the Mayo Clinic: loss of plasma, the liquid component of blood, creates relatively high levels of red blood cells. http://www.healthboards.com/boards/showthread.php?t=760183
Please be sure and tell your doctor how often you are donating plasma.
 
Brenda, I myself have some scar tissue, one best arm for donating..never really any issues on the draws..some issues are with the knowledge of the person doing the needel stick, Irealize that it takes practice but There are some there that I will not let stick me and requests for another are highly acceptable. The place I go in for donations are Bio Life. There was a response from an Alice12 that responded the a Mayo Clinic article says that indeed donating plasma may be a factor..I will keep you posted on the new test that the doctors find. Mike
 
Thanks for the info. There are other test the doctor is running...need to stop donating for a while so this can be ruled out if the test show counts are back in range. The was another post by a (shisslak) that said it cannot be a factor but had no info on way this was a answer. The plasma center nurses said that the do not think so because the give the blood back...my doctor said it might be because the do give it back and you are constantly reporducing volume and if the test are done a day after it might give a different result...not sure. He said to stop for a few weeks the retake the test to rule out plasma donations. Do you the article from the Mayo Clinic that has your answer to this....would like to read it. Look forward to the reponse. Mike
 
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/high-red-blood-cell-count/MY00111

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/high-red-blood-cell-count/MY00111/DSECTION=causes

The first is a link to the article with the Mayo Clinic. The second link is to the same article farther on where the causes are listed.

Hope this helps.
 
Back
Top