Giving plasma?

They let you donate twice a week here, so long as you wait at least two days in between sessions.

Wow, I'm really glad this thread came up. Definitely think I'll give it a shot.

I don't always go regularly, but I think I'm going to tomorrow if I don't have a grooming client coming... that's up in the air right now.. :/

Donating blood here is not paid. But the plasma companies (Octapharma, here) are for-profit companies, so they pay you (technically they pay you for your time, not your plasma).

Actually, the only reason I haven't donated blood is because I keep intending to go back and give plasma, and I don't want to have to wait 6 weeks.

Sorry to ask this again, but if anyone answered I didn't catch it - anything in particular to ask/look out for? I don't want to get knocked out and wake up with a stolen kidney

:O

Usually they verify that you live where you live.. you'll need a postmarked envelope with your address/name... they'll give you a physical first and go crazy making sure you don't have recent tattoos/piercings or aids, etc.

If they don't do any of that and/or it takes less than 2 hours when you start, it's probably sketchy.

Any you shouldn't be unconscious for anything. XD

Pretty much that. I needed SS card (since they have to report it as income), DL, and proof of residence. Also a thorough exam, bloodwork, and whatever. You can google the place you want to go to before you go and make sure they're a real company. If you have more than one place, call and ask their pay rates, because you can't switch back and forth between companies.

Make sure they're using all-new needles, catheters, and collection sets, clean the area, wear gloves, all that good stuff.

Will keep that in mind, thanks guys!

I might have to give this a try! When I was in college I signed up to be a guinea pig for an experiment on campus and got paid to sit in a chair while they pumped glucose in one arm and took blood out of the other. It was part of some study on diabetes and they needed people who didn't have it to compare data to. I feel like it can't be any worse than that experience! In my last session the person who drew my blood had a hard time finding my vein and it was awful. They just kept repeatedly stabbing me in the arm with the needle... ugh If I could survive that I feel like I could handle a plasma donation

Ha, glad I could be of help with this thread!

I'm still on the fence. I'm lightheaded now just scanning through the thread! It's the feeling that gets me more than anything, too. Maybe I can bribe a friend into going with me to help keep me calm.... do they allow that? A friend/SO to be in the room with you?

Generally, no. There's no room for it. Your physical and then your pre-tests each time (finger prick, temp, weight, BP, heart rate) are done in individual rooms. Donation is done in one big room with lines of beds, two beds to a machine, with no room for extra people. At the place I went to, if you're not intending to donate you're not allowed to be in the building, period.

Oh... well, crap. Guess it's training time for me!