I’m a college student, and though I’m not starving, I wouldn’t say no to a bit more money coming my way. I donate blood every two months, when the van comes by school, and while I’m not a huge fan of needles, they don’t bug me a ton. For background information, I’m O+, and in general, take a while when just donating.
I’ve been a bit put off the idea of donating plasma because they have to pump your blood back in, and it just seems like adding complexity is a nice way to mess things up, but it seems like it works well in general for other people.
So dopers, should I be worried? What will my juice be used for? Is it ethical? Is it worth the time? Anyone have any good plasma donation related stories to tell?
I’ve never donated plasma, but I have done a double-red cell donation where they take my blood and spin it and give me back the plasma. It wasn’t that different from regular donating. I just didn’t have to squeeze the ball the whole time.
Oh, by the way, it is my impression that bodily fluids that have been bought rather than donated aren’t given to patients but rather are used for medical R and D.
Used to sell my plasma back in Texas. It was good for beer money. Did it twice a week or so for a long time with no ill effects, but I finally had to stop because of the tracks on my arm. I looked like a junkie!
I used to be an apheresis donar because the blood bank would call me about every month. I am CMV negative so they needed my blood for premies and transplant patients. I didn’t sell the blood.
The upside of apherisis donations is that one donation is equivilent to about five whole blood donations. It can be done much more frequently than whole blood donations. Also, the donation itself doesn’t cause the donar to feel as tired and run down when its over. Sometimes I actually felt better.
The downside is that you have to be on the machine for about an hour and there is a needle in each arm instead of just one.
I was on a first name basis with everyone at the blood bank but then I developed a melanoma which was successfully removed. However, that excluded me from further blood donations.
5 years ago a co-worker needed blood (she had some cancer), and for whatever reason (having their period, hepatitis), out of the 34 people who went to donate only two of were able to donate blood.
10 days later I was asked to donate again, but it was only plasma. You reallly don’t feel woozy after it, but man is it boring.
I used to sell plasma back in my college days, both for the money and also because I was a vegetarian at the time and was reluctant to give blood because I wanted my red blood cells back.
The weirdest thing was that there was an anticoagulant added to the fluid on the return. So I would suddenly be able to taste something that I hadn’t actually put in my mouth.
Thanks to an extended visit to the UK in the early 1990s I am no longer eligible to donate blood products (risk of mad cow disease).
(risk of mad cow disease).