I was at a blood drive yesterday, going through health history, and the time came for the dreaded finger prick iron test. I have iron deficiency anemia (self-induced: I am a vegetarian and don't always eat enough tofu/legumes/spinach/ferrous sulfate supplements/etc) and have been unable to donate a couple of times before due to low iron levels. The collection specialist pricked my finger and the result was 12.2 (I'm assuming this is Hgb - is that correct?). Apparently, the cutoff is 12.5 and so I "failed." The collection specialist asked me if I wanted to try the other hand, stating that the result might be different. I was puzzled, but I agreed to it. He left the room and a different person came in, and she told me to start rubbing my hands together as fast and as hard as I could. She pricked a finger on my other hand, and sure enough, the result was 13.7. I was able to donate a pint (and did so in record time! 5 min 43 sec!), but I'm confused about what test was done, why it was so different on my other hand, and how the increased circulation after rubbing my hands together might have affected the result. Thanks to anyone who can clear this up for me!
