In article <fo8mkb$m7r$1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
Keith F. Lynch <kfl@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>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.
Certainly true.
>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.
I find it a bit hard to believe that this can make any significant
difference, either to your level or to your associated risk.
>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.
My local blood center is open later on Tuesday night, and normally
I come in for the last donation appointment that night, generally 7:15 PM.
The apheresis center has different hours, including being open on
Sunday when the whole blood donation center isn't.
>> 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.
True enough, although I can conceive of it making the tongue warmer.
>> 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?
It might cause chills and upset stomach if someone suggests to me
that they might. Actually my stomach did become a little upset
afterwards, but only after I'd already left the center, and only
for a short time. I went to the Bittersweet Cafe (as I mentioned
in another post) and had a cup of their spicy hot chocolate.
I don't know if that helped settle my stomach but it sure tasted good.
>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 always ask me if I'm allergic to iodine and latex. My usual
answer is, "I never have been before, and have no reason to think
that that's changed."
>> 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.
Yeah, but you feel cold almost everywhere.
>> ... 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 [...]
I usually don't either; maybe once in a while I'll feel a tiny bit
unsteady while walking to the canteen. This time, though, there
was a definite and unmistakable effect.
--
David Goldfarb |"When I heard you'd freed yourself, I put out
goldfarb@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
| the breadcrumbs and waited for the wolf to
goldfarb@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
| come knocking." -- Smallville
|
