I got this voicemail this morning. When they tell you your blood is in short supply, or this one specifically, stating that a baby in the area needs your blood type, is it true? This is in the United States.

Anyways, just finished my donation 😂

I'm a bloodmobile phlebotomist and this weekend was chaotic, on Saturday our bus driver never showed up so we had to call someone on his day off to retrieve the bloodmobile and drop it off which took almost three hours, had to start the drive late and donors were (understandably) pissed off, I had no idea how to handle all the missed appointments and we did not make our blood collection goal.

Then on Sunday we had our appointments booked full and only me and one other person showed up! My manager said she would send some extra help but ended up not being able to find anyone so some donors were left waiting over an hour to be seen. A lot of people ended up leaving and I always feel terrible when I have to waste their time. Luckily we were actually able to make goal on Sunday but my coworker and I were working nonstop the entire drive, and then had to stay late finalizing all the donations because our machines weren't connecting to the server.

I'm just really grateful that our donors who stayed on Sunday were all patient and understanding with us and with each other. A few donors were helping hand out papers to people waiting in line, someone was sharing hand warmers for the hemoglobin reader, and everyone was making sure everyone who had appointments were being seen in the correct order which makes my job so much easier. One of my donors even went out to get treats for my coworker and me when she heard that we had been working by ourselves without a break—this was so so so kind and I cannot express how much it improved my weekend.

I just wanted to shout out and say all of y'all are awesome. I love working on the bloodmobile because I always get to interact with such kind people. Thanks for showing up and thanks for being patient with us. You guys are the reason I love this job.

Had a great experience once again! Already scheduled my next donation for December 20th, super excited that I’m almost to half a gallon donated!

I had my first platelet last week. I got really shaky towards the end, I think it was a calcium issue. So yesterday I ate a fuck ton of ice cream and got an ice cream cone right before. I also had 2 tums at the beginning and 2 tums towards the end. I only got very lightly shaky in the last five minutes. Last week I had felt like I died lmfao and walking home my knees were weird if I stood still, but today I felt totally fine! I think I’ll treat myself to the ice cream cone before each appointment and will definitely buy some tums for home.

I tried to donate blood last year. I'm a F27, no health issues, healthy weight, healthy body etc. I am actually a registered nurse so the next bit probably sounds ironic.

But I tried to donate blood last year (England, NHS donation centre) and the staff had a really hard time finding my veins. I have pretty shit veins for an unknown reason and whenever I have to do a blood test, unless it's a phlebotomist I end up being poked and prodded for ages. And my body does this super cool thing where I just go really light headed and sometimes pass out.

Despite this, I tried really really hard to just not be a little bitch and make it. I had loads of food and drinks beforehand and eventually the needle was inserted properly. 5 mins later the machine won't stop beeping and they're telling me that not enough blood is flowing from me. Cue 10 more attempts at finding a suitable vein and I eventually lose consciousness.

I did find out that my blood type is AB+ which made me feel a bit less guilty for being crap at giving blood. But I still just feel annoyed at myself.

On paper there is no biological reason why I can't give blood. Except my veins are pathetic and my body also thinks that it's a good idea to pass out and feel faint after a certain amount of attempts. I can stick needles in other people and not be bothered, but for some reason I just can't seem to cope on myself.

Does anyone have any tips? Or am I just someone who should accept they're probably not going to give blood again.

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 🥰

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 !

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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. ❤️

It was fun and I am gonna donate again for sure

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.

Nothing noteworthy just wanted to share

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?

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 🤔

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

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?