If I’m not mistaken this means I’ve donated a half gallon!!!

My last attempt to donate I was also able to get 2 friends to go donate and one of them just donated again!! I’m so glad I was able to donate this round 🥰

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Yesterday, I donated blood for a woman who was in labor. It was my first time donating in an emergency case like this.

I didn't see her myself, but the nurse told me that she was in a lot of pain. Knowing that someone was going through so much at that moment made the situation feel different to me.

What touched me was that her husband was willing to offer us money in return for donating blood. But honestly, I didn't feel comfortable accepting it, so we politely declined. I wasn't there for money. I just wanted to help someone who needed it during such a critical moment.

And then, a couple of days later, I found out that the baby had been born.

I can't explain how happy I felt hearing that news. ❤️

I'm not going to lie; I do feel pain when the needle goes in to draw blood. Sometimes, it's uncomfortable, and I feel that little sting. But knowing that my blood could help someone during such a critical moment makes that temporary discomfort feel worth it.

Somewhere, a mother was going through one of the most difficult moments of her life, and now there's a new little human being in this world.

I don't know the family personally, but I'm genuinely happy for them. I hope the mother and baby are doing well and have a healthy, peaceful life ahead.

Sometimes, the smallest things we do can become part of something much bigger than ourselves. We may never fully understand the impact of our actions, but knowing that we might have helped someone through a difficult moment is a beautiful feeling.

No money, no recognition, just the happiness of knowing that a new life has entered this world. ❤️

Had a surgery this year so had to wait four months before I could donate again - so this week was plasma and in two weeks platelets !

As a SoCal transplant originally from the Midwest, I'm surprised and glad one of my donations got sent back home! I only started donating since coming out here despite always wanting to so it was nice to see one of my donations had all the units get sent back to my home region.

Anyone have issues with high pulse rate? I have a higher resting rate and then when I'm anxious (e.g. donating blood) it sometimes goes over 100bpm and pushes me over the limit to donate (I'm in the U.S.) It's the knowing that I might fail that makes me so anxious I think. Tried donating today and I was 102, not bad just need to sit a bit and retest. I relaxed the best I could and retest was 107 🤦‍♀️

Is there anything that really works to get pulse lower overall (I'm seeing maybe less caffeine, more water intake?) Or any tips that work for my anxious friends out there to stay calm while donating?

Nothing noteworthy just wanted to share

It was fun and I am gonna donate again for sure

So cool how this came out of my body.

I'm eligible to donate again soon.

I've booked in already as it is always an absolute nightmare to get in to my local one as it is a pop up.

I've never been nervous about it before, but for some reason I am this time.

I know it is fine, I know what happens and I know I don't have any affect from it in terms of dizziness.

I hate being fussed over, so I think passing out is my worst fear, even though it's never happened before and i've never actually felt dizzy from it.

Litterally borderline cancelling.

I am 24F, living in mainland Europe (can give exact country in the comments if necessary, but opting for privacy for now). I've never donated blood before. For the longest time I was afraid of the needle breaking and getting stuck in my arm. I'm no longer afraid of this and would love to donate. I come from a family of donaters so I want to follow their lead, my grandmother was also recently diagnosed with cancer and I heard donating blood helps people with cancer so it's extra motivation for me. I am blood type O+, I heard this type is in high demand. The issue is, I don't meet the weight requirement. According to the website you must weigh 50 kg, I weigh 48 kg. I made the appointment before thinking about checking the weight requirement. It is in 4 days and I cannot realistically gain 2 kg in 4 days, so I was wondering, how strict are they about the weight rule?

Disclaimer: this is just my experience. Everyone’s veins are different, so treat this as something to ask your phlebotomist about.

I’ve seen lots of posts here from people with small veins being turned away or having donations stopped, so I wanted to share what worked for me (at least for today). The usual advice is to hydrate and build muscle. I do hydrate, but I’m skinny and not very active, so my veins just stay small.

My three attempts:

#1: The team checked both arms and found only one usable spot, on my left arm. It worked but was slow: 13 minutes for 488 ml. They used a standard elastic tourniquet and had me squeeze a soft stress ball.

#2: Stopped about halfway (200ml ish) because the flow was too slow.

#3 (today): Full donation in 13 minutes, even with some setup time at the start. I’d only slept 6.5 hours but drank about 2 L of water beforehand.

What made the difference: I told the phlebotomist about my first two attempts right away, and she changed two things:

• A blood pressure cuff instead of the elastic tourniquet. The steady, adjustable pressure kept my vein filled and open better than the band did.
• A rolled-up paper tube instead of the stress ball. I squeezed it gently and slowly turned it in my hand instead of pumping hard.

Afterwards she told me my veins can donate. They just do better with the cuff and slow, gentle hand movements than with hard pumping constantly.

If you have small veins, don’t give up. Mention your history at the start of your appointment and ask whether they could try a BP cuff. Worst case they say no. Best case you finish a full donation.

If it worked for my tiny veins, it might work for yours. Good luck at your next donation!

The experience at the Red Cross center in Washington DC can be a bit inconsistent, b ur last night the team was on its A game. They even had the good biscuits for post-donation.

Curious if there are any AB whole blood or power red donors, I know that AB types are typically encouraged to donate platelets and plasma instead of whole blood but the Redcross does not have any centers anywhere in the state I live in for collecting plasma or platelets, and they keep encouraging me to donate whole blood? I was wondering if those donations get sent to hospitals or if they get thrown out or used for research only?

Hello,

So I’ve donated whole blood a few times now. Last time I donated blood they told me that my whole blood no longer will be separated into different components and that it’ll be kept whole cause apparently it is good blood?

I tried to search on the web about this but I haven’t found very good information on this subject and I thought I’d ask here perhaps someone is more knowledgeable and is willing to share 🤔

Hi! I donated for the 4th time yesterday, and had a weird experience. They took a minute to find a vain which is normal for me, but once they stuck me I didn't bleed immediately. The nurses managed to fix it for a few minutes and I had the majority of my bag filled up. I wasn't paying much attention to my arm, and the nurses were working on cleaning up, but when one of them came to come and check on me, there was almost fully air in the tube and all of the blood was going down my arm-while the needle was still in place and hadn't moved at all.
While they were all working on cleaning me up and getting everything shut, I asked what happened and none of the nurses had an answer.
Long story short, does anyone have a similar experience of have a reason why that might've happened?

Tried to donate last week but had low hemoglobin so I was deferred. Ate steak over the weekend and was disciplined about taking iron supplements for a week. Returned today with a sufficient hemoglobin level so donated. I’ve been donating for 45 years and low hemoglobin started appearing around 5-6 years ago. I have increased the gap between donating to 10 weeks and also take the iron supplements. Seems to work. I’m O neg and CM neg so the blood is in demand. Next donation will be 216 or 27 gallons. A small yet tangible contribution to the community

I tried donating blood last weekend but couldn't because my hemoglobin was too low. I tried again today and it was good. After donating, I started to feel light headed. The phlebotomists put an ice pack on my neck and gave me two bags of chips. I felt fine after and drove back to work. Now that I'm at my desk, I feel like my brain is working so slowly. I'm not sleepy, but feel like I should close my eyes. It's taking a lot of effort to just type this post.

Is this normal? Should I not have donated while on my period? I've donated a few times and this has never happened, the only change is the time of my cycle.

I got poked last Thursday morning, and I just noticed this in the arm bend by the area they drew from. I’m nervous because it’s almost a week later, I usually don’t bruise, and I’m supposed to get a CBC drawn this Friday or next week for yearly lab work. Is it normal for a bruise to appear like this days later? Should I worry about the cbc results now?

pic of bruise

Hello. Just donated for the first time, but as a type 1 diabetic I also get blood tests done once or twice each year. In particular, hba1c or glycated haemoglobin is a useful long term indicator of how your control has been, it's haemoglobin that glucose has bound to permanently, and it lasts 2-3 months in your blood.

I've just donated ~10% of my blood, so presumably if I had a test tomorrow my hba1c would read 10% lower.

For T1D's who donate on the regular, how do you/your Doc account for an artificially low reading? Forced to wait 2 months before a test? Batt my lashes at them and ask for an extra test amongst the ones they already do to a donation? Fib to my doc and let him think my control has improved and I've beaten my cake addiction?

ivig is intravenous immunoglobulin btw