# Any health benefits from donating platelets? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 17, 2017, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-health-benefits-from-donating-platelets/791450 "2017-07-17T00:54:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ASGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@ASGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2017, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-health-benefits-from-donating-platelets/791450/21 "2017-07-19T02:09:05Z")
By way of confirming. Platelet life: one week. Use or lose. This is one reason some facilities don’t take platelet donations on Friday. Needle: #17 and on rare occasions #15. I ask this periodically to see if it changes. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2017, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-health-benefits-from-donating-platelets/791450/22 "2017-07-19T22:03:33Z")
Weird – when I used to do pheresis, I had to wait months in between, not days or weeks. I guess maybe they were taking all the blood parts? I am a hard stick and the returns weren’t working out\* so I switched to whole blood every eight weeks. The needles are a good bit bigger than the ones used for a regular blood draw, but I find the thin ones more painful. Maybe it’s because I’m used to the big ones. - once the tubing even exploded inside the machine. They opened it and there was a bloodbath in there! ---
**Author:** ![Iggins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Iggins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggins)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2017, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-health-benefits-from-donating-platelets/791450/23 "2017-07-19T23:16:33Z")
> [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > I’m told they have a usable life of five days. > > Curious about one thing you said–I am told that blood type makes not a whit of difference where platelets are concerned. So, platelets including my blood can be used by anyone even though I am not a universal donor. You suggest that being O neg makes you extremely in demand for platelets…wondering why that would be, or is my information wrong? > > (As I mentioned my wife often needs blood products. We are quite sure that she has never had my blood in the form of platelets, because there’s never been a time lag of less than a week between me giving and her needing; but I’ve been told that for platelets, unlike whole blood, it doesn;t matter that we don’t have compatible blood types, so it would in theory be possible. But it could be I’ve been told wrong. Curious about what the scoop is here.) > > **BBB** : Not very. Sorry I can’t be more specific, but it seems like the same general size as lab-work needles. It’s sort of the opposite - I’m B+, and they prefer me to donate platelets, since my whole blood would be in lower demand. I would think that O+ would be encouraged to donate whole blood, though they are also on the list for preferred platelet donors - probably because there are so many of them? ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-health-benefits-from-donating-platelets/791450/24 "2017-07-20T00:28:06Z")
> [@Iggins](#): > > It’s sort of the opposite - I’m B+, and they prefer me to donate platelets, since my whole blood would be in lower demand. I would think that O+ would be encouraged to donate whole blood, though they are also on the list for preferred platelet donors - probably because there are so many of them? Yes, I’m O+ and they would like me to do pheresis, but as above I kept wasting the supplies! They tried again recently to see if anything changed but no go. **Ulf** , I donate at the hospital, not at any special center – is there one near you you could try? ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-health-benefits-from-donating-platelets/791450/25 "2017-07-20T06:38:17Z")
I’ve been getting emails about an emergency blood shortage in our area and when I logged in to the donor website this message came up: Based on your A+ blood type, please consider making a platelet donation. I see from my history on the site that the last time I donated platelets was 3 years ago and really don’t know if I’m up to doing it again. The last few times I gave whole blood I felt weak and tired for a couple of days, even though my hg and other vital signs are fine and I’m in good health–I don’t know if it’s age (57) or what. And a platelet donation often takes over 3 hours for me and gives me the shakes and foot cramps even when I take extra calcium ahead of time to prepare. It amazes me that some platelet donors can give several times a month–a few times a year was as much as I could ever tolerate. At least our nearby donor center has lots of different kinds of drinks as well as cookies, chips, and jelly beans. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-health-benefits-from-donating-platelets/791450/26 "2017-07-21T20:13:30Z")
> [@Iggins](#): > > It’s sort of the opposite - I’m B+, and they prefer me to donate platelets, since my whole blood would be in lower demand. I would think that O+ would be encouraged to donate whole blood, though they are also on the list for preferred platelet donors - probably because there are so many of them? I’m O+ and they want EVERYTHING from me. They ask if I can do platelets if they’re low on them. ---
**Author:** ![ZurBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/71e660/32.png) [@ZurBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZurBob)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-health-benefits-from-donating-platelets/791450/27 "2017-07-21T21:40:20Z")
Anyone here with Hemochromatosis? I would like to hear your experience in “donating” blood. :smack: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-health-benefits-from-donating-platelets/791450.md?page=1)