I’ve wondered if you know anyone who sells their plasma? There was some random story on TV yesterday where the producer made it seem like a domestic trend that’s now common culture. I’ve never considered doing that myself yet I respect it as an option for people.
I’ve done it a few times. Not out of desperation or anything, since I work full-time and make good money - I just figured I could use a little extra cash. Depending on your weight and whether the plasma center is running any specials at the time, it pays anywhere from $40 to $120 for about an hour’s time getting screened and then making the actual donation, and it doesn’t leave you lightheaded or weak like donating full blood does. You’re allowed to do it twice a week. You make your appointment through an app and they load the cash onto a debit card shortly after you finish up.
They disqualify you if you’re on certain medications, have recently had vaccinations or surgeries or certain illnesses or chronic conditions, or if your heartrate/blood pressure is too high or your oxygen too low, but you can usually try again after a few days. You also need to be properly hydrated and have a certain protein level in your blood, so it’s important to drink a lot of water the day before and have a high-protein breakfast.
I was refused because one of my viens was too small.
I knew some folks in my dorm in college who did it. Basically the way they looked at it was as free beer money.
They’d go in once a week or whatever the interval was back then, get poked, sit around for a while, and get paid. It was not very arduous or anything; like giving blood (which a lot of other people also did), except not as bad because they didn’t take the red blood cells. The donation place was within easy walking distance of the dorms, almost certainly by design, so it wasn’t inconvenient either.
I’ve been considering doing this for a while, but I am wary because the process involves injecting anticoagulants and various other chemicals (am I right…?) I’m sure doing it a few times is harmless, but if that stuff is injected into me 80+ times a year, I can’t help but wonder about the harmful effects.
I had friends in college who did so, too, and pretty much for that reason (i.e., spending money).
From what they told me, it wasn’t difficult, but the techs at the plasma center weren’t great phlebotomists, and they (my friends) regularly had suffered multiple stabs as the techs tried to find a vein. They also told me that the place didn’t look terribly hygienic, either.
So, YMMV, I suppose.
Ours was located just off Ohio States south campus, between to what in 1980 was a crime ridden neighborhood and the campus drink and drown bars. A fine mix of freshman students, winos and possibly hookers filled the room. Much like Spanish Moon it was.
Did it while homeless for survival money…until they misplaced the needle for the return fluid, causing that arm to swell up and turn a dark blue-black.
I lived in Pittsburgh after college and sold my plasma a couple times while I was looking for work.
This was in the early 1980s shortly before HIV/AIDS.
I think you’re catastrophizing. Have you looked it up?
My friend has been donating platelets bi-weekly for years - for no pay.
The only person I knew that did it never got paid. She was semi-regular over a couple years.
I felt she was doing her bit for mankind. This was right after 9/11
I have never done it, but one of my college roommates did it regularly, and I’ve known other people who do it as well. She had a permanent crater in the crook of her arm, which I’ve seen on other people, due to being repeatedly poked with a large-bore needle.
As with whole blood, donations that can’t be used for infusion can be used for research, and other things.
BioLife, which is the place I went to when I was doing donations, says they use donated plasma to make pharmaceuticals.
That was my understanding from my friends who sold plasma, as well.
I was a college plasma seller for 2 years or so. There was a plasma place across the street from the dorm where I lived for 2 years and I went twice a week (I think, that was the schedule). Stood in for the fact that I didn’t have a job on campus during the school year and limited me borrowing money from my parents. When I was no longer living across the street from the place it stopped being a thing I did.
I’m now in my 50s and I think I can still spot the “scars” on the inside of my elbows where they stuck the needles, but no one else would think anything of them.