Hello everyone! This is my first post, so if I didn't do it right please forgive me. A little over two years ago I agreed to help my son meet his quota for his schools annual blood drive. I had never donated blood before but was not worried about it and was not the least bit squeamish. I was 34 years old at the time and a little on the heavy side. All went well until I stood up (after the donation), I then began to feel a little dizzy and sick to my stomach, the next thing I knew I was lying down with my feet in the air and my head lowered. The phlebotomist told me that I had passed out but that everything was okay and how it was perfectly normal....so after a coke and some cookies I decided I felt well enough to leave, so I got back up ......... you guessed it! I passed out again! I woke up in the same position with some very smelly thing being held under my nose. This time though I didn't start to feel better, only worse. Every time I sat up I passed out, then I started throwing up, and I was freezing. My husband was called and when he showed up he said I was out and white as a ghost, and the RN kept telling someone on the phone "she's dropping! she's dropping! The last time I woke up I had an IV in my arm and within about 30 minutes I felt 100% better, after about an hour they let my husband take me home and I was fine, with no further problems. I didn't see a Dr because I had no insurance at the time. About a year later when I was at the Doctors office for something unrelated I asked him about the incident. He said it was no big deal and that it happens all the time! Does it? I mean I know people pass out but does it usually end up like this? I began my donation at around 11:45 and finally left there at about 6:30 that evening. The wonderful treatment given to me by the phlebotomists and RN inspired me to return to college (after 16 years) and I'm now half way through (RN class of 2007). Anyway..... any insight on this would be appreciated. I know that many times nurses are more in touch than the Doctors are. Thanks! Charlie
The red cross rules for donating blood are such a pain. I donated for 15 years, with absolutely no problem, but the restrictions for even a smooth donation are so great it takes about an hour and a half for me to get in and out. Have to read a 6 page document EVERY time, fill out a two page paper, have to wait so long...
If they are recording who has trouble why don't they record who doesn't? I said screw it about 2 years ago, if they want my blood they will have to make it easier (under an hour) for the donation.
For anyone who's wondering, yeah, I've already donated more than I've hung, plus any products my family members have received twice over. I just don't care anymore who dies because I wouldn't subject myself to their buttcovering paperwork and procedures.
I agree and disagree. Yes, it is a pain to have to wait so long and you have a point in that they should record who does not have any problems. However, here is a senario that occured at my workplace:
We had the bloodmobile visit at work , 5 persons out of 40 persons who donated blood, fainted. Another 5 or so had complaints of light headedness. 1 person out of the 5 that fainted had to seek medical attention becuase she hit her head on the pavement in the parking lot. Our workplace has decided not to have the bloodmobile return as that the risk of liability issues is too high. Some of the persons who fainted reported that they skipped breakfast. One person skipped breakfast and had a predonation blood pressure of 90/58.
I did the QA survey after our company had complaints following the blood drive, and found this to be an unusually high occurence of problems. Just for the record, it was not the Red Cross who ran the bloodmobile.
I'm an active member of medical club at my school, where we hold several blood drives a year for the American Red Cross. I have never seen anything like it. So sorry to read about the bad experience you had
I am constantly donating blood since I am an O positive and never had such experience. The worst I have seen is people being there for a long period of time cause the blood flow is very slow, and also some people here and there gag or feel lightheaded afterwards. Usually some soda and a bagle or whatever is good enough and they are sent on their way. I too am very interested to read the responses of the nurses :)
WOW! Thanks everyone for your input. I never expected such a great response. This is truly a great community and I'm proud to be part of it! I did eat regularly that morning before I went because I had heard stories from people that hadn't. I am O negative and I do realize the great need to donate, I have also received numerous emails from the American Red Cross since that donation, ecouraging me to donate again. I've just been to afraid the same thing would happen again! Thanks again for your response!
I have given blood and SD platelets/emergency donor and I have only felt crappy once and it was my fault as I did not eat. I drink like a fish before I give and I most definately eat now.
I had a weird experience a few years ago...I have given blood many many times before...I just love the T-shirts. :chuckle Anyway, I ate breakfast and drank a large juice before going to the donor station at work. They said my HCT was really great and did I have time to donate platelets or plasma?...or something, instead of whole blood. They put you on a machine and you have a IV. You get IV fluids and some of your red cells back during the process. They said it takes more time and you usually feel better because you also get fluids. Anyway, they had a problem with the IV part way through...a supervisor came over and they tinkered with it and decided it was OK. Afterwards I had two more cans of juice and some cookies. I drove around town and made two stops at stores before going to our market to pick up something special for dinner. It was my birthday. I was at the checkout when I felt really really bad. I noticed it was about 12:30 and said I should get something to eat. I grabbed some juice from the stuff I was buying and chugged a good drink. I felt better and paid for my groceries and went to the bank counter near the checkout to get cash for a sandwich on the way home. I suddenly felt a whole lot worse..."feeling of doom" comes to mind. I sank to the floor and put my feet up, but I had trouble staying concious and they called the paramedics. Rescue fire department arrived first. I told them I had given blood...they checked my pressures...they were fine and my blood sugar was 124 (with all the juice I had been drinking). When the paramedics arrived they put me on a monitor and oxygen as I was passing out again. When I came to, I heard the paramedic say she is brady...her heart rate is 40. They had me chewing aspirin and ran with lights to ER where I was worked up as a cardiac patient. Although my heart rate stayed in the low 60s for about five hours (I am usually 80s at rest), they could not find a reason for the bradycardia and kept me on the cardiac unit all night. My doc came in the morning and ordered a holter monitor and said I probably had an arrythymia that was transiant and I would probably wind up in the ER again and get a pacemaker. After a FULL CARDIAC workup by a specialist with all tests known nothing could be found and it has never happened again. I DO however have a diffusion problem with one lung now and my NEW DOCTOR referred me to a pulmonary specialist. WEIRD HUH... I just buy my t-shirts now
The England thing got me too, but before that I had donated every 60 days or so. After a while I started giving platelets, until one day they told me they really didn't need my B+ platelets, so they were selling them to other blood banks. That didn't sit very well with me at all!
I'm AB+ so they don't need my blood that bad either. :chuckle I think of it as the "selfish" blood because I can get blood from anyone but I can only give it to other AB+ people. :rotfl:
I had a weird experience a few years ago...I have given blood many many times before...I just love the T-shirts. :chuckle Anyway, I ate breakfast and drank a large juice before going to the donor station at work. They said my HCT was really great and did I have time to donate platelets or plasma?...or something, instead of whole blood. They put you on a machine and you have a IV. You get IV fluids and some of your red cells back during the process. They said it takes more time and you usually feel better because you also get fluids. Anyway, they had a problem with the IV part way through...a supervisor came over and they tinkered with it and decided it was OK. Afterwards I had two more cans of juice and some cookies. I drove around town and made two stops at stores before going to our market to pick up something special for dinner. It was my birthday. I was at the checkout when I felt really really bad. I noticed it was about 12:30 and said I should get something to eat. I grabbed some juice from the stuff I was buying and chugged a good drink. I felt better and paid for my groceries and went to the bank counter near the checkout to get cash for a sandwich on the way home. I suddenly felt a whole lot worse..."feeling of doom" comes to mind. I sank to the floor and put my feet up, but I had trouble staying concious and they called the paramedics. Rescue fire department arrived first. I told them I had given blood...they checked my pressures...they were fine and my blood sugar was 124 (with all the juice I had been drinking). When the paramedics arrived they put me on a monitor and oxygen as I was passing out again. When I came to, I heard the paramedic say she is brady...her heart rate is 40. They had me chewing aspirin and ran with lights to ER where I was worked up as a cardiac patient. Although my heart rate stayed in the low 60s for about five hours (I am usually 80s at rest), they could not find a reason for the bradycardia and kept me on the cardiac unit all night. My doc came in the morning and ordered a holter monitor and said I probably had an arrythymia that was transiant and I would probably wind up in the ER again and get a pacemaker. After a FULL CARDIAC workup by a specialist with all tests known nothing could be found and it has never happened again. I DO however have a diffusion problem with one lung now and my NEW DOCTOR referred me to a pulmonary specialist. WEIRD HUH... I just buy my t-shirts now
I passed out when I had my blood drawn for some bloodwork. They said it was because I hadn't eaten and that I was tired from working the midnight shift.
Usually, donating platelets is better for people who tend to feel woozy after giving blood or having labwork drawn. I've done both whole blood and platelets and never had any problem with either. I agree that you should eat a good meal and drink a bunch of fluids within a few hours of donation. With the platelets, you need to devote two hours to the procedure, but you get all your red blood cells and plasma back along with warm saline. That way, you don't have a change in blood volume or hypotension. They do say that your calcium level gets a little screwed up though, and I wonder if that caused the previous poster's arrhythmia? When I've done those donations, they've warned me to let them know if I felt any tingling around my mouth. Sure enough, I always did, and they'd give me Tums, two at a time, until the tingling stopped.
The two hours wasn't bad either, if it was at an actual donation center - they had nice recliners to sit in during donation, and a TV for each person. I got to choose either regular TV or a movie from their collection, and I got my own remote control.
Just make sure they do the one-arm way - they use the save IV to remove and return blood. I had it done once with an IV in each arm, and it sucked because I couldn't move them for the entire time!
After a FULL CARDIAC workup by a specialist with all tests known nothing could be found and it has never happened again. I DO however have a diffusion problem with one lung now and my NEW DOCTOR referred me to a pulmonary specialist. WEIRD HUH... I just buy my t-shirts now 
I don't feel so bad now!
LadyStorm
25 Posts
I agree and disagree. Yes, it is a pain to have to wait so long and you have a point in that they should record who does not have any problems. However, here is a senario that occured at my workplace:
We had the bloodmobile visit at work , 5 persons out of 40 persons who donated blood, fainted. Another 5 or so had complaints of light headedness. 1 person out of the 5 that fainted had to seek medical attention becuase she hit her head on the pavement in the parking lot. Our workplace has decided not to have the bloodmobile return as that the risk of liability issues is too high. Some of the persons who fainted reported that they skipped breakfast. One person skipped breakfast and had a predonation blood pressure of 90/58.
I did the QA survey after our company had complaints following the blood drive, and found this to be an unusually high occurence of problems. Just for the record, it was not the Red Cross who ran the bloodmobile.