Want to give blood but worry I might faint.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP— I’m a fainter, and I’ve never given blood because of it. But I just signed up to give after seeing this thread. I’m 0- and so I know that it’s something I should be doing.

I'm THRILLED to see this! I have an appointment for next week.
-- OP

OMG, can y'all please give me a pep talk? I also heard about the shortage and was going to post about the same thing

I'm not squeamish, but I'm a fainter, and only a couple pounds over the weight minimum. But I'm also O negative, and both my dad and son benefited from transfusions. So would also really like do it, but I'm afraid it'll be a sh*tshow!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP— I’m a fainter, and I’ve never given blood because of it. But I just signed up to give after seeing this thread. I’m 0- and so I know that it’s something I should be doing.

I'm THRILLED to see this! I have an appointment for next week.
-- OP

OMG, can y'all please give me a pep talk? I also heard about the shortage and was going to post about the same thing

I'm not squeamish, but I'm a fainter, and only a couple pounds over the weight minimum. But I'm also O negative, and both my dad and son benefited from transfusions. So would also really like do it, but I'm afraid it'll be a sh*tshow!

I'm close on the weight minimum also, and the one time I tried to donate I fainted so I'm afraid to try again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have vasovagal syncope. It helps to be hydrated, lie down and to clench your big butt muscles but basically there’s nothing you can do.

Honestly blood donation and blood shortages are all kind of shady. The whole industry is sort of sketch. But important. I suspect a doctor would say if you have vasovagal, they’d rather you didn’t donate unless directed to do so for a family member or something.

Wtf. Let’s hope you never need blood. I’m certain a doctor would NOT tell you not to donate, since vasovagal is harmless

It’s not harmless if you hit your head. I often puke too. It’s a headache for the blood donation staff.

You donate blood, and the Red Cross sells it to hospitals. The blood is okay maybe but plasma sales are predatory.

If a doctor or someone I trust tells me they genuinely need blood, of course I’m happy to give it. But the industry is just like any other industry and they rely on revenue to keep the people employed and the wheels in motion so they’re motivated to play up demand and make donors feel needed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have vasovagal syncope. It helps to be hydrated, lie down and to clench your big butt muscles but basically there’s nothing you can do.

Honestly blood donation and blood shortages are all kind of shady. The whole industry is sort of sketch. But important. I suspect a doctor would say if you have vasovagal, they’d rather you didn’t donate unless directed to do so for a family member or something.

Wtf. Let’s hope you never need blood. I’m certain a doctor would NOT tell you not to donate, since vasovagal is harmless

It’s not harmless if you hit your head. I often puke too. It’s a headache for the blood donation staff.

You donate blood, and the Red Cross sells it to hospitals. The blood is okay maybe but plasma sales are predatory.

If a doctor or someone I trust tells me they genuinely need blood, of course I’m happy to give it. But the industry is just like any other industry and they rely on revenue to keep the people employed and the wheels in motion so they’re motivated to play up demand and make donors feel needed.

Like look at the story in Axios.

https://www.axios.com/2024/01/10/red-cross-blood-shortage

What it says is that the Red Cross has had a drop in donors. I believe it. It also says if doctors don’t have blood, that can affect patient care. I believe that too.

There are ZERO quotes in here from hospitals or doctors. No public officials saying this is a problem. No stories about patients lacking needed blood. Nada.

This reporter just took a press release from the Red Cross and ran it. Which, okay, I’m sure if there is sleight of hand here it is not our most pressing problem.

But we can be assured that if our local hospitals are genuinely running out of blood, we will hear about it from hospitals and public officials and not just the Red Cross press office.

The US actually EXPORTS a lot of plasma, because we allow groups to pay poor people to “donate” it and other countries don’t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Book at the Charles Drew center (in the Red Cross building). You sit in a recliner with a screen in front of you to watch whatever you want on Netflix. There are bountiful snacks and juice afterward. A regular donation takes 20ish min. If you’re eligible for power red that actually helps you feel better after and you donate two units. Good luck! I joke to my kids that my regular blood donation appointments are a spa day.

I have had bad experiences at the Drew center... hours-long waits, rude staff, understaffing, the refreshment area is out of the sight lines of employees so they can't monitor you well. They are set up more for regular platelet donors than whole blood, but even when I gave platelets it was worse than Inova. Highly recommend the children's hospital site or the Inova donor center in Annandale, both of which also have comfortable recliners.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I fainted the first time. I won’t go into why I fainted because it’s disturbing and I don’t want to make whoever reads this feel uncomfortable! I never tried to give blood again and I don’t feel bad. I feel like I “give” enough in other ways.

so OP, if you do it and don’t like it, that’s okay, you don’t have to do it again. Might as well give it a go if you feel like you want to support others this way.

That’s…one way to look at it. Another is that fainting whilst sitting in a chair and surrounded my medical professionals used to dealing with people fainting is not that big of a deal.

Those views aren’t incompatible. I did faint and I can attest first hand that I wasn’t a big deal. But it was unpleasant and I don’t want to do it again.

Also, a couple of years later I actually needed two blood transfusions. Each cost me $500 dollars. If hospitals need blood badly enough they could start paying people for their blood . I think that donations are great and all but I don’t think anybody should feel guilty for not doing it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I fainted the first time. I won’t go into why I fainted because it’s disturbing and I don’t want to make whoever reads this feel uncomfortable! I never tried to give blood again and I don’t feel bad. I feel like I “give” enough in other ways.

so OP, if you do it and don’t like it, that’s okay, you don’t have to do it again. Might as well give it a go if you feel like you want to support others this way.

That’s…one way to look at it. Another is that fainting whilst sitting in a chair and surrounded my medical professionals used to dealing with people fainting is not that big of a deal.

Those views aren’t incompatible. I did faint and I can attest first hand that I wasn’t a big deal. But it was unpleasant and I don’t want to do it again.

Also, a couple of years later I actually needed two blood transfusions. Each cost me $500 dollars. If hospitals need blood badly enough they could start paying people for their blood . I think that donations are great and all but I don’t think anybody should feel guilty for not doing it.

They do pay for it, they just pay the Red Cross. Technically they pay the Red Cross for collecting it, not for the blood itself. Lol.

[Anonymous]

Fellow fainter (and 0- poster) here. Fainting is bad if you are standing and hit your head, of course. But you’d be lying down, and I think most of us fainters know the feeling by now to not stand up if we’re feeling faint.

I hate fainting, which is why I haven’t done it yet. But I don’t know that I will faint because I’ve never done it. So I guess I’m thinking that I should at least try it once.