Donating Plasma

Anywhere between 15 and 40 dollars. A lot of places give you 40 the first time you do it, then 20 every time after.

They use a horse needle on you and it's incredibly uncomfortable. If you dislike pain, needles, or feeling like you have a steel rod in your arm for an extended period of time, it isn't worth it.

I have not done this recently, but I definitely did this in college. Money seemed decent, was pretty much the payout described above. I would mention, if you do this on a regular basis, make sure your immune system is in check. I got terribly sick after I did this pretty consistently for a couple of months. I probably should have went to the doctor type of sick, but I was young and dumb.

Want a few pints of this stored ? You are going to pay dearly for it . Helps that people with this type seem to be strangely well off and not adverse to cash transactions )

Its generally not very much. And yeah, if you do it as often as they let you it will make you fucking sick.

Donate sperm instead. Much more fun. Pays decent if you're a donor of both quality and volume.

How often are you allowed to donate blood in the states? It's 4 times annually here. Blood volume taken is app 4.5 dl (15.2 oz), which is replenished in less than 24 hours. Four times a year puts you well above risk of iron deficiency and the replenishment of Hgb / RBC count normalization of 30'ish days for this volume. How do you guys define 'sick' with your allowed donation frequency? Oh, the pay is a chocolate bar and as much juice as you like - voluntary work, people take pride in it.

This isn't "blood" donation, it's plasma. There is a difference. Donating blood people do for free. The pay here is usually juice and a cookie. It's voluntary work here too and people take pride in it.

Plasma donation you can do 4 times a month, or even 8 times in some places, I think, depending on how much they take. And yes, be prepared to either get sick or have a brutal cold when you get one, if you do the maximum donation amount.

Ah, apheresis, plasmapheresis specifically? You must be holding back a lot on full blood usage in general then. Regular donation should be able to keep up otherwise. We have few plasma donators here, rising, granted, since full blood usage is declining. Plasma is blood without platelets and rbc - in essence vitamins, antibodies, coagulation factors, etc. Still, bothmemoryB and T cells of the adaptive immune system migrate to the bone marrow and are not harvested with regular donation or plasmapheresis. Humeral innate components like complement is replenished by the liver. B-1 cells are not extracted with plasma either, aka. IgM production. Combined, this should be sufficient to overcome infections, even remain immune depending on memory cells. Why do you think you get sick or exacerbation after plasmapheresis? Is the frequency too high or is it the technology that is lacking?

Probably some self-selection going on too. A guess would be that the types of people who are selling plasma for money tend (generally) to a higher risk bracket for infection to begin with.

And that's no kind of generalized put down. It seems that most people do it because they are aware of local shortages. If you're aware of that shortage there is a reason why you are aware.

I had friends years ago who would donate plasma and feel like shit. I always avoided it based on their recommendation and the fact the clinic was nowhere near me. Moved to a new city where the clinic was close by and started donating. Never got sick or rundown unless I let myself get dehydrated. I used to ride my bike in the summer heat the couple miles and was still always fine. That's when I realized most of my friends had been getting 'sick' because they were mostly alcoholics on shit diets living shit lifestyles and didn't pay attention to things like healthy eating, hydration and exercise. Hydration in particular is your best friend when donating plasma, and if you're doing it for booze money for later that night you're gonna be hurting. Hydration and a decent diet and moderately healthy lifestyle and you shouldn't have many issues or symptoms.

The pay was usually 240-250 a month if I went twice a week (the max). I had a job and was able to pay bills, was just nice to get some extra spending cash to read a book for a few hours. Only quit because my job is full time now and the hours are fucked up to the point I can't get in regularly like I could before.

My one side-effect/concern was the scar developing on my arms. You will get a mark. If you're prone to scaring and don't take care of yourself, it could get nasty. There were some dudes I'd see at plasma with huge, quarter inch hunks of scar tissue. That kind of buildup is what causes pain/discomfort/accidents. They also looked like meth heads and shit, too. Hydration and maybe even some vitamin e oil/lotion and it shouldn't be a huge issue. I haven't donated in probably 6 months after doing it twice a week for the better part of a year and you really have to look and know what you're looking for to see the marks on either of my arms.

The worst part was sometimes they'd strap the gauze down so fucking tight my arm would start to go numb before I got home and could take the shit off and wash up.

And it really doesn't hurt much unless you have a needle phobia or are sensitive. Sometimes a bit of discomfort and you just ask them to re-seat the needle if it's scratching on the inside of the vein. Pay attention to the good needle stickers and request them personally. Bring a book or tablet/phone/game you can do with one hand and it's easy money. And does save lives and shit.

Thank you, I, P and T. This is precisely my take on it. The hospital system, with blood banks, here is by by far public. We hardly see any side effects but the dehydration related, and even those are rare afaik. Do you think private hospitals are more prone to multi donor problems? Or do you have a national donor register?

The needle isn't nearly as thick as it used to be, as recently as a few years ago. Not really any more pinch than a normal needle now. I donated for 2 years, and you do develop scar tissue, but a year later they're almost gone. My skin heals well though.

Big Phoenix_sl said:

So yeah I went and "donated" some plasma today.

Overall the experience was good, aside from waiting for like 5 hours(first time + brand new facility + being closed for a few days at the previous one). People running it knew what they where doing and made everything as smooth as possible. If you are afraid of needles or slightly squeamish, then it definitely not for you. Took about 80-90 minutes to get the full amount of plasma from me, but Im also dehydrated and didnt eat before hand. Others only took 45 minutes or so. Pay was $40 for first visit, then it various $30-40 after that. If you have the time and arent scared of needles its worth it imo.

Also found it amazing the sheer amount of knuckle dragging scum(half the people had retarded amounts of facial/hand tattoos or piercings) this type of deal brings out. I wonder what people would think if they knew were their fresh, life saving plasma came from.

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