Seriously Ill after Power Red Donation ?
[CA, USA] I donated Power Red on Monday afternoon and the experience itself was alright. I've donated whole blood many times before with no issue. The RC staff is always kind and friendly, but the sensation of fluid being reinjected back into me felt like the injection site was burning and stinging and I got really lightheaded for about 5 minutes. I was completely fine immediately after the donation and had no issues at work the following day, until about 24hrs after the donation. I thought I was terribly dehydrated so I tried to drink water to help my body recover but my symptoms kept worsening.
Around midnight on Tuesday, my nails started turning purple, I had chills even while standing directly under the highest heat setting for my shower, and a constant urge to urinate. I went to sleep and felt much better in the morning, was able to go to work, but around 6pm my previous symptoms came back, only two times worse. There was blood in my urine, and according to those around me, my face was extremely pale, I had deep purple bags under my eyes, and my lips were slightly blue. I straight went to urgent care last night thinking it was likely a UTI, but I am not prone to getting those (I've only had one, almost a decade ago) so it seemed off to me. I started an antibiotic treatment immediately and got my urinalysis results back just now. My WBC and RBC counts are off the charts. My doctor advised to keep monitoring my symptoms and to head to the ER if things don't improve.
My point being; I was wondering if anyone has had similar experiences (and what helped you because I feel like absolute garbage right now) or if this was completely an unfortunately one-off? I know that these could be entirely unrelated occurrences, but I felt completely fine and healthy in the weeks and hours leading up to this, so I am confused where this came from. I'll definitely keep donating, but maybe no more Power Red.