David Goldfarb <goldfarb@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> When I gave blood last December, I was asked if I'd consider doing
> platelet and serum donation on an apheresis machine.
I only give whole blood. For one thing, platelet and serum donation
takes much more time. For another, reducing my iron level -- which
platelet donation won't do -- is part of my reason for donating, since
the lower one's iron level, the less the risk of heart attacks. For a
third, the idea of blood being removed from me and then returned to me
squicks me, much as I'm more willing to spit into a cup than to drink
a cup of my saliva. Also, it's most convenient for me to show up
shortly before their closing time, meaning that they wouldn't have
time for a platelet donation unless they all wanted to work overtime.
I continue to donate whole blood once every eight to ten weeks.
> I was on the tail end of a niacin hot flash, so I was interested to
> see that my temperature was 97.2 -- I *felt* warm, but really wasn't.
Niacin flushes consist of dilated blood vessels. If anything, they'd
tend to reduce your core body temperature.
> The donation itself took place in a different room.
In the local donor center, they're in the same room, but against a
different wall.
> Somewhere in there a small air bubble went up the line and into my
> arm, which concerned me a little, but the nurse supervising didn't
> seem to worry and in the end nothing bad came of it.
Air into a vein is harmless, except in absurdly large amounts, as it
can't get past the lungs. It's air into an artery that you have to
worry about, as it can cause va**** lock in the heart.
> The consent form I signed discussed possible side effects of the
> citrate, but the nurses didn't say anything about it. Perhaps this
> was to avoid nocebo effect.
Nocebo effect? It might not prevent your blood from clotting if
someone suggests to you that it might not prevent your blood from
clotting?
Just about half the times I donate, they ask me if I'm allergic to
iodine. Of the times they ask me, half the times they ask me twice.
> They did put a blanket on me when I lay down, telling me to let them
> know if I felt cold,
I always feel cold in the donor center, whether or not the donation
has started.
> ... when things were done I felt distinctly woozy, much more so than
> I ever have when donating whole blood.
I've never felt at all woozy from donating whole blood, or noticed any
other effects, except, very rarely, a little bruising, especially if
the bandage get knocked loose as soon as I rolled down my sleeves,
which it often does.
--
Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html
before emailing me.
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