If you start getting lightheaded, dizzy, have tunnel vision, or any other pre-fainting symptoms, tell your tech immediately and they can elevate your feet so that you don't actually faint. Remembering to breathe normally helps, too!
As far as the experience, when you first get there you'll read some papers and then answer some questions. After that someone will review the answers with you, ask for your weight and height, and take your temperature and blood pressure. They'll also prick a finger to get a few drops of blood so they can test your iron levels.
Once your pre-screening is done, you'll sit in a comfy chair/bed/thing. They'll put a blood pressure cuff around your arm and ask you to make a fist and pump it a few times then hold a squeeze. This helps them find the vein, which they'll mark, and then they'll release the pressure and clean the area. After that they'll prep a donation bag and insert the needle. Now you get to wait for ~10 minutes, squeezing your fist every 10 seconds or so, until you're finished. The tech will come over and remove the needle, and you'll put pressure on the spot until they put a bandaid on and wrap it up.
Once you're done donating, they'll give you a few instructions to follow and ask you to wait 10-15 minutes before leaving. Most places should have food and/or drinks for you to regain some strength, and I strongly suggest you partake. In the days leading up to a donation and in the days that follow, you need to drink a lot of water to be properly hydrated. If you don't it won't stop you from donating, but it can be more difficult.
Honestly, I'm not really fond of the process. It's uncomfortable. But I know that I'm saving lives every time I donate, and so for me, that's worth 10 minutes of discomfort.
Thank you, Elania! I am going to look up places to donate this week. I'm a fainter, so I kind of think it's inevitable that I'll faint while giving blood. I'll make sure to tell them during intake and see what they want to do about it...
Also, tell your phlebotomist at the start that you're concerned about fainting, so they can watch you for signs you might not notice. Do not look at the needle. Do not skip the snacks, even if you think you feel all right. Make sure you eat a good meal with protein and carbs an hour or two before donating. Also, one time when they thought I was looking faint, they told me to cough. They couldn't explain why, but they said that coughing, even fake coughing, helps counteract faintness.
Great tips! I will also drink a ton more water than I usually drink... I just looked up places, and MD Anderson Cancer Center has a donation center, and I know that place like the back of my hand since my mom works there. So that's where I'm going to go!
I go through blood draws and IV's all the time because of my MS. One thing I learned, and I imagine it is the same with giving blood, is to remember to breath. Breathing is so important when the needle goes in, and when the line comes back out. Many people hold their breath during these two moments because they fear pain, but if you take a deep breath and slowly let it out as the tech is doing the insert and removal it will actually hurt much less. It also helps open your vein so they can get a better placement, and it will help keep you from getting light headed.
With all the disasters plaguing the world right now there is a major shortage of blood. We need everyone, who can, to donate if possible. The shortages come after a massive bout of natural disasters. Hurricanes and earthquakes have ravaged the southern states, Mexico, and central America. There has not been a lot of press coverage about the disasters, loss of human life, or the impact that blood donation shortages are having. We need to take it upon ourselves to do what we can and be aware of the suffering even without media coverage telling us about it.
I am proposing a new goal. One that is specifically for helping the blood shortages. Can we get 15 pints donated by the end of the year to help?
The form to record your donation is in the very first post in this thread. I know some of the graphics are missing, but if you find the part that says FORM and click it it will still work just fine. Thank you everyone who is able and willing to donate!
Canadian Blood Services rang me up last week and told me I was up for another donation, and thus I am scheduled for tomorrow! Count me! Plus the woman told me apparently my blood type (B+) means I save 3 lives per donation?! I assume some of that is optimistic statistic, but still, wow. And I was just thinking about the cookies.
It was a sham! I was bamboozled! They lost my vein and after a few minutes of fishing for it declared me useless and sent me off with a few cookies :'(
But I have a sick bruise and another appointment scheduled in 2 months
Love, Love, Love this! I donate whenever I can, and encourage others to do the same. I donate Power Red, and I just became eligible to donate again today, but there's no blood drives scheduled anytime soon in my immediate area.
Whoo! Just donated again! That makes blood2:blood2 for 2017. I wasn't eligible for the Power Red today as my hemoglobin was just a fraction too low, but I was still able to the whole blood. Every drop counts D
So I received a couple of text messages from the center where I usually donate, asking me to come in. I thought I was done for the year, so I called and asked about it, and that didn't turn out to be the case. Yay! I thought, and hurried to donate. Nay, thought my veins and refused to cooperate for the first time ever (and I've been a donor for a decade). Having a nurse digging around with a needle in your arm looking for a vein was a distinctly unfun experience. D: D: D: So no blood from me today, and I still have to wait three months to go again because that's just how it is apparently. :grumble
Ugh yeah, I feel like they should've have a fishing licence for the last time I went and they couldn't find my vein again. This time, though, was a success! And a fast one, too. Clocked in at around 6 minutes :$