r/Blooddonors

I’ve given blood many many times but admittedly it has been a few years (I feel guilty I know I know I’m back to regular donations from now on)

Everything was great, as painless as possible, felt totally fine and hopped up to leave and ohh so confidently and briskly walked to my car, cheerily waving on the way out. Big mistake. Huge. The second I sat in the seat the world started narrowing and darkening, my hearing went away to muffled ocean waves crashing , I’m sweating, and barely manage to push the door open and hang my head out to projectile vomit. Whew it was rough but only lasted a few minutes max, though time ceased to exist in those moments.

I consider it a badge of honor and am in no way put off from next time, just humbled!!! Hubris came knocking and I am NOT tough enough to only have bone broth before donating and speed walking out like I have a flight to catch. Just call me Icarus, my lesson has been learned.

I feel like I’ve been told it’s 2 days but also 7 days so I just wanted to check and make sure before I do any scheduling. Thanks!

I’ve donated blood twice so far, and the actual appointments have gone completely smoothly both times. The problem is the lead-up to it. The night before and the morning of, I really psych myself out to the point where I struggle to sleep, don’t eat properly, and feel really queasy right up until I walk in.

Once I’m there, I’m totally fine with the needle and the process itself. It’s just the anticipation that gets to me.

I’ve got my next appointment booked, and I do want to keep donating long term, but I’d really like to feel less stressed beforehand. Is this something people just get used to over time?

https://preview.redd.it/rgql0pxh4b2h1.png?width=1536&format=png&auto=webp&s=40b428b9c51a4aabd8e6e1db8ce98f1fddd6cd12

A memorial was held today at St Paul's Cathedral in remembrance of those killed by the infected blood scandal here in the UK, and the news piece on it was playing while I donated on the TVs here in the donor centre.

Imported blood products from paid donors, contaminated with HIV and hepatitis, were given to haemophiliacs. More than 30,000 people were infected, with over 3,000 dead to date.

Blood safety is more important than anything else in this process. More important than our egos, more important than swag. Nothing else matters other than the safety of the vulnerable patients who rely on us.

So I tried doing a power red donation for the first time today. About 15 minutes in I felt sick and passed out. When I woke up I threw up everywhere. Yes it was all very embarrassing.

But my main concern is when I woke up they had taken the needle out of my arm already. I’m wondering if it’s possible they took it out before putting my platelet, saline, etc. back in to my body? I feel absolutely horrible tonight, having a hard time doing anything and feeling like my heart is working overtime. There any way I can figure out if they did or didn’t return it? Recommendations on what to do next?

Hello. I am female, German, 29 years old and donated for the fourth time in April. I like the idea of doing good, I like the company and the food haha. However, I am also a person who has been suffering from tiredness, exhaustion and frequent colds for years. I have been to the doctor several times because of this and I was repeatedly diagnosed with "stress" and told that everything was fine. That's why I went to donate and there was also hemoglobin tested every time.

After the last donation, my tiredness reached an unprecedented high and I went to the doctor again. After a lot of arguing that I should try antidepressants or that I might have fibromyalgia....My blood was finally fully tested and my ferritin was at 9.

Since my doctor is apparently incompetent and continues to say that you can't get tired of it because my hemoglobin was 12, I did my own research and of course (it took 3 minutes) found out directly that such a low ferritin value could (!) explain absolutely all my symptoms.

I don't know, but I assume that my values were generally not good and that my values have now become worse and worse due to the donation. Even if I had taken the 50mg iron tablets that were given to me on the spot.

But does all this mean, That I can never donate again? I am now getting infusions to increase my values (different doctor, of course)

I'm kinda Relieved that I now have an approach to what's going on with me, but also sad at the thought that I can no longer donate. Is that so?

Thank you :)

donated blood three times last year, roughly every 3-4 months. felt fine after each one, passed the hemoglobin check no problem.

then got a routine blood panel and saw ferritin at 18. hadn't been checking it between donations at all.

the weird part - hemoglobin was totally normal the whole time. ferritin was the only thing showing what was going on underneath.

took about 4 months supplementing to get back above 50. now i test ferritin before every donation and track it over time so i can actually see the trend.

anyone else had it tank like this? how long did recovery take?

also curious - what do you guys use to track lab results over time? spreadsheet, some app, anything? im building my personal biomarker tracking system now

today was my first time donating blood, my uncle (66M) had to do an endoscopic mucosal resection and an appendectomy so he needed at least 4 blood donors, so i volunteered alongside my 2 cousins and my friend to donate type B+ blood as he needed.

But when we went yesterday to the blood donation center, the guard told us something bizzare, "the blood bags were limited (50 bags)", and we had to arrive as early as 4:00 AM if we wanted to register our names. This is stupid and scandalous in my opinion. How can a blood donation center suffer from a crisis in something as simple as blood bags? No, and he dared to say something provocative like "you had to be up at 4:00 AM to register your name" when they don't even open to the public until 8:00 AM, Imagine if an innocent clueless human just wanted to donate blood only to be met with this bizzare "welcome", he'd obviously give up right away and would never think of blood donation ever again.

Anyway, my poor uncle volunteered to wake up at dawn to register our names, but his daughter refused, saying she would wake up early and come alone. his brother (63M) said he would take care of it, and indeed, he woke up at 4:00 AM and set off on a 14-kilometer journey to register our names, only to find that 26 people were ahead of him on the list, even though there were only 6 people outside. Anyway, he went home and took us to the center and we arrived at 8:00 AM.

When it was our turn, I felt a bit nervous. They measured my blood pressure and found it was slightly below normal but still sufficient for donation. The doctors had some trouble finding a suitable vein to draw blood from. Fear was evident in my trembling arm, but finally, the needle was inserted and the blood draw began. surprisingly It wasn't that painful, but after 4 minutes I started to feel dizzy. It worsened until I was on the verge of vomiting, and when They finished drawing blood, the moment they removed the needle from my arm, I felt like I was about to throw up and then immediately passed out. For 2 minutes he doctors revived me by raising my legs to get blood flowing to my brain and splashing me with cold water to bring me back to consciousness. It was a strange moment; I felt like I'd woken up at home. It took me a minute to collect myself and understand what had happened. maybe it happened because i didn't get enough sleep (slept for 5 hours) so maybe you should really take a good sleep before you donate your blood.

I think my cousin(20F) had the worse experience. They punctured her arm twice, on the right and left, because they hadn't punctured the correct vein. Her veins weren't clearly visible, and in the end, they didn't draw much blood and canceled the procedure midway because "her vein was slipping away from the needle", she felt sad and unsatisfied and she felt like she'll internally bleed (thank god that didn't happen)

but this bad service and the absurd shortage in something as simple yet necessary as blood bags (thanks to our smart president who currently banned 90% of importations) i don't think i'll be able donate blood again any time soon, not with the stupid shortage and importations ban.

In the end despite this bad service and that my arm still hurt when i expand it, both my uncle's surgery and our blood donation were a success!

I donated platelets at a Red Cross center. I had the lip tingling and the sensation of vibrating and nausea, and then I almost passed out (or maybe I did, not sure). Since I left yesterday at 5:30 pm I’ve felt sick. Nauseous, tired, feeling extremely full but haven’t eaten. Could this be unrelated and the timing is just suspicious? Or is this normal for some donors?

i have severe anxiety social and generalized and my blood pressure is too high to do the donation ive heard beta blockers can help and the mental health meds im already taking don’t interfere with beta blockers so hopefully my doctor gives me anxiety meds that actually helps but if not i was wondering if anyone knew if i had a doctors note explaining my blood pressure problem because it’s normal unless im around people then they might allow me to still do the donation.

Has anyone gotten the beach towel yet through ARC? How are they quality-wise? I'm really excited for this promotion so I don't want to miss out but I'm curious about the quality! Also sizing? How big are they?

I went to visit a potential cat breeder's house on Saturday to see if I wanted to adopt from him and his cats were climbing all over me. One left a minor scratch on my arm near the needle insertion site. It's superficial and barely noticeable but I don't want to attempt and be disappointed if I'm going to end up getting turned away. I've been turned away for bruising from past attempted (and failed) donations and that was always a bummer.

Should I reschedule? Does anyone have tips for how to fade scratch marks faster?

My wife and I both donate regularly. She's a nurse in an OR and is always aware of protocols involving drawing blood. This past weekend, we both donated at the local office. She was on Saturday and I went Sunday. We live in a suburb of Atlanta, GA.

When she got home, she told me that something bothered her. Her phlebotomist wore one pair of gloves the whole time during the visit. In between drawing her blood, the person checked on another person, and also got on their cell phone for a minute, before coming back and taking out the needle from her arm.

My wife didn't say anything to anyone at the office, but did send a message to the Red Cross addressing this situation.

I went on Sunday, and once I sat down on the inclined chair I asked my phlebotomist if she could please change gloves before drawing my blood. She seemed a little surprised I asked this, but she did change her gloves before the draw, and then before she withdrew the needle at the end.

My question is, is this something that the staff should be doing with every patient? Thinking back to my previous donations, I don't remember anyone changing gloves between activities. The employees are protecting themselves with the gloves, but are not protecting the people coming in to donate.

I will continue to go, as I love to help as many people as I can. But this just made me think a little after realizing that this was going on.