I found the initial pinprick to test your iron hurt more than the actual blood taking. Even that was just a mild prick. The needles are tiny. It’s really no big deal–I’ve had vaccinnation that have hurt much worse. I’ve never felt light-headed or fainted after giving blood. And the free cookies are nice!
Interestingly, the lady at the Red Cross the last time I gave blood said that the common types are often needed more than the rare types since there’s more demand for them.
The needles are not tiny. They’re pretty good-sized; they have to be to get the blood out. That doesn’t mean they’re sticking you with a harpoon, though.
It’s not bad. Sure it hurts a little – they’re sticking a needle in your arm. But it doesn’t hurt much. If you want to know “how little” or “how much” it hurts, I would say that I agree with MADDY that the finger-prick they do first hurts more. (They told me this was because you have a large number of nerve endings in your fingertip as compared to the small number of nerve endings in your inner arm.)
So if you can put up with having your finger pricked you can probably put up with being stuck to give blood. And when you’re done you’ll have that warm fuzzy feeling of having done a good deed. Plus – free cookies! 
I am a giant pansy when it comes to needles of any kind but I have blood once, when I was a senior in high school.
The needle really didn’t hurt, it got a little bit uncomfortable towards the very end.
You do need to be 105 pounds to donate 1/2 pint and 110 to donate a full pint. Eat a lot beforehand - I had a bagel and a mountain of cookies - and drink water and gatorade.
I don’t think it hurts as much as it just feels weird to have a needle in your arm. Nothing worth worrying about, though.
It’s a good idea to drink plenty of water (or other alcohol and caffeine free beverage) on the day you are going to give blood, or even the day before. If you are well hydrated, your veins will be nice and plump. This makes the experience easier and less painful than if you’re a little on the dry side and your veins are shrunken.
If the phlebotomist is a male, and walks toward you with the equipment ready, and says “just a little prick with a needle now”, make sure you avoid saying “I know you are, but what are you going to do?” 
Donate blood. It’s a wonderful, selfless thing to do!
I would love to give, but truly, I have terrible veins. One time, it took a paramedic FIVE tries to get me plugged into an IV. Every time I’ve been in the hospital, it’s been a challenge for IVs and blood tests. I don’t see how I could donate. 
I’m due to donate again now; thanks for the reminder. No, it doesn’t hurt. Yes, they need all blood types. And right now I know in our area the Red Cross is also supporting the military with extra blood, so they need even more.
I have great veins, and the blood center where I go has a wonderful phlebotomist, so it’s always a quick and easy process. Nearly painless, and you feel very good afterwards for having done something good for no other reason than to do it!
One in three people have had or will need blood in their lifetime. One in 10 donate. Blood supplies are very, very low right now, just like nearly every summer (people are on vacation or otherwise too busy to donate).
Information concerning blood donation can be found here; donor eligibility guidelines are available here; and a list of blood donation FAQs is here.
And…um…if you could toss a couple of bucks in the donation bucket on your way out the door we’d really appreciate it - disaster relief funds are the lowest they’ve been in over a decade.
I am very squeamish of needles. It’s just a reflex, very irrational, in my opinion, and I try my best to get over it. When I give blood, I constantly have to tell the tech that I’m not in pain, despite the look on my face. If you’re like me, you’re not worried about the pain, which is really quite minor. You’re worried about THIS:
It disturbed me that I could feel the blood coursing through my forearm and not through my upper arm. I also got very nervous that if had to sneeze or something, and reflexively pulled my hand up to my face, I could rip my arm open or something like that.
The needle sticking is nothing.
Having said that, it feels majorly good to have given blood, because I know it was a lot harder for me than it was for regular donators. I hope I can build up the nerve to do it every eight weeks, because it really is wonderful.
I’ve only given once because it hurt. a lot. The people taking blood were really not very good at it, though. Several people had their veins collapsed, and I myself ended up with huge bruises when the taker got frustrated and decided it would speed things up if she moved the needle around while in the vein a few times. That hurt like hell. Do yourself a favor, if you’re going to give blood, don’t go to a drive manned by volunteers. Eight years later, I’m still too scared to try again…and I wasn’t afraid of needles before that!
elfkin477, call your local blood center and confirm that the phlebotomists there are staffers, not volunteers. Then you may find you can try again with a better experience. I don’t blame you for being gunshy after the first time, but that is NOT the typical experience.
I donated blood and, not to dissuade you, it did hurt! It was exactly painful, but it definitely hurt. Apparently I had a really slow blood flow and it took forever to fill the bag (other people had come and gone while I was still doing it). It felt like one continuous needle insertion. Ouchy.
I have donated blood on several occasions, and I have never found it painful at all. Then again, I’m what they call an easy stick. Nice blue vein clearly visible near my elbow, no one has ever had a problem finding it.
My wife finds any kind of needle experience extremely painful, because they have trouble finding her blood vessels. She has often come home from the doctor with huge bruises where they tried to stick her and missed. And it wasn’t inexperienced people, she’s found that phlebotomists have trouble.
That said, she manages to survive it, just doesn’t like it. I’m the designated donor in our family.
The needle hurts a little, not much. Personally, though, donating makes me feel pretty faint. I’ve donated three times, out of a sense I “ought to do something useful, damnit”, and got pretty faint each time - once, I had to stop because I felt so sick. I’m not a big guy, but I’m not tiny- I weighed 130 the first time, probably around 150 lbs the last.
Remember: eat right the day you donate. This means ALL day - eat breakfast, have juice with your breakfast, eat a good lunch, then donate. Fries and coke are not an adequate meal. And don’t plan any heavy lifting afterward - even if you feel fine, it isn’t smart.
Even though I’m petrified of getting needles for any reason (they always hurt me!), I donated blood once – and I’ll never do it again.
First, the needle hurt going in, even though I had extended my arm for the phlebotomist and turned my head in the opposite direction so I wouldn’t have to watch (but this wasn’t too surprising – it’s always this way if I get a shot, a blood test or an IV). Then my arm hurt like crazy during the whole time the blood was being drawn. I was staring up at the ceiling mumbling to myself “when will this be over already” repeatedly for what to me seemed an eternity, though objectively it was probably only a few minutes, who knows.
I was so relieved when it was over, and as I said, I’ll NEVER do it again.
But, no one can say I didn’t try it, right?
Oh yeah – even though the actual donating part hurt, I should mention that I didn’t feel dizzy or lightheaded afterwards. Maybe because I HAD eaten prior to giving the blood, and I drank the orange juice the technician gave me when I was finished.
Giving blood can hurt. Being stabbed is never pleasant.
But blood donations mean the difference between life and death for some people.
There aren’t many ways to do such a noble thing with so little effort. If you meet all the requirements and have never tried, you have no excuse not to go at least once. If you’re the kind of person who can do it with little to no pain (for some people it can be an extremely unpleasant experience), you should be going a couple of times a year.
If they give you a choice, my advice is to let them stick you in the ear rather than the finger for the iron test. In my experience, hurts a LOT less.
I stopped giving whole blood when I realized just how limited the use of AB is (only other ABs can use it, but then ABs can also use A, B or O). Instead, they preferred to take my platelets. I’m a big girl, and can give two donations’ worth of platelets at once, which they can separate into A and B. Or I could when I had enough iron.
Giving platelets isn’t something you’ll probably want to do the first time in, though. It takes longer, because basically what they’re doing is taking out your blood, adding a saline solution to prevent clotting, centrifudging the platelets out, and putting the rest back in. Getting part of my blood back was the most uncomfortable part, partly because of the pressure and partly because that saline solution made me feel tingly in weird places.
If I’m not mistaken, giving plasma is a similar process.
I give regularly, not every 56 days, but a few times a year, most recently last Thursday. Pinching yourself is not a as good an indicator as having someone else pinch you. You could pinch yourself a lot harder than the equivalent needle pain without it bothering you. So basically a lot of the pain is in your head. I’ve never felt even vaguely lightheaded either, eating and drinking beforehand is a fantastic idea.
The toughest part for me is answering the questions. After answering “nope” to the first dozen or so “In the last twelve months have you…” questions, I invariably wonder if I shouldn’t be getting out more.