Had to be sent home from school today, he gave blood this morning and fainted*. 
*Yes he is okay an exact quote as he plopped across the rear seats “and you do this a couple times a year?”
Heh. Kudos to your son for giving blood!
Yes, after we got home I had him surfing the 'net so he could see his reaction isn’t uncommon and to hopefully allow him to give again. Though seeing a “confident/maybe a touch cocky” teenager taken down in his prime by it, was amusing.
Give that boy a cookie.
Happens to everyone at least once. I learned that it’s important to get a good night’s sleep before donating.
I once donated at work and one woman passed out and that started a chain reaction. I was at the snack table and started feeling woozy so they pushed my head down and whisked me away to a cot. I’m sure they meant well, but when you’re feeling faint, being zoomed around a room backwards on a rolling chair with your head between your knees is not a sovereign remedy.
I had given blood 34 times without incident. The 35th time, I turned and looked as the nurse was pulling out the needle, and the next second I passed out. When I came to, the nurse cheerfully informed me that, as I had finished giving when it happened, the blood could be used.
BTW, I just remember that was the 35th time because that was the time I got a special donor pin from Hema Quebec.
Just hit 8 gallons yesterday (a few double-reds in there, so that’s probably 61 donations (8 to a gallon, right?)) - never an actual issue, I think I was a little dizzy once.
First time I gave blood in high school also happened to be the day I started my first after-school job. Got home from work at 5:30, had dinner, was asleep for the night at 6. Do I win for longest time period between giving and passing out?
The only person who ever passed out on me when I was a lab tech was a big, burly guy. Speaking with other lab techs, they say the same thing - guys are the fainters, not women. But good for your son for donating! If he is a fainter when he has blood taken, it would be best if he told the person taking blood - it’s a lot easier to deal with an adult laying down than trying to hold him up with one hand while the other tries to deal with holding a contaminated sharp needle and glass tube filled with blood.
First time I gave blood was in high school, too. My best friend at the time, a big, manly football guy, did it too, even though he didn’t really want to, just because I was.
I jumped up after I was done and ran down the hall so as to not be late for class. Didn’t pass out, but came close!
I’ve passed out twice after selling plasma, but both reactions were at least an hour later. The first time, I had just stepped off the curb to cross 6 lanes of traffic. 
Glad it wasn’t 10 seconds later, lol.
I’ve never passed out when giving blood, but I remember in high school we had a blood drive, and later that day a guy fainted while giving a presentation in class, triggering a girl in the class to faint at her desk. That was an exciting afternoon.
I went to a vaccine drive at my Big 10 university once, and saw one of the football players faint dead away and slither off his chair when he saw the needle. Bwaaaaa haaaaaa!
I first gave blood in high school. I had to get a note from my mother saying it was okay for me to do the altruistic deed, provided I qualified. Their minimum weight limit was 110 lbs and I weighed in at 111 so they agreed to take me.
For some strange reason, the equipment was set up on the auditorium stage while the check-in tables and recovery cantina were down where the audience sits. I checked in, walked up the stairs on stage right (audience left) and watched the lady stick me with the needle. She was surprised I wasn’t bothered by it; I was fascinated watching the liquid flow through the long tube and fill the pint bag. Afterward, the lady helped me sit up, told me where the juice and cookies were, and cautioned me about stumbling on the stairs at stage left (audience right).
I decided to take a short-cut and walked to the edge of the stage. The woman who drew my blood was hanging up a new pint bag and called out to me, “Young man…”
I leaned forward, executed a front flip, landed on my feet on the auditorium floor, and continued walking to the cookie table. Something thumped behind me, and the kids at the cookie table gave me an unusually late round of applause. One of the girls pointed behind me and I looked back so see that my phlebotomist had passed out. The lady monitoring the cantina chewed me out for the stunt, but was just as amused as the kids.
–G!
Blood runs cold
I feel it in my bones
But you don’t know
Your time is up
Blood runs cold
. --Elliott & Collen (Def Leppard)
. Blood Runs Cold
. Slang
In high school, I was TA in a biology course. The students had to do the usual prick their finger with a lancet maneuver, and the biggest, toughest football player in the school was the only one unable to do it. Went through ten little lancets, every one of them smacked into the desktop as he flinched.
And that’s why I was amused, though not football he is a wrestler* and quite proud of his physical fitness levels. He is 100% better now, and will donate again!
*I asked him to let his coach know to make sure to keep him out of the 1 pint weight class or he will lose every time… that cost me an evil eye 
Since when does fainting give you a ticket out of class? I saw a student faint during an IV demonstration, and we just picked him up and put his tucus back in his chair.
Why would fainting mean it couldn’t be used? Surely they don’t think fainting = tainted blood?
I gave blood once but will never try it again. I got dizzy, nauseous and started sweating profusely. Same thing happened when I got my last tattoo, got a vasectomy and had a tooth pulled. No idea why my body reacts the way it does to these events.
I used to donate regularly, but following a blood drive at my previous job, I had the same symptoms as Laggard: I got dizzy, nauseous, and sweaty. I ended up going home for the afternoon, where I actually did throw up, and resolved that perhaps I should not donate anymore.
If there came a time when it was truly desperate, I certainly would donate, but I think I’m best swearing off.
No, but I think if you just pass out partway through they’ll stop drawing blood. And if they stop, they can’t jsut start again, so you’d hav to wait the usual amoutn of time to donate again.