I've given blood on a regular basis. The Red Cross is looking for people who have recovered from Covid to donate convalescent plasma for use in treatment. Anyone have any experience good or bad with a plasma donation?
Also if you have done the convalescent plasma it says you should be "fully recovered" from covid for 2 weeks before you donate. My quarantine period ended 3 weeks ago. I "think" I'm fully recovered but still have a bit of headache and fatigue occasionally.
Probably need to call the Red Cross.
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If you can give, do it. So many people need it. My hubby is going to do it again because they can use one arm for him. My veins aren’t so great, so I’ll stick to whole blood.
In my experience, the needles are bigger (it was explained to me the plasma cells are bigger and they don’t want them to break in transit. They pull it out, separate the plasma from the blood in a machine and then put the blood back into your other arm. The needle that pulls out the blood/plasma is (a little) bigger, the one that returns the blood is regular donation size. The process takes longer overall. I found it perfectly comfortable, once the “bigger” needle was in. I don’t have the best veins and even drawing blood for labs with the tiniest needle can be challenging.
Make sure you’re well hydrated beforehand.
People above mentioned hydration. I agree -- I've found that my veins are much easier to get to when I'm well hydrated.
Yup, my experience also. I used to do it in college for extra $$. As I recall, I'd get $20 per donation.
Just as an aside...I was scheduled to donate last week during the fiasco in Texas and had to reschedule, so I'm sure they are really in need down here...I donate on Friday!
All but my last donation were uneventful, on the machine for 45 minutes each donation. During my last visit the attendant didn't stick me correctly (I think) and the pressure alarms went off before we were finished.
I didn't donate during dieting, so no advice on that angle.