Hey, I know you can't donate blood or plasma if it makes you faint, but will they let you lie down if that keeps you from fainting? I can do stab without fainting if I lie down but idk if that "if" means I shouldn't bother trying to donate plasma and you are the Plasma Information Person (I tried finding the info myself but I just keep getting 'you can lie down at home later' and 'you can lie to the blood donation people')
to my understanding a lot of places do let you lay down, but it would be best to call ahead and just ask if you can lay down while donating. as far as what makes you faint, you might actually do better with donating plasma than donating blood. you get most of your blood back when you donate plasma! you can try upping your salt and water intake (lot of soup, broth, high sodium electrolytes (look at the sodium content), canned vegetable juice, and of course a ton of water) for a few weeks and if you tend to faint from the loss of blood volume, then this should make it a bit better.
but either way I think this is best answered by someone else. anyone know?
I do not know a whole lot about plasma donation. the most I know about is what it gets used for and how it tastes.
Every time I’ve donated blood the position is almost lying down. And the chairs are adjustable, so if the person responsible for you is good, and sees you start blacking out, they’ll raise your legs and drop your torso.
Also, since it’s really common to be a little woozy, they’re usually good if you need an extra minute in that chair before heading to where the juice and snacks are. I’ve even done one blood drive where someone would hang on to you while walking over just in case.
If you’re a first-time donor (this will come up during screening) the donation staff should be extra looking out for you as well.
All of this to say: give donation a shot! If you’re worried about passing out have a buddy who can make sure you get home safe, but otherwise the risks are pretty low.
Hi I'm anon and THANK YOU both/all I will be looking into it
(and no I have not done a NASA lean test, I possibly should since it's a condition of Almost Fainting and I mostly Almost Faint, but I only faint/almost faint when I perceive blood coming out of me or when I experience jostling that could reasonably cause a concussion so it's never been high on my priority list. On the other hand maybe the fact that i don't actually need a concussion to faint from being jostled real hard means something is wrong with me.)
Eta: this is the wrong blog. whatever
