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Tips to Selling Your Soul

Discussion in 'General' started by Nova, Jan 7, 2013.

  1. Jan 7, 2013 #1
    Nova

    Nova A Ghost Staff Member Administrator

    LOL Ok so not really selling your soul, that's just what my friends and I call it. No ideas why. xD

    Anyway, What I'm really talking about here is Donating Plasma. First though, I should probably tell you a story of the most awkward day of my year so far.

    My boyfriend and I have both been kind of low on cash and I've been needing to find a way to have some extra spending money in order to get him a present for his birthday which is coming up this month

    A friend of mine recommended donating plasma and it really seems like a good idea I might even continue to do it all the time. $50 a week isn't too shabby of an income for a girl who doesn't have time for a job and doesn't have to pay rent for the rest of the year. My only problem is, I can't do it.

    We went in for our first apointment the other day and I passed the physical and everything. The nurse was a little bit worried about my weight being too low and made me eat crackers before taking me out to the floor and at first I was fine, then I started getting really dizzy and couldn't see straight. They had to stop before they even had enough of my blood to fill the tube and make it into the container and my blood pressure was too low by then for them to get anymore. I got sick and felt really weird and they made me stay an hour longer because they couldn't get my blood pressure back to normal. Everyone else seemed fine, and my boyfriend says I must have just freaked out but I didn't feel nervous at all. I've never donated plasma before but I have seen bigger needles. The nurses said I had a reaction (not sure what that means) but if I wanted to come back and try again within the next six days, I was welcome to. I don't really want to give up just yet, I think I'm going to go try again sometime this week but I really don't want it to end up the same way. Have any of you donated plasma before? If so, are there some ways that I can make sure it goes more smoothly?
     
  2. Jan 7, 2013 #2
    EtherealSummoner

    EtherealSummoner Lamentations 3:22-26

    ... Uuugh. I have something against becoming a donor for some reason. Never tried donating part of myself and this is the first time I ever heard of donating plasma. Just curious but is your blood type AB? What I am reading right now about Plasma donors.
     
  3. Jan 7, 2013 #3
    Become

    Become Resident Tashian Staff Member Moderator Content Writer

    Yeah. In that moment there might have been something to do with your blood that affected you donating anything on the lines of blood can have adverse affects for even the smallest reasons. I was once deferred from a blood donation because my blood pressure was just a bit over the maximum.

    Based on what you said, your weight might have had something do with it. Or it could have just been that your body wasn't quite ready for the procedure.
     
  4. Jan 7, 2013 #4
    Nova

    Nova A Ghost Staff Member Administrator

    I thought it might be my weight too. I know I am slightly under what I should be for a girl my height but I'm still well over the minimum. But seeing as I am so small, would that effect the size of my veins maybe? They took like 15 minutes digging around in my arm. They said it wasn't hard to find my vein, but it was hard to get the needle into it. If that's the case, maybe there really isn't anything I can do about but hope they have an easier time next time and hope it's not my blood type or anything psycho like that? lol

    Brandon, To be honest, I'm not sure what my blood type is. Probably should know but I tested it years ago and I guess didn't retain the information xD I don't really think blood type would have much to do with it though or else they would have asked. Besides, they take a small sample of your blood/plasma during your physical and test it before hand. If blood type was an issue, wouldn't someone check for it then?
     
  5. Jan 7, 2013 #5
    Kitty

    Kitty I Survived The BG Massacre Staff Member Administrator

    I thought this thread was going to be about something completely different. XD

    I've never given blood or donated plasma (I'm a bit squeamish; I think I'd probably faint or something else equally embarrassing), but I think you're supposed to drink lots of water before and after you donate. You're also not supposed to drink anything with caffeine in it, and I think they suggest you eat a good meal before and after donating. Those could be reasons why you felt sick.
     
  6. Jan 8, 2013 #6
    Become

    Become Resident Tashian Staff Member Moderator Content Writer

    Generally, blood type doesn't have any profound influence on whether or not you can donate blood or plasma, just to dispell that. Otherwie, people of certain blood types wouldn't be able to get the plasma and blood that they need.
     
  7. Jan 9, 2013 #7
    Mike

    Mike Member

    And you can't be too skinny for that...and can also earn $50 a week. ;)

    Anyway, "having a reaction" is kind of vague, but it sounds like your blood volume is too low (exacerbated because of your body weight), or you have iron deficiency. You need to be above 50 kilos (~110 lbs) to donate within safe limits, is that an issue for you? Drinking a lot as Kitty said, will help, but perhaps not enough.

    As I'm sure you've learned somewhere, your blood is essentially your body's postal system, delivering "oxygen-rich hemoglobin" (an iron based molecule that oxygen attaches to for transport) and other essential nutrients to the various extremities. From the sounds of it, your brain wasn't getting enough oxygen (hence the dizzy spell), so an alternate hypothesis to the low blood volume is simply that your blood doesn't have enough iron, hence hemoglobin, to move the oxygen around. Do you find you get easily out of breath?

    You can test for iron deficiency with a piece of gold (such as a ring). If you rub it on your skin, you'll see it change colour. Eating iron-rich foods (like spinach leaves) is preferable to taking supplemental pills.
     
    Last edited: Jan 9, 2013

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