Giving the gift of life..BLOOD

[Fishkiller]

This is the questions:

How soon after donating blood can I go diving?

How soon after diving can I give Blood?

 

[scubadoc]

There is a good discussion of this on this board at the following URL:
http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?threadid=1476

It appears that there is a difference in opinion about how long to wait, varying from 24 hours to 72 hours. It generally takes only 24 hours for the serum to be replenished but will take longer for the red blood cells to be replaced.

There is no evidence that there is an increased risk from decompression accidents and I have not been able to find any reference to an accident caused by giving blood before or after diving.

Caveats could be related to hypotension (fainting or syncope)from the decreased blood volume and from the possible decreased ability to transport O2 with a decreased red cell mass. More info at our web site at http://www.scuba-doc.com/anemia.html