My mother tripped last night and cut her head open which required 13 staples to close.  Dad estimated she lost 2-3 pints of blood.  The ER allowed her to go home when they twice tested her blood count and it was a 10 when an 8 or lower would have required she stay or they consider a transfustion.

She is home now and seems to be feeling well.  Dad will monitor of course for all side effects of head injuries.  

Mom is a Type O non-secretor, 75 years old, very active, works out 5-6 days at the gym, hard workouts, gardens, walks, eats light and usually compliant meals for her type and secretor status.

With that loss of blood, does anyone happen to know:

(1) How long does it take to build blood back as a general rule when it's lost?

(2) What is the best protocol for diet/supplementation to help that process?

Tom

Your mom rocks. Bone broth is good for building blood, red meat, and nettles, if those things are compliant for her, of course. I don't know how long it takes to build back blood, I imagine there would be a certain amount of individual variance......

I thnk it takes 4 to 6 weeks to rebuild the blood. At least, when I donate blood they only let us donate every 6 to 8 weeks.
Make sure she gets lots of fluids to replace the fluid she has lost. I checked in my ER4YT encyclopedia and I think the best would be to use the blood building protocol. Also, she should make sure she gets plenty of protein as the body needs protein to build blood.
I hope she is doing better! Head wounds bleed a lot and it had to be scary for her (and for you and your dad!)

I believe Black Cherry Juice is good for blood reconstitution.

http://www.dadamo.com/protocols/8.html
glad she didn t break her hip bone or such

Tom, hope your mum is doing better now! and you all manage to get some rest after such an ordeal!! Plenty of good advice here including the blood building protocol, keeping hydrated and compliance to type ...

Take care too!

Quoted from Tom Martens

I believe Black Cherry Juice is good for blood reconstitution.

Is that the same as tart Canadian cherry juice; which is a wonderful antioxidant as well as source of natural melatonin apparently...

Quoted from Possum

Is that the same as tart Canadian cherry juice; which is a wonderful antioxidant as well as source of natural melatonin apparently...

Typically, black cherries are sweet eating cherries, while tart cherries are considered pie cherries...

by tomorrow or the day after she will have rebuilt her loss..

she sounds like a treasure to be around.. active and all..

good luck..

How scary for all of you.  Hope she's OK.  How wonderful that she's in such good shape.  I agree with everyone above - lots of fluids and food for her type.  
Jane

Quoted from Tom1964

My mother tripped last night and cut her head open which required 13 staples to close.  Dad estimated she lost 2-3 pints of blood.  The ER allowed her to go home when they twice tested her blood count and it was a 10 when an 8 or lower would have required she stay or they consider a transfustion.

She is home now and seems to be feeling well.  Dad will monitor of course for all side effects of head injuries.  

Mom is a Type O non-secretor, 75 years old, very active, works out 5-6 days at the gym, hard workouts, gardens, walks, eats light and usually compliant meals for her type and secretor status.

With that loss of blood, does anyone happen to know:

(1) How long does it take to build blood back as a general rule when it's lost?

(2) What is the best protocol for diet/supplementation to help that process?

Tom

Considering she seems to be in reasonably good health for her age, it shouldn't take more than 3-4 weeks for her to recover this volume of blood loss.

When the body loses a certain amount of blood, their is a sensor (erythropoeitin) that kicks in and replaces those lost cells. This hormone erythropoeitin is produced by the kidneys and it directs the bone marrow to make more RBC's. More reticulocytes (immature RBCs) are kicked out of the bone marrow into the systemic circulation and they will mature in about 10 days once released.

Homeopathic Arnica is for injury and great for before and after surgeries. Besides helping noticeably with bleeding, bruising, swelling and pain, it stimulates erythropoeitin release and speeds up the replacement of RBCs.

Thanks to all for your recommendations.  Keep them coming.  Mom is doing well today.  Sounds kind of yucky, but she spent three hours washing the blood out of her hair yesterday.  I'm very thankful she made it ok.

I'm glad she's doing relatively well!

I'd recomend that she eat lots of beneficial foods, and I'd think that red meat would be especially helpful for her right now.

The lost fluids from the blood loss have already been replaced. Her bone marrow is working to replace the lost blood cells, so she's already got more than she had last night, but it will take a while before she's back to 100% (plus her body needs to heal from the wound itself and possibly bruising in other areas when she fell.)

Be sure she takes things easy for the next few weeks until she's back to her old self. She should start by taking short walks, and stop if she feels dizzy or tired. Her heavy workouts need to wait until she's feeling up to them (however long that takes- it might only be a few days, or it could be a few weeks.) She may want to continue going to the gym to keep in the habit and to continue with light workouts so she doesn't lose any of the strength she has. I'd also suggest she add in routines for improving balance (if those aren't already part of her routine) to minimize the chances of falling in the future.

Some falls can't be prevented, but most of them have an element of "I've lost my balance, I'm about to fall!" and a few seconds where having good balance can prevent the injuries.

          "...I'd think that red meat would be especially helpful for her right now."

Ruthiegirl,

The first thing dad made for her the next day was grassfed beef.

Tom, I'm glad she is going to be okay!

I second the red meat motion.  She needs the protein and iron.  Some kale wouldn't hurt her, either.  Other items for her to enjoy freely over the next few days are:

- Already mentioned above in this post, but let's put 'em in the list:  red meat, kale
- whole eggs
- fluids, fluids, fluids (including good old water and beneficial juices)
- broth made from bones
- plain gelatin from a non-pork source
- watermelon

P.S.  If you have any or can get some:

- Nutritional yeast flakes (excellent added to the aforementioned bone broth, off heat--never cook nutritional yeast, it ruins the B vitamins...it is also good on eggs, in rice, etc.)
- CoQ10
- Proberry Capsules

Gotta go!  Boss alert!  Glad she is okay!  

Great recommendations!  I'm so glad she is on the mend and there were no broken bones!

Maybe Blackstrap Molasses, too.

I have no advice for you because I'm not a doctor and I don't play one on TV.

I just wanted to say I hope your Mom has a healthy and easy recovery.

Glad she's better!

Again, thanks everyone for your input.  I gave dad the link to this thread and reviewed some of the most common and simple solutions on the phone with him.

And mom is still doing well.  She went to her sewing group yesterday (at which they do no sewing!) and that lifted her spirits.

Quoted from Tom1964

And mom is still doing well.  She went to her sewing group yesterday (at which they do no sewing!) ...

*tee HEE*

Hope your mom is feeling better..for her blood loss and iron...
Red wine, and lots of beef..and lots of fluids..and don't forget the vitamin C for iron absorption.