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It may be that both the Red Cross and Canadian Blood Services do not want you to be a blood donor if you have gout.
But my question is this: Both organizations test donated blood for a variety of things, and those tests are becoming more comprehensive all the time. So would (or do) those organizations test donated blood for uric acid, such that they would detect a gout condition on the part of the donor, and possibly (or, desirably) alert the donor to the condition?
Also: Is there anything to this idea that one or more blood donations per year act like a remedy or treatment for gout?
I do not know about the policies of these organizations. Maybe it's a good idea to email them. If they don't want the blood for donation, it would be nice to persuade them to take it anyway, maybe for research purposes.
Excess iron in the blood is a common cause of raised uric acid. It's virtually impossible to control this by diet, especially so as so many processed foods are fortified with this poison. Drawing blood has been shown to reduce uric acid significantly, but this will only be beneficial if iron tests reveal high numbers.
As ever with gout, it pays to have a good plan.
Proper diagnosis should include a review of possible causes of high uric acid. If high iron is diagnosed, then reducing it would be the best first option.
I understand that blood donated and found unsuitable for any reason can be turned into plasma which can be used in place of blood- without the Blood type being an issue.
With the amount of care , or lack of it in Gout, I would think the cost of testing SUA would be prohibitive-but a nice idea.
A random slug of high octane gouty blood would not be noticed, unless already a sufferer getting it- and then it would take some time.
Anyone needing a transfusion would probably not mention it later, even if tieing the events together.
The only way to determine the acceptability of blood donations is to contact the nearest blood transfusion service.
All have different policies about what health conditions and treatments are notifiable. They also have different policies on what conditions or treatments will disbar donation.
In the interests of our collective gout knowledge, does anyone have the time to contact transfusion services and get official attitudes on the acceptability, or otherwise of gouty blood?
Hi, Keith & other gout sufferers,
I just donated blood, and my hemoglobin level was 13.8.? That is even since I’ve been cutting down on my iron in my diet.? I’m hoping that it will also help the uric acid level.? Been feeling good lately, but we still can’t get our monitor to work right.
It is notoriously difficult to control iron with diet. Most of the time, we are not aware how much iron we consume. You might do it if you study labels carefully, avoid processed food, and never eat out, but there are other issues.
Our bodies have complicated processed for storing iron until we need it, so it is more than just controlling what we eat.
There is a process called chelation whereby iron combines with other substances to form harmless compounds. This is also very complicated. From a dietary point of view, green tea is one dietary item that will chelate iron, but only as it passes through the digestive system, so you have to drink green tea with your meals. I have seen references that the compounds in dark fruits can combine with iron outside the digestive tract, but these should be eaten alone – e.g. cherry snacks between meals.
This is largely ongoing research for me, and I am uncertain what the practical effects are. That is why I suggest blood donation, as removing blood has definitely been shown to improve gout.
By the way, if you click your username (left hand column), it will take you to your index page where you can see all the posts you have started or replied to. That way, you can easily find where you posted in the past, and keep your contributions on certain topics together.
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