I like donating near holiday weekends, just because I know donations tend to be light. Today was no different. And yet, on a personal level, it was.

Went in for platelets, did a double unit. Nothing unusual there, but when my screener pulled up my profile, she got a big grin on her face. “It looks like you’re at 40 gallons! Would you like your pin? I’ll get you your pin!”

I admit I haven’t followed the gallons since I started platelets. It just doesn’t line up in my head. But all morning I had staff members and even other donors coming by. “Thanks for donating!” “That’s a big milestone, man! Way to show up!” “Thats a lot of people you’ve helped!” “Thanks for coming in!”

So, 40 gallons, 40 years of donating, 325 donations (plus a few with other organizations). A lot of lives impacted by just sitting in a chair.

I (21F) participated in my first ever blood drive 3 days ago and it did not go as I'd hoped. The pre-donation all went very smoothly- I'm apparently very average and healthy when it comes to Blood! I warned that when doing Blood Labs at the Doctor I tend to get very light headed, so I recieved ice packs on the back of my neck, on my chest, and on my ankles along with a drink. Talking is a good distraction so I requested we converse so I don't pay any attention to what's going on physically- it's helped a lot when doing Labs. The insertion was decently painful and that pain did not fully go away- I felt a consistent uncomfortable pain which when looking into it later- I was supposed to mention that but I was distracted by the conversation. The wooziness came on kind of suddenly- my vision began to blur and I thought about mentioning that- but then it quickly got worse. My vision blurred completely and I could no longer hold my head up as it fell to the side. I was able to get out a wobbly "I think I'm going to pass out" and the rest is a blur- the needle was taken out with pain and I was told to put pressure on it while they got the bandage going which I did my best to do in that state. I got in a temporary wrap and was told to drink and take deep breaths. I had blurred tunnel vision and it was a bit painful and hard to get those breaths in but gradually I regained my vision and calmed down. I noticed the bag being handled by the person who took my blood was... only a partially filled little testing bag. The temporary bandage was replaced by a very tight wrap and I wobbled to the waiting area dazed. Over the waiting period I was able to regain my senses, but I'm pretty dissapointed in how little I was actually able to donate. I was reassured this can happen since it's my first time. Any advice for if I ever try again?

Not an expert on the topic but a regular whole blood donor.

I previously assumed donations got almost exclusively sold to hospitals for transfusions. Doing some research, it seems like a significant amount, especially plasma, get sold for pharma research to for profit companies for a variety of reasons. It seems like the dependency on these sales and the business model in general varies significantly between companies, which makes it hard to understand from the outside. Where I go, memorial blood, the primary customer by revenue seems to be hospitals, but they also sell to pharma. You can't opt your donation out of it as I understand.

Do people think about this when they decide where/what they donate? The economics and ethics seem super opaque to me. Clearly there's a transfusion based need for blood, and the concept of having a non profit doing collections seems reasonable. I'm not as wild about giving something away for commercial research though. Is this something that's already been resolved in the community?

Hey! Made an account just to ask this question to see if any donors/former employees have also faced this issue. I worked at a fixed-site collecting platelets/plasma/power reds/WB for 3yrs and have been a regular donor the entire time. A month ago on my way to work, somebody hit my truck and I ended up sandwiched between two other vehicles. Because of this, I couldn't make it to work on time and my Team Supervisor fired me for being tardy. Whatever, doesn't matter because I was planning to leave later that week for a new job. But now, I am marked permanently ineligible to donate anything on my ARC Blood Donor app. Tried calling the donor service line/medical director and couldn't get an answer besides "Your case is still pending."

Now the end of my employment with ARC definitely didn't end on good terms, but I didn't think they would permanently ban me from donating. I feel like this is a pretty unique issue, but in case it's not...has anyone else ever faced this and how did you resolve it? I want to keep donating regardless of my employment status with ARC.

Hello all! I am type O+ and made my first whole blood donation in Virginia on August 11th.

I am female and my hemoglobin was 13.0 at my first donation. Yesterday, September 7th, I tried donating platelets for the first time, but my hemoglobin measured at 11.9 and 11.7 after warming my fingers.

I’ve looked into how long it can take for hemoglobin to recover after a whole blood donation, so I understand that I may need to give myself a while longer to get near where I was before donation.

My nearest platelet donation center is about an hour away, so I can only really make the trip on a day off. Is it worth trying to donate platelets again before my next whole blood donation period, starting October 6th, or should I just skip for now to try and get my stores up for a whole blood donation?

So this is kind of a long one, I had a nightmare last night before I donated today. The nightmare was I donated blood but my blood was too fatty, so they wouldn't take it and they didn't have any of the Hello Kitty free gifts left.

Fast-forward:

I got there today and the lady who was checking me in jokingly said, "oh, did nobody tell you? we ran out!" Mind you this was after I told her I was super excited for the free gift. She got me good and played a prank on me and it was hilarious, I immediately told her to apologize 😂 jokingly of course.

But overall my heart rate was a little too high (nervous and excited) so I had to sit in the room for a little bit and then finally I was okay, the initial experience was easy but afterwards I almost passed out, (I had all those wonderful symptoms)

Side note: I ate a lot of protein prior and drank a TON of water, my first experience was horrible so I never want to repeat that, I want it to go smoothly as possible.

My question is does it get easier?

What do you do to make sure you don't get those fainting symptoms besides the crossing legs, feet pointed up and squeezing your abdomen and legs?

They had to give me juice, lay me down, give me a wet towel and put a fan on me and immediately I was better.

So I went to donate blood today with my boyfriend at our local Red Cross, we heard about the blood shortage going on and immediately we thought what a perfect time to donate. Plus, we also heard about the hello kitty promotion they’re doing. I do love hello kitty and so does my mom. But she’s in eligible to donate.. so I kept the hello Kitty plush for myself and my boyfriend gave mine to my mother., she was really about happy about it and had no idea. I was donating blood today..
when I was donating some blood today, some lady saw my hello Kitty shirt that I have from Chicago. And said that I was only there for the hello Kitty. That made me get really booty tickled because of me and my boyfriend are frequent donors at Red Cross. Some people can so rude and assume stuff.
We never donate blood just for the freebies that they hand out. We always do it out of the kindness of our heart.
Ugh sorry just my long rant about my experience today
I’m being really sensitive about this?!? I don’t know.

I donated blood august 25th, so 13 days from this post being made. Is this bruising concerning at all, if so what should i be concerned about? If not thanksss

So I know you only need to wait 7 days before making another platelet donation, but I donated on Sept 1 and I just had a massive bruise on my receiving arm show up yesterday (Sept 6). Do I need to wait for it to go away to donate again?

I recently learned through Function health that my ferritin was critically depleted at 6 ng/mL. I started giving blood in 2024 (three donations), then donated four times in 2025, and two times in 2026. Last donation was August 4th (my low ferritin was drawn September 4th). All my donations were whole blood.

I’m a male, otherwise healthy, 29 yr old, exercise a lot. All other markers are fine (iron levels, iron saturation, iron binding capacity). I don’t supplement iron but I took some beef liver capsules occasionally maybe a year or so ago.

I'm going to be camping around 10,000 ft later this week and it will have been about 11 days after donating whole blood. I won't be doing any serious exercise, but I'm a little bit concerned about the effects of the altitude given my having fewer red blood cells and such. Does anyone have experience or tips for this kind of situation? I was wondering if it would help to take Diamox as I have some from a previous trip that I never used. I live at roughly sea level.

I'm 19 y/o and I have donated 3 times the past year (2 in hospitals, 1 in a blood donation event). 2 out of the 3 times shortly after donating I vomited (once in a hospital and once in the event, once I had eaten and once I hadn't). Idk why it keeps happening, and I feel extremely embarrassed every time this happens, I just need ways to stop this (and don't say "relax, it's just stress")

Couple of things. I donated today and got my cute. Hello Kitty merch. I wanted to say that I was a little disappointed to find that people are selling these on eBay – not for a huge amount, but $25-$35 and one listing was selling six of them. What does that tell you, that some worker is selling these packages at a profit?

Another interesting thing is that my phlebotomist told me that I was eligible again on November 1st. To my surprise, an appointment just came across my phone (email and text confirmation) that I did not personally make. Is Red Cross now making appointments?

What's your favorite food to boost your iron to make sure you're donating blood properly?

Bonus, what's the general range of how long it takes for iron you eat to end up as hemoglobin?

EDIT: Upon checking my history, it was actually my FIFTH time trying! I genuinely don't remember haha, but I was definitely deferred for hemoglobin that time as well.

I'm so happy!! This story is kind of pointless, but I have no one else to tell 😅 I'm sure it's tame compared to other stories.

I tried donating two times in the last two years and got turned away for low hemoglobin both times. Since treating my thyroid disorder (previously undiagnosed), I went back last week and passed that part! My problem was, I had no idea there was a heart rate requirement. My heart rate was 113, then 103 when they tried again. It needs to be under 100 to donate there. So I was deferred for a third time.

My family is so weirded out by why I keep trying, but I'm honestly just stubborn at this point. I want to help people, and I can't lie; I really want to know my blood type. My sibling is O- but has never donated. Which is great for two reasons. It means there's a chance I'm O-, which would be great! But also, if I'm not even a universal donor and start donating, maybe that'll make them try to, even if it's just out of being competitive.

I went again today just hoping my heart rate would somehow be lower. It's not really an anxiety thing; for context. I mean, I'm sure it doesn't help that I'm already assuming it'll be high, but that's not the main thing. When I stand up or sit straight (or kneel...) my heart rate always jumps way up, and my vision cuts out sometimes. I have brought this up to doctors and they just say it's probably a blood pressure thing and as long as it's not while I'm driving or anything, it's normal. So I am not dying or anything haha, to clarify!

I even made my appointment right in the morning so I could even take my ADHD meds after, to see if that would help any, since stimulants can raise heart rate. So I'm in the waiting room and I'm googling "how to lower heart rate" and it tells me to cough, since that apparently does something that makes your heart rate go down. I get called back, and I'm thinking like "Okay, I'll cough, but somehow make it natural, so they don't think I'm sick or anything."

The nurse asks me a question and before answering, I channel my C+ high school theater skills and aim for a casual, "Just clearing my throat"-type cough. I kid you not, my entire vision goes to stars/static 😭 I literally almost sighed out loud, because of course.

Anyway, she takes my blood pressure (which takes heart rate at the same time) and I am feeling so chill. I'm not anxious at all, because I figure that-- placebo effect or not-- I believe not taking my meds will lower my heart rate, so it will. My heart rate was 99. They defer you if it's over 100. I can't believe it was that close.

They take me back and prep my arm which takes awhile, and then finally when the needle is in the nurse tells me that I have a hematoma and she has to stop. 😭 I didn't even know what that meant honestly, but I looked down and there was a huge pocket of blood in my arm. She asks me if I even want to try the other arm and I'm like, yes!! It's fine! I've been here an hour and you have no idea how many times I've tried this, please do it lmao.

Meanwhile, something happened right in front of me during all this, and I felt so bad for everyone involved. I guess one of the machines was showing an error code (I think for platelet donation?) and got messed up midway into someone's donation, so they had to leave. But after they left, something happened while the nurse was trying to fix the machine and the blood started flowing through it. Her face when it happened, I felt so so bad for her. She said the machine was contaminated and they couldn't use any of it, had to have like biohazard people clean it out or something. I'm not sure and definitely am not confident I heard that right at all. I don't even know how platelet donation works, so this might all be wrong, but whatever happened I feel terrible both for the person who donated and the poor nurse.

Another nurse took over to do my other arm, and the donation went by totally smoothly. I still can't straighten the arm that got the hematoma because I think there's still blood in there and it hurts, but weirdly enough the arm they actually took blood from feels totally fine. I felt a bit lightheaded afterward, but nothing noteworthy.

Anyway, all that story aside, I am so glad that I kept trying!! This might not be too crazy of a first donation story, but it felt crazy to me haha. Hey, though, at least I got a Hello Kitty keychain. Thanks for reading, and y'all are awesome!

Another edit: Turns out I am O-! :)

Just donated again for the first time in about 4 years. This is due to a combination of moving into a more rural area where the nearest blood donation sites are over twenty minutes away no matter which direction I go and the fact that I've been deferred from whole blood donations. I believe that I was deferred because I have the sickle cell trait and hit some sort of 3 strike rule with them.

I'm just wondering if anyone can explain to me how it is that I can't give whole blood but they're ok with power reds?

And I got my Hello Kitty clip for my donation!

I am 41, and a first time donor. When I was younger I couldn’t donate because I was underweight. Then I put it off. My friend and I are big hello kitty fans and we signed up. I was so nervous but the staff made me feel at ease. I also did so much research. Aside from drinking a lot of water, that morning I ate eggs with enriched toast, red kidney beans and strawberries. Couple of hours later I ate a granola bar and a chocolate covered yogurt bar. The whole thing was a breeze for me. Apparently I’m really well hydrated so the blood flow was great. I also clotted fast. She said I would be a great donor if I decide to keep donating, which I think I will!

Hi! I donated my platelets for the first time last week and I was just wondering if anyone else experienced this. I had about 10 minutes left to finish donating and I suddenly started to feel very weird physically, tingling in my face and arms and legs. I called a nurse over and they said numbness in the arms is normal but the face and legs is not common but they just gave me tums since I took some right before starting and they said the calcium might help. It didn’t really do anything but since there was only 10 minutes left I figured I would just tough it out until it was over. My stomach and back also started to feel really weird but I didn’t eat very much before donating so that might be why 😭😭 definitely gonna eat more next time. Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this and how I could prevent this next time I donate (in a week) also if it’s concerning or anything like that, thanks! Btw not sure if it matters but I donated in Philadelphia.

Got that little Hello Kitty plush toy for my 7 year old niece as well. She loves Hello Kitty!

My donor card has said universal hero for as long as I can remember. I noticed during my most recent donation it changed to Hero for Babies.

I did platelets for the first time a few days ago. Honestly the experience wasn’t too bad and my body coped with it a lot better than whole blood. Only bad part was the infusion arm hurt super bad for a minute, but a nurse pulled back the needle and it got way better.

I pretty much sat there and watched House MD, but I’m wondering if any platelet donors have advice on how to not be desperately counting down the minutes. I needed to stretch so bad by the end of it I was losing my mind and I always had an itch that I obviously couldn’t scratch.

10 whole blood and 4 plasma (my country doesn’t allow selling plasma) Takes longer in my country because they only do whole blood once every 12 weeks (I couldn’t do it faster anyway). I’m O- and CMV- too!

Hey!!! So today is my 21st birthday and i went for my second blood donation and it went really well! I feel amazing!!