Donating plasma?

[Hoosierdood]

Anyone ever donated plasma? I'm sitting here at my first donation and it doesnt seem bad. Except for the fact that the needles are HUGE.

Oh, and I got a coupon for new donors to get $50 per donation for the first 3 donations.


.

 

[jagee]

I should get in to that...I have extra plasma, I'm sure

 

[hoosierdoc]

I always point out "donators" don't get paid

you can get stuck with a needle and sell your fluids but prostitution is illegal. Hrm.

drink a ton of fluids. I see a fair amount of people who get their $35 payday and then get a $2500 ER bill for passing out afterwards.

 

[spencer rifle]

I had salivary gland pain during my last donation. Lots of orange juice helped some. And I got cold - good thing they had blankets. And the movie was mediocre.

 

[hoosierdaddy1976]

Used to sell as a college student. The saline they pump back in made me chilly, other than that I never had an issue.

 

[Bigtanker]

I've thought about it but the only place around here is in downtown South Bend and the line out front is always very long. Usually filled with what looks like homeless poeple.

 

[TB1999]

I did in college to pay parking tickets.

 

[littletommy]

I donated platelets back in the early 90's when my sister had a bone marrow transplant, I think I went every 4 or 5 days, still have track marks/scars on my arms from it. Back then, platelet donations were a pain, needles in both arms, blood going into the machine where the platelets were extracted, and coming back in the other arm. You had to sit still for around an hour, and yes, I thought I was gonna freeze every time! They'd give you orange juice and cookies afterwards, but there was always a nun sitting there mean mugging you if you tried to take too many cookies.

Never done the plasma thing.

 

[actaeon277]

Donated plasma before. Just bigger needles, cold arm, longer time.

 

[pute62]

Did it years ago in Oklahoma for some extra cash. Drinking plenty of fluids is the key to being in and out in a hurry.
I tried to donate a few years ago and stay thru the test part for 2 hours only to have them tell me,you can't donate when your diabetic.

 

[edporch]

Be careful when you give plasma because they sometimes hire incompetent people to do it.

I sold my plasma back in my college days in the late 1970's a few times until they messed me up.

Seems when they put in the needle, they went clear through the vein.

When they put my blood back in, they kept using those plyer type things with the wheels on it to force my blood back in.

After a while of doing this, they discovered they had pierced my vein and pulled the needle back out so the blood would properly go back in my vein.

When I got home, my arm from the wrist to my shoulder turned dark and I found that they'd forced blood into my tissues and it had spread all up and down the inside of my arm.

When I confronted them with this, they refused to admit what they had done and said it was MY FAULT!

So for the next few months while my arm was black and blue, I would go to parties, raise my arm and announce "look at my arm, this is what Serra Tech Biologicals did to me".
Which I would get many replies from people as to how gross it looked.

I told anybody who wanted to know the details how they did this and refused to admit it after the fact.

 

[Mounty09]

I did back in college a couple of times. Call me a bad person but I always felt uncomfortable with all the homeless people.

 

[vvet762]

I've been donating blood for about 35 years. I did platelets for about a year and a half but only at the American Red Cross. They are VERY professional and the place is hospital clean. You can watch a movie, web surf on their computers or just relax and they always have heated blankets available. I finally had to quit platelets because I can't keep my arm straight for 90 to 120 minutes at a time. I will still give whole blood for as long as they will allow me. It's an easy way to help people that are very sick.

 

[patience0830]

Sold plasma in college for beer money until I caught a cold that I thought was gonna kill me.

 

[voidsherpa]

It's all fine until it goes wrong, and you die.

 

[rhino]

I always point out "donators" don't get paid

you can get stuck with a needle and sell your fluids but prostitution is illegal. Hrm.

drink a ton of fluids. I see a fair amount of people who get their $35 payday and then get a $2500 ER bill for passing out afterwards.

Why do plasma banks pay for plasma, but blood banks don't pay for blood? Is it because when it's whole blood it's actually tissues and when they stick all the solid and gooey bits back inside you after they separate the plasma, it's not tissue that you're selling?

 

[russc2542]

Yep, sold plasma in college, still have the scars. Never had a line of homeless people. There were good and pad people to be stabbed by: one girl I went to high school with was quite good at it, always hit the vein the first time, no pain, never bruised. Another person there was a receptionist for a long time then I guess wanted the pay raise from poking the needles in except she sucked at it: felt like she was stabbing my arm with a kitchen knife, had to fish around for the vein, got a massive lump/bruise from blood leaking out and had to switch arms part way through (by someone else) she went back to filing paperwork that same week.

I think part of the payment thing is that plasma goes to research more often whereas whole blood gets put back into people.

As others have said, drink lots of water then drink more (and make sure you relieve yourself before they hook you up). Also, cut down on caffeine and fast food. I always noticed it took longer if I had caffeine that day and the plasma was hazy/milky if I ate greasy/junk food.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

Used to sell as a college student. The saline they pump back in made me chilly, other than that I never had an issue.

A few of us used to do this... back then it was 10 dollars per donation, so 3 of us would go and we'd have enough to buy a keg of beer. (This was like 1981 or 82 - AIDS was still a new thing, and they would ask if you'd been to Haiti or had sex with another male (if you were male).

 

[SmileDocHill]

Necro bump. Covid has been good to me. With a proof of positive test results covid donors get $200 per donation, you can do it 2x a week and if you don't skip the "donations" #6,7,8 are $300 each.
I mean I have a grown-up job but there is just something sweeter about "extra money".

 

[Mounty09]

That is almost worth going out and getting COVID for!