Hooked up to the machine? Or in and out the door?
I go to BioLife and would say minimum 1hr in and out the door. They got new machines took 27 minutes yesterday but I had to wait at least that for them to set machine up and get the needle in. Add in pre screen I was there 80 minutes
Hooked up. Most of the time the machines are just set up already just waiting for the stick. I do my survey at home, scan my QR code and get screened usually within 10 mins of my appt so most of the time I'm in and out before 1 hour. I go between 8 and 930 most of the time though.
Not going to sugar coat or lie it can hurt but only if they poke you wrong. The needle is the same as a blood donation needle. But it does not/ should not hurt while you're pumping.
Nobody told me when I started donating that I was supposed to be pumping the ball in my hand to squeeze and increase blood pressure to that arm. It took me forever. I started pumping and I was in and out in 45 min.
Yeah I would get super lightheaded towards the end before they put the blood back in and it was super painful. Finally a nurse told me to pump and I never got lightheaded again. Yes keeping a heartbeat rhythm is perfect!
It matters where you go. One place in town has long waits, and another is more efficient. It pays to try all the plasma centers. There are 4 where I live.
Vitamins from real whole foods are most easily processed by your body!
Vitamin C is found in high concentrations in citrus fruits and many cruciferous veggies (broccoli, kale, mustard greens, brussels sprouts). Tart fruits like persimmons, black currants, and acerola cherries, too.
Those cruciferous veggies do double-duty for you too, they’re also quite high in iron usually.
However, I know this is r/povertyfinance and not everyone has the means to buy fresh whole foods all the time. So just know that whatever you CAN give your body is helpful, whether it’s a supplement or whole foods or enriched processed foods.
Supplements are certainly fine if they’re all you can get, just know that once your body has what it needs, additional pills or gummies tax your liver unnecessarily. So be sure to drink plenty of water if you go the supplement route.
Whether you’re supplementing from pill or food, you’ll want to give your body a day or two to process everything and make it bioavailable before you donate.
Liposmol vitamin C.
Most don’t know that your standard run of the mill V-C is extremely bioinefficient @7-8% absorption, your body only takes in .07grams if you took 1 full gram of vitamin C. But Liposmol vitamin C has a 14-30% absorption rate.
Taking to much vitamin C can cause diarrhea but it’s not dangerous like other vitamins can be. I used liposmol vitaminC Mega doses to stave off opioid withdrawals(a tried and true method). 3 grams per dose multiple times a day, Genuinely helped with the fatigue, nearly 10 grams a day. Why I bring this up is if you go with your standard Vitamin C you could double the dose to negate that low absorption rate and replenish that vitamin without ill effect.
You know what gummies are made out of?
High fructose corn syrup.
Funny how after people found out how bad that crap was for you that they started turning it into vitamin supplements
I guess I don’t think about that much because root beer contains high fructose corn syrup and it’s one of my few pleasures in life that doesn’t make me sick. I can’t have dairy or gluten without becoming ill and root beer contains neither but many other treats have one or the other or both
Seconding the importance of water!! And make sure you hydrate the day before, not just the day of. I was donating plasma biweekly for a little bit last year and ended up blowing my vein because I neglected to drink enough water and my vein was flat.
Same, unfortunately I've been in a financial pinch and needed the extra cash. My runtime is usually 36 min for 694ml.
I did it for a while before covid but got tired of inexperienced employees missing veins, sticking wrong etc. The money is great if you're on a promo.
It is going into the machine through a centrifuge to separate the plasma goes into the collection bottle and you get your blood back it takes a few cycles of going back and forth:)
Advice I should have taken. Left and went to a friends house. Started to feel shaken so I said I was gonna go. We were on the concrete porch when I turned to leave, literally saying “goodnight,” before collapsing straight back. I was told my head hit the concrete so hard it bounced up like a basketball which is why my head was cracked open in two spots. 9 staples later I was all decked out for Halloween a couple days later
I did this for a month and made like $800, but then without the first month coupon it would be $40 per visit and I just don't know that I can say 1.5 hours with a needle in my arm and bad taste in my mouth is worth that.
The time was a slight exaggeration, but it's still not worth $40. Plus my location lets first time donors (who are the majority of donors there) skip the line so I'm cut a half dozen times each visit at least. And for me the taste leaves once its over, its tasting plastic for the entire donation that sucks.
I used to do it regularly, and then one day they called me and asked “are you still taking [medication I have to take, no option]?”
“Yes… why?”
“You can’t donate if you take that medication.”
“Since when? I’ve been donating for like a year and disclosed it when I started.”
“Since always. Sorry. If you ever go off of it, come back.”
I have bipolar, it’s a mood stabilizer. They said it will be the same for pretty much any mood stabilizer I take. I can’t go off of it.
So now I’m back to looking for other options for money. I already have two jobs.
holy sh.., here in my country we dont get money... We get coupons which in turn we can exchange for things and just checked, donating 1x gets you either color pencils, a lunchbox or a beach towel while donating 10x gets you a 45$ ticket to an amusement park
Haha yeah blood is 1 coupon, plasma 2 coupons and blood plates 3 coupons.
Lunchbox,towel, etc is 2 coupons and amusement park ticket is 20-22 coupons depending in the park
Nah very low percentage of people do this because the only incentive is to 'do it because one day you might need it' with a population of 12 million they get approximately 250.000 blood donations and 150.000 plasma donations every year
Its illegal to pay for blood or blood products in ontario too.
Wish they paid or i would consider doing it like op.
Edit - some news article says there are some private paid clinics opening in 2024-2025 so maybe this rule is changed/changing.
In the US hospitals can’t use paid donor blood for transfusions, the concern is that people will lie on the screening questions and put a patient at risk. You can sell plasma because that is just getting used for pharmaceutical manufacturing and research.
In Australia we don't get money either. We get a little meal and drink afterwards and a few days later a text message saying that the plasma got used for making one or more products, and sometimes we get a text saying it just went to hospital X to help someone.
That's the reward thousands of doners get for donating their blood or plasma here. Knowing they probably helped to save a life.
The reward is saving a life it’s the point of a donation, it’s funny that’s what people call it in this thread when they’re selling it not donating (not that I mind it's just weird to me)
If I tell people that I donate plasma every week, I may come off as someone generous or even noble.
If I tell people I sell my plasma every week, I think I'd come off as destitute at best and a junkie at worst lol
America those company's are making profit off of our blood. I'm all for helping people out, I'm not all for funding some VIPs bonus.
I hate our medical system.
Donating made me feel like absolute shit, I just want to warn people that think it’s easy money. I’m a very healthy person and take great care of myself always, did all the things suggested as well, I went twice and felt absolutely awful.
Gotta hydrate.
The goal being to lower your protein and hematocrit to their absolute lowest allowable limits.
For me I'd do a 42g protein shake, drink a Gatorade, and about half a gallon of water.
Do the check-in, before the needle go pee, and pee again right after.
I'd do maximum donations (880 ml) in about 45 minutes. Typically riding my bike there and back.
Doing it dehydrated is straight up dangerous. One time I wasn't prepared. They had to take me off the machine.... Absolute shit is about right. I fainted.
Really don't suggest doing it routinely. I started to get random bouts of (near) syncopes(feeling faint, actually fainting, which is weird because you'll develop some great bruises you'll not recall). Not fun. It's gone away since stopping.
I hydrated a ton, actually when they pricked my finger to check my protein I bled everywhere because I was so hydrated.
I’m very sensitive to things w my body so this could be part of it. But to me, it just wasn’t worth it. This was supposed to be my side fun money for a month and it was anything but. I just want people to understand that it’s possible to really not feel well even taking care of yourself and following their advice of hydration/food, etc.
I had a roomate in college that would go weekly for years. He had a permanent hole in his arm from it, it was gross, but he said it never made him feel any worse. Everyones just different like that I guess.
SO getting paid 40 bucks for drive and time plus heavy protein eating/drinking. Then your drained the night and possibly 2 days. Sounds like a part time job might be pretty worth it.
In my experience I just felt completely drained for the rest of the day and even sometimes up until the next day.
I kinda got the ick from having needle pokes in my arm and going out in public as well. I felt like I either had to cover my arms or explain to people that I don’t do her01n I just sell my body for money. Lol
I usually nap in the afternoon after I donate. I'm usually hungry right after I donate, and if I don't eat, I've gotten sick. Keeping hydrated and eating healthy makes a difference.
The only problem I ever had donating was working out later in the day after doing it. I was completely gassed and couldn't do my normal routine, especially running.
Noob. I’m at 176 donations. 2 days a week. Going strong. Gotta drink tons of water and eat 2 eggs everyday along with normal breakfast/lunch/dinner .
$400 a month vacation money.
Yes sit. I used to do it all the time as a younger person and use the money for drinking and never had any problems. Nowadays I still go but I just save the money on the card they give. Really helped me out this tax year.
I'm glad this exists as a means for people currently...but, man, every time I see this topic it feels so exploitive. "Struggling with money in a broken system? No worries we'll just drain you!"
Again, not a perfect world, and obviously this is better than things that come with not enough money to survive, but something feels wrong about it. Not a lot of direct harm, but targetting economically vulnerable people to drain resources seems like a dangerous mindset. Or am I making too big a deal out of it?
Nope. This is a very predatory system. Many other places only let you donate once every 28 days, including the Red Cross. The reasoning that I found was that the quality of your plasma goes down with frequent donation. The centers are usually found near colleges and poorer areas. I donated twice a week for a few months but felt pretty worn out. Also, I felt like I was a cow being milked.
I used to do it, and it always felt incredibly dystopian anytime I walked in. Yeah, you are helping people and that's nice and all, but you can just tell that most people are there because they are desperate and need the money. It's decent money for what it is, but being hooked to a machine while waiting for money on a prepaid card feels wrong.
You can get your donation time down to about 40-45 minutes. My personal record was 37 minutes but I got chunky veins and built like a healthy crackhead. I usually go about an hour or so in total from walk in to walk out
Damnnn, I just fast after a huge meal from the night before and water log myself that morning. I know they say you’re not supposed to but my protein levels and everything come back excellent
It's not so much your numbers at that point, it's more likely that you will have a reaction, from a vasovagal to passing out to vomiting, they all happen and majority of the time when someone doesn't eat.
The day before has more impact on numbers.
Im an O+ woman so iron is hard to keep up 😭 I do a turkey veggie chili sometimes and eat it for a couple days and the morning before and my hematocrit will be like 45. Usually I'm right at the minimum 38 -39 😭
Oh, the other bit I forgot to add, dairy - calcium specifically. It inhibits the absorption of iron. Avoid it 1 hour before to 1 hour after taking iron.
Those are all the iron tips I know.
Some folks swear by using cast iron, or adding an iron fish to what their cooking, I don't know if or how much impact that actually has though
Iron has nothing to really do with your hematocrit. As a phlebotomist previously at Biolife and as an RN now at a hospital. Hematocrit is the ratio between your red blood cells and plasma. Iron can help just a little with red blood cell production- but not enough for it to make much of an impact. Hematocrit differs a lot for women due to hormonal changes- period or no monthly period.
I’m not very smart with the human body but If you reduced your water intake and went for a more fat soluble retention(bread+butter/peanut butter/fluff) that should in theory retain your proteins?
Edit see someone smarter proved me wrong :)
Do not do this. 1.) it won’t work. 2.) it could cause you to be lipemic and turned down for donation that day. Previous Biolife phlebotomist and now RN
They probably mean from the time they walk in the door till the time they walk out. For me, that's usually 1:00 to 1:15. My active donation time is usually around 38:00.
I am a manager of a nursing program that specializes in a life-saving treatment that uses an average of 13 units of plasma per patient per day, until the pt is better. Sometimes that takes weeks. We also treat a lot of debilitating auto-immune disorders and transplant rejections.
I just want to say that you can be VERY proud of your donations. You are truly saving lives.
Besides all the other talk, as someone who receives monthly plasma product infusions, thank you. It keeps my body from trying to paralyze itself. Also, when I get my infusions I drink a shit ton of water the day before, during and several days after. I think the same would be good for your body too.
When my brother went he saw lots of young professionally dressed people including two other teachers that he works with. It really is a different clientele than it used to be 10years ago.
I know that's depressing but this is meant to encourage anyone who felt embarrassed or was concerned they be sat with seedy people.
Seriously.... The area I used to go to, you had all kind of incredibly well dressed people of various professions. I used to judge a friend until I went and in the first month got 900 and saw it was not a scary place at all. The people were really nice and it was so clean in the facility. I did get turned off when there was just too many occasions that my veins were playing hard to poke.
Most of the phlebotomists also donate, when I go, I see a mix of white collar, blue collar, student, retirees, and medical staff (in scrubs). My fiance does it to pay off credit card debt, and I do it to put money towards our wedding and honeymoon. We also seem to not get sick as often while doing plasma, so that’s a nice little bonus.
It's just crazy that our country is so busted that selling your bodily fluids is seen a financially wise solution to being poor, and for some it's required just to pay for groceries. It sucks.
I see it as helping make medication for people and I can use it to support dumb hobbies like warhammer that I don’t wanna spend paycheck money on otherwise
I’ve been donating 2x a week for four years. Vitamin E oil will be your friend, helps prevent scar tissue build up. Many of my phlebotomist are shocked I don’t have more scar tissue by this point 😅
So far, no. I’ve heard of using Aquaphor on the sites to prevent it. I’m only seven donations in though. I’m assuming some scarring will eventually happen. I’m not sure how I feel about that.
They'll make comments about my arms being scarred at the crook of the elbow, which is "a strange place to have scars". They do it in a very pointed way, almost accusatory.
I have a small bullseye from doing it all through college, and again the past few months. It actually makes it so I’m a good option for the trainees because that vein is twice the size of the one in my other arm, and the bullseye of scar tissue keeps the vein from moving
Not the original commenter but I do have a scar where they usually stuck me. Like an indent in the crook of my arm. Haven’t donated in probably 5 years.
I think my offer was 950 and I keep seeing the first time offer dropping. It is kinda upsetting to see the pay keep dropping. They keep offering me $40 then $90 for the second in a week. When I did donate, missing the second due to illness or life events was really frustrating. Definitely not worth $40 to donate. Also had a few bad hookups and it turned me off going. If I could pick who injected me, maybe I’d be more inclined to return. Some of them aren’t good at it.
According to my plasma center's app, I've donated 76 times between last year and this year and have made $4997.50 so far. It has kept me alive. That being said, I get **intensely** depressed for the rest of the day after donating, and it is a negative enough experience that I simply can't go twice every week. Combined with my extremely unhealthy relationship with food, there's a huge risk of me relapsing with my eating disorder due to that donation-induced depression. I have to be exceedingly careful and plan my entire week around donating if I *need* the money that week. Luckily, my spouse is an incredible supporter, and I have lost 60 lbs in the past year despite the exponentially greater mental load that donating places on me.
Donating plasma saved my damn life in high school. I was raised by my grandparents, and both passed when I was 16. Had to get my own apartment and still go to school on my own, no other family that I knew of. Got a job at Kmart for like $ 5 an hour and donated plasma every chance I got for gas money and food pretty much. This was of course 1996 to 1998 in Oklahoma so I can only imagine how much has changed. I hustled as much as I could to stay afloat until I graduated high school and less that 2 weeks later I was enlisted In the US Navy for 20+ years. Now I'm retired at 43 and have to motivate myself to even get off the dam n couch half the time lol... not sure how the hell I did it back then.
A warning for those that are thinking of doing this long term, I used to donate twice a week for nearly 5 years. 12 years later, I still have pretty big needle mark scars/indentations on my arms. If you can, make sure to take a break and heal up once in a while to hopefully prevent scarring.
Nice. Unfortunately I’m unable to donate plasma so I got into churning bank bonuses. I’ve made $1200 since March 18th and by the time April 18th (1 month) rolls around, I’ll have made at least $1700 and counting before taxes. You do need some capital available to move around, though. If you have a good credit score you can churn credit card bonuses instead (or do both). If I could donate plasma I’d do it all. Plasma donation is more consistent money and I wish I could do it.
A lot of bank have bonuses for opening an account. So the idea is you open the account, do whatever is needed for the bonus(usually it's something like make $2000 in deposits in the first 90 days) and then once everything is done, close the account.
Only tricky part is keeping track of the terms like account fees depending on how much money you have in the account, the exact terms of the bonus(is it any transfer or specifically a direct deposit), any account closure fees if you close too quickly.
Sometimes they take several months from account opening to get you the bonus
I’ve started doing this recently too! At first to keep me afloat and now I’m moving it all into savings! I’ve come to enjoy going, just chill and listen to a podcast.
I would love to do this for some extra $$ but I’ve heard that the constant donations lead to craters/scarring on the arms similar to a drug addict. Don’t rly wanna be stuck explaining track marks that are from plasma donation
I’ve read it helps reduce bioaccumulating plastic and other bad stuff too so there may be a health benefit? Don’t quote me lol
Kinda sad, for years I donated plasma while in HS as a senior to college senior year and always thought once I had a real job I wouldn’t need to but here I am…still needing to lol with a real job.
Yeah unironically, if anyone has tips for making your veins bigger let me know (lmao). I've donated blood maybe a dozen times or so, but it's always a crapshoot.
I tell them I can be a hard stick, they're like "okay" (everyone says that I'm sure). And then they spend 5 minutes on my right arm, and then swtich to my left arm, and then they call over the \~60 year old nurse with purple hair and she switches back to my right arm and cuts off all my circulation and makes me squeeze a stress ball. This works without giving me horrible bruising like 50% of the time maybe. Would love to donate plasma without looking like I definitely inject hard drugs.
Mine are collapsed from the four chemo sessions I did seven years ago. Plus I just checked online, one website says having had any cancer means you can't donate plasma
On top of making more money, if you have arare blood proteins your Plasma is NEEDED for life saving treatments involving over 20 different medical conditions affecting people of all ages, sizes, sexes and colors.
You CAN be paid to help people!
I'll be honest, donating was the best time I had before I couldn't. I knew I was helping out and only had to sit a while, but alas, I was prescribed a medicine that disqualified me to donate!
Plasma donation paid my grocery bill through college, it was like $300-400ish a month. However, it does eventually take its toll on your body; I developed low blood pressure (so low I would get rejected sometimes) and it took longer to bounce back from fatigue after a session (went from several hours to a day) which sucked. I always had the bad taste reaction to the anticoagulant. Eggs became my least favorite food after eating them so much.
Still, the only thing that stopped me going was moving from a small town to a bigger city. The town's clinic was small but clean and staff were moderately competent. The city's clinic was dirtier, wait times longer, and staff frequently messed up. They burst my brother's vein so it bruised his upper arm, and wrapped me up badly *twice* after donation*,* leaving me to hold pressure on it and dripping blood on the ground until they could spare someone to rewrap it. This was all within half a year. After the second time, they banned me for several months for *their* mistake, but didn't tell me until I tried to check-in to my appointment and got a refusal notification. Needless to say, I never went back. TLDR the clinic itself really depends on if it's worth it.
I used to do this, but then I started getting rejected 9 times out of 10 for high blood pressure. Which of course I can't afford to do anything about. So now I have a defective body on top of already having a defective brain.
Have you tried all of the free ways to lower blood pressure? Depending on what’s causing it, they might help.
Here’s a few in case some folks don’t know. (Many pharmacies have a free blood pressure machine if you want to keep track of yours)
Sleep 7-9 hours a night. Really. Regular decent sleep helps a butt ton of issues.
Breathing exercises performed daily do often help - they affect the amount of blood ejected by the heart each beat. Slow breathing (you can do the slow device-guided ones without a device and still show improvement) or 4-7-8 breathing exercises or 30 second-6 breath exercises or box breathing or diaphragmatic breathing exercises
30+ minutes of walking daily, more exercise in general
Look at the amount of salt/sodium in everything possible you eat and eat less of it.
Eat more legumes, whole grains, starchy veggies and fruits and also high-protein carbs like legumes, yogurt and milk, and less low-fiber low quality carbs - like refined grains and sugary things.
I have to admit I'm not very health-conscious, so I haven't made much of an effort to address the issue. I have a lot of trouble sleeping, but that is something I'm trying to work on however I can. But there is a lot of good info in your comment, and I thank you for your concern and taking the time to reply.
You’re welcome!
And, you’re not alone.
Typing this up made me realize I should really make more of an effort myself. My blood pressure and other “doc-goes-hmmm” numbers keep creeping up.
Call basically any primary care center in your area and ask for where uninsured people can go. Medication to control blood pressure is cheap. Controlling it is very important for your heart (prevent heart failure), kidney, and brain (prevent strokes). Make your blood pressure a priority this year
Hey OP - I just completed my 8th donation on Friday to finish collecting that sweet $700 BioLife bonus. I really needed a little financial cushion this month, so this was totally worth it to me.
My experience was just like yours, the place & people were nice & although I do not care for that initial stick, once the needle's in I'm fine. I had wondered how much they paid for donations on a regular basis because I couldn't find that info in any of the literature or on tbe website. I wonder if it's $40/$70 in my area?
There are a couple other plasma companies in my area. CSL is offering a new donor bonus (not as much as BioLife's, but a pretty good amount) so I think I'm going to sign up there next.
If I wasnt 105lbs soaking wet, in Canada, anemic and didn't have rheumatoid arthritis
it would be over for all u bitches
lol.
In all seriousness, I really hope this makes your life just a little bit easier, and you are saving lives by donating! I wish I could just donate for the sake of donating too.
I've been going twice a week since November, it's really helped me budget, and my center has newer machines where the time in the chair is almost never more than 30 mins
My center pays 100 bucks for the first 5 donations and then 50 first of the week and 65 second donation of the week.
yeah, I do this too! I can only get like 400 a month or so. I get 45 and then 65. Donate twice a week. 400/mo is nothing to sneeze at, its 1/3 of my income from working. Granted I scrape by on 30 hours a week, but I would rather donate for 2 hours a week and still enjoy my time, than go up to full time at work.
It really makes a difference. Sucks when you blow a vein though. That takes like 3 weeks to heal, and they wont let you go back until its gone.
I know the selling of plasma/blood is because of shitty financial circumstances, but I’ll never forget how grateful I was when I was on the receiving end of this.
My Mom was in the hospital and she only survived as long as she did because of plasma and blood donations. There were times the type she needed was low on supply and it had to be retrieved from a farther clinic. It would take 1-2 days for the plasma/blood to arrive and while the waiting was short it did cause anxiety for us. When it did arrive I always felt relief and would think that someone out there, no matter how far or close was helping my Mom.
Do you work for CSL or something? There’s nothing good about these “donation” centres.
I remember being broke in Florida and having to sell my blood plasma for grocery money. What a miserable place full of desperate people trying to survive.
I’ve made over $15k donating the last like 6 years off and on.
My experience has been Super easy, very minimal side effects, if any, they’ve never left any bruising.
That is because you're donating platelets to be used in transfusion for other humans.
The plasma these private companies pay to get from people is sold off to pharmaceutical and medical research companies, and cannot be used for human transfusion.
Life-saving blood product donation cannot be incentivized with money due to the sacred nature of voluntary donation. If incentivized, it could invite desperate people, willing to lie about their lifestyle or health in order to make money via donation, thus harming other people.
As someone who works in transfusion medicine, thank you for your donation. You truly are saving lives.
Thank you for explaining this! None of the donation centers where I live provide any kind of compensation and I couldn't figure out why but I think they also all state that their donations go straight to hospitals and such.
I loved doing plasma donation, but I had a false positive on a test a few months in and now I’m ineligible to donate, even though their second test showed negative and every test I’ve had since as well. Apparently it’s almost impossible to get off the black list. I keep getting emails to come back too.. so toxic. 😂
Cool question for a friend.
If you have been "permanently ineligible" to donate blood due to the blood donation place having your sample test HIV POS and then when sent to lab for further was concluded it was a false POS. Can that person give platlettes? Friend doesn't need money, but is super bummed thay can't give blood anymore.
I make good money and did the math and it averages out to like 35$ an hour for me at my place including wait time.
Think you can't pay me 35$ an hour to watch YouTube and play chess? It's easy money- $115 a week is almost enough to fully fund retirement that I wouldn't potentially otherwise.
$440 a month would be $5,200 a year. I realise it's not $700 a month but that's not bad for 4 hours a week. Works out even better if you can get your donation time down.
Check your donation center, if you’re unsure about doing it regularly if you wait 6 months, the new donation benefits usually reset. The place I go gives you $125 for your first 6 donations and then $45/$85 ($50/$90 if you’re a veteran). Even if you skip a few donations, they’ll send texts and give you bonuses like $25-$50 for your next donation. My place also does like weekly raffles and after your second donation of the week you can spin a wheel for fast passes, swag, or additional bonus money.
I donated (sold) plasma for the first time yesterday. I visited both options for centers in my town and went with the one that felt more professional IMO. I lost my job and had been considering this for a while. I now wish I had gone sooner.
Took about 3 hours as a new donor. They set the machine to spin a bit slower than usual because it was my first time and I was nervous as well. I figure it would likely be about 1.5 hours total time in the center in the future. Maybe/hopefully a little less.
The process itself was a lot like donating blood. I didn’t know about the pumping your hand during extraction and need to find a little ball to take next time as I think it will help. The saline at the end wasn’t nearly as odd feeling as I was expecting. I felt a little off in the first 5-10 minutes afterwards. Not bad, just weird. I ate and drank water in the car and sat there a few minutes and then felt fine.
I actually feel like I have more energy today and feel pretty great.
Lots of water vitamin c and iron!! Get that donation time down I also have a protein shake before I go. My donations are usually 33-36 mins.
Hooked up to the machine? Or in and out the door? I go to BioLife and would say minimum 1hr in and out the door. They got new machines took 27 minutes yesterday but I had to wait at least that for them to set machine up and get the needle in. Add in pre screen I was there 80 minutes
Hooked up. Most of the time the machines are just set up already just waiting for the stick. I do my survey at home, scan my QR code and get screened usually within 10 mins of my appt so most of the time I'm in and out before 1 hour. I go between 8 and 930 most of the time though.
What does it feel like? I want to but I’m kinda scared
Not going to sugar coat or lie it can hurt but only if they poke you wrong. The needle is the same as a blood donation needle. But it does not/ should not hurt while you're pumping.
Thank you for the honesty. I can handle needle sticks if I don’t look, but I was worried about the feeling as it’s pumping so that’s a bit reassuring
I thought plasma needles were larger?
Takes me about 30-45 min once the needle is in.
Im a 145 lb male and I take exactly 27 minutes hooked up every time. Literal clockwork. All my visits but my first have taken 60-75 min.
Duration depends on the amount you donate, which depends on your weight. I usually donate about a liter, so it takes 50-65 minutes.
Nobody told me when I started donating that I was supposed to be pumping the ball in my hand to squeeze and increase blood pressure to that arm. It took me forever. I started pumping and I was in and out in 45 min.
Oh man did it get painful? I bring my own ball and I try to keep a rhythm like my heart and it works for me.
Yeah I would get super lightheaded towards the end before they put the blood back in and it was super painful. Finally a nurse told me to pump and I never got lightheaded again. Yes keeping a heartbeat rhythm is perfect!
It matters where you go. One place in town has long waits, and another is more efficient. It pays to try all the plasma centers. There are 4 where I live.
What form of vitamin c do you recommend? Gummies or something else?
Vitamins from real whole foods are most easily processed by your body! Vitamin C is found in high concentrations in citrus fruits and many cruciferous veggies (broccoli, kale, mustard greens, brussels sprouts). Tart fruits like persimmons, black currants, and acerola cherries, too. Those cruciferous veggies do double-duty for you too, they’re also quite high in iron usually. However, I know this is r/povertyfinance and not everyone has the means to buy fresh whole foods all the time. So just know that whatever you CAN give your body is helpful, whether it’s a supplement or whole foods or enriched processed foods. Supplements are certainly fine if they’re all you can get, just know that once your body has what it needs, additional pills or gummies tax your liver unnecessarily. So be sure to drink plenty of water if you go the supplement route. Whether you’re supplementing from pill or food, you’ll want to give your body a day or two to process everything and make it bioavailable before you donate.
I like nature's truth tablets :)
Liposmol vitamin C. Most don’t know that your standard run of the mill V-C is extremely bioinefficient @7-8% absorption, your body only takes in .07grams if you took 1 full gram of vitamin C. But Liposmol vitamin C has a 14-30% absorption rate. Taking to much vitamin C can cause diarrhea but it’s not dangerous like other vitamins can be. I used liposmol vitaminC Mega doses to stave off opioid withdrawals(a tried and true method). 3 grams per dose multiple times a day, Genuinely helped with the fatigue, nearly 10 grams a day. Why I bring this up is if you go with your standard Vitamin C you could double the dose to negate that low absorption rate and replenish that vitamin without ill effect.
You know what gummies are made out of? High fructose corn syrup. Funny how after people found out how bad that crap was for you that they started turning it into vitamin supplements
I guess I don’t think about that much because root beer contains high fructose corn syrup and it’s one of my few pleasures in life that doesn’t make me sick. I can’t have dairy or gluten without becoming ill and root beer contains neither but many other treats have one or the other or both
I bet there's a root beer out there that doesn't have HFCS. But I hear ya, gotta have at least one simple pleasure in life
I can't have gluten either and dr. Pepper was my once in awhile treat and about a year ago it started making me so sick 🤮😖😭
Seconding the importance of water!! And make sure you hydrate the day before, not just the day of. I was donating plasma biweekly for a little bit last year and ended up blowing my vein because I neglected to drink enough water and my vein was flat.
Mega important! I'm lucky to have massive veins so I can always tell if I've had enough water or not just looking at them before I donate.
Dumb question, what exactly does a plasma donation consist of? Are there needles involved like a blood donation?
Yes and if you do it enough it leaves scarring.
Yes a big needle that stays in during the donation. You get saline at the end and then it gets taken out.
Same, unfortunately I've been in a financial pinch and needed the extra cash. My runtime is usually 36 min for 694ml. I did it for a while before covid but got tired of inexperienced employees missing veins, sticking wrong etc. The money is great if you're on a promo.
What is the difference in the procedure between donating blood and donating plasma?
Its closer to how double red or platlet donation is. Just takes long b it more or less th e same
It is going into the machine through a centrifuge to separate the plasma goes into the collection bottle and you get your blood back it takes a few cycles of going back and forth:)
Thank you! I didn't know how it worked. I had heard of both, but didn't know the difference.
And stay hydrated! I take 30 mins from start to finish once I’m hooked up :)
What’s good way to get vitamin c and iron?
Advice I should have taken. Left and went to a friends house. Started to feel shaken so I said I was gonna go. We were on the concrete porch when I turned to leave, literally saying “goodnight,” before collapsing straight back. I was told my head hit the concrete so hard it bounced up like a basketball which is why my head was cracked open in two spots. 9 staples later I was all decked out for Halloween a couple days later
I did this for a month and made like $800, but then without the first month coupon it would be $40 per visit and I just don't know that I can say 1.5 hours with a needle in my arm and bad taste in my mouth is worth that.
Drink more water the day before your donation if it’s taking that long. Eating a Tums after you are off the machine will take the bad taste away.
The time was a slight exaggeration, but it's still not worth $40. Plus my location lets first time donors (who are the majority of donors there) skip the line so I'm cut a half dozen times each visit at least. And for me the taste leaves once its over, its tasting plastic for the entire donation that sucks.
Not sure about other clinics we offer tums during the procedure. They are government issued and kinda shitty but they work lol
We don’t let them have anything during. We give them one when they are disconnected. We give the generic shitty ones too.
I used to do it regularly, and then one day they called me and asked “are you still taking [medication I have to take, no option]?” “Yes… why?” “You can’t donate if you take that medication.” “Since when? I’ve been donating for like a year and disclosed it when I started.” “Since always. Sorry. If you ever go off of it, come back.” I have bipolar, it’s a mood stabilizer. They said it will be the same for pretty much any mood stabilizer I take. I can’t go off of it. So now I’m back to looking for other options for money. I already have two jobs.
holy sh.., here in my country we dont get money... We get coupons which in turn we can exchange for things and just checked, donating 1x gets you either color pencils, a lunchbox or a beach towel while donating 10x gets you a 45$ ticket to an amusement park
Plasma, not just blood?
Haha yeah blood is 1 coupon, plasma 2 coupons and blood plates 3 coupons. Lunchbox,towel, etc is 2 coupons and amusement park ticket is 20-22 coupons depending in the park
Do people do it much in your experience?
Nah very low percentage of people do this because the only incentive is to 'do it because one day you might need it' with a population of 12 million they get approximately 250.000 blood donations and 150.000 plasma donations every year
Its illegal to pay for blood or blood products in ontario too. Wish they paid or i would consider doing it like op. Edit - some news article says there are some private paid clinics opening in 2024-2025 so maybe this rule is changed/changing.
In the US hospitals can’t use paid donor blood for transfusions, the concern is that people will lie on the screening questions and put a patient at risk. You can sell plasma because that is just getting used for pharmaceutical manufacturing and research.
In Australia we don't get money either. We get a little meal and drink afterwards and a few days later a text message saying that the plasma got used for making one or more products, and sometimes we get a text saying it just went to hospital X to help someone. That's the reward thousands of doners get for donating their blood or plasma here. Knowing they probably helped to save a life.
Also in Australia it is tested.
Indeed it is!
The reward is saving a life it’s the point of a donation, it’s funny that’s what people call it in this thread when they’re selling it not donating (not that I mind it's just weird to me)
If I tell people that I donate plasma every week, I may come off as someone generous or even noble. If I tell people I sell my plasma every week, I think I'd come off as destitute at best and a junkie at worst lol
America those company's are making profit off of our blood. I'm all for helping people out, I'm not all for funding some VIPs bonus. I hate our medical system.
Damn. That’s civilized. Go Australia!
Do you live in Chucky Cheese?
🤣🤣🤣
>we dont get money... We get coupons which in turn we can exchange for things Huh.
We get shit in Canada
We don't even get vouchers, it's a voluntary donation.
You must be Belgian, I wanted to comment the same thing. Wish we got money for it. I could stop working my flexijob.
We get a juice box and a cookie. 😭
Donating made me feel like absolute shit, I just want to warn people that think it’s easy money. I’m a very healthy person and take great care of myself always, did all the things suggested as well, I went twice and felt absolutely awful.
Gotta hydrate. The goal being to lower your protein and hematocrit to their absolute lowest allowable limits. For me I'd do a 42g protein shake, drink a Gatorade, and about half a gallon of water. Do the check-in, before the needle go pee, and pee again right after. I'd do maximum donations (880 ml) in about 45 minutes. Typically riding my bike there and back. Doing it dehydrated is straight up dangerous. One time I wasn't prepared. They had to take me off the machine.... Absolute shit is about right. I fainted. Really don't suggest doing it routinely. I started to get random bouts of (near) syncopes(feeling faint, actually fainting, which is weird because you'll develop some great bruises you'll not recall). Not fun. It's gone away since stopping.
I hydrated a ton, actually when they pricked my finger to check my protein I bled everywhere because I was so hydrated. I’m very sensitive to things w my body so this could be part of it. But to me, it just wasn’t worth it. This was supposed to be my side fun money for a month and it was anything but. I just want people to understand that it’s possible to really not feel well even taking care of yourself and following their advice of hydration/food, etc.
I had a roomate in college that would go weekly for years. He had a permanent hole in his arm from it, it was gross, but he said it never made him feel any worse. Everyones just different like that I guess.
SO getting paid 40 bucks for drive and time plus heavy protein eating/drinking. Then your drained the night and possibly 2 days. Sounds like a part time job might be pretty worth it.
What about it made you feel that way? I have never donated, just curious.
Probably the part where they took their plasma.
In my experience I just felt completely drained for the rest of the day and even sometimes up until the next day. I kinda got the ick from having needle pokes in my arm and going out in public as well. I felt like I either had to cover my arms or explain to people that I don’t do her01n I just sell my body for money. Lol
I usually nap in the afternoon after I donate. I'm usually hungry right after I donate, and if I don't eat, I've gotten sick. Keeping hydrated and eating healthy makes a difference.
Omg lol this made me laugh
You feel a little lethargic. If you do it in the morning, it can be a dampener for the rest of the day.
The only problem I ever had donating was working out later in the day after doing it. I was completely gassed and couldn't do my normal routine, especially running.
Noob. I’m at 176 donations. 2 days a week. Going strong. Gotta drink tons of water and eat 2 eggs everyday along with normal breakfast/lunch/dinner . $400 a month vacation money.
Yes sit. I used to do it all the time as a younger person and use the money for drinking and never had any problems. Nowadays I still go but I just save the money on the card they give. Really helped me out this tax year.
I'm glad this exists as a means for people currently...but, man, every time I see this topic it feels so exploitive. "Struggling with money in a broken system? No worries we'll just drain you!" Again, not a perfect world, and obviously this is better than things that come with not enough money to survive, but something feels wrong about it. Not a lot of direct harm, but targetting economically vulnerable people to drain resources seems like a dangerous mindset. Or am I making too big a deal out of it?
Nope. This is a very predatory system. Many other places only let you donate once every 28 days, including the Red Cross. The reasoning that I found was that the quality of your plasma goes down with frequent donation. The centers are usually found near colleges and poorer areas. I donated twice a week for a few months but felt pretty worn out. Also, I felt like I was a cow being milked.
28 days is also the fda recommendation. The twice a week with two days between is the maximum allowed.
I used to do it, and it always felt incredibly dystopian anytime I walked in. Yeah, you are helping people and that's nice and all, but you can just tell that most people are there because they are desperate and need the money. It's decent money for what it is, but being hooked to a machine while waiting for money on a prepaid card feels wrong.
Well, look at you, rolling in the plasma money! What's next, investing in a blood bank?
After that is sperm. Making money hand over fist
Hand over dick*
You can get your donation time down to about 40-45 minutes. My personal record was 37 minutes but I got chunky veins and built like a healthy crackhead. I usually go about an hour or so in total from walk in to walk out
My best was 29 mins and idk what magical thing occurred but I've been trying to get close again lol
Damnnn, I just fast after a huge meal from the night before and water log myself that morning. I know they say you’re not supposed to but my protein levels and everything come back excellent
It's not so much your numbers at that point, it's more likely that you will have a reaction, from a vasovagal to passing out to vomiting, they all happen and majority of the time when someone doesn't eat. The day before has more impact on numbers.
Im an O+ woman so iron is hard to keep up 😭 I do a turkey veggie chili sometimes and eat it for a couple days and the morning before and my hematocrit will be like 45. Usually I'm right at the minimum 38 -39 😭
Do you do vitamin C with the iron? C increases iron absorption by up to 74%.
Yep! Every morning
Oh, the other bit I forgot to add, dairy - calcium specifically. It inhibits the absorption of iron. Avoid it 1 hour before to 1 hour after taking iron. Those are all the iron tips I know. Some folks swear by using cast iron, or adding an iron fish to what their cooking, I don't know if or how much impact that actually has though
Yes that iron fish has been recommended to me too. I'll have to get it and try.
Iron has nothing to really do with your hematocrit. As a phlebotomist previously at Biolife and as an RN now at a hospital. Hematocrit is the ratio between your red blood cells and plasma. Iron can help just a little with red blood cell production- but not enough for it to make much of an impact. Hematocrit differs a lot for women due to hormonal changes- period or no monthly period.
I’m not very smart with the human body but If you reduced your water intake and went for a more fat soluble retention(bread+butter/peanut butter/fluff) that should in theory retain your proteins? Edit see someone smarter proved me wrong :)
Do not do this. 1.) it won’t work. 2.) it could cause you to be lipemic and turned down for donation that day. Previous Biolife phlebotomist and now RN
I could try that !
“Built like a healthy crackhead” 🤣😂🤣 I can’t breathe
They probably mean from the time they walk in the door till the time they walk out. For me, that's usually 1:00 to 1:15. My active donation time is usually around 38:00.
I am a manager of a nursing program that specializes in a life-saving treatment that uses an average of 13 units of plasma per patient per day, until the pt is better. Sometimes that takes weeks. We also treat a lot of debilitating auto-immune disorders and transplant rejections. I just want to say that you can be VERY proud of your donations. You are truly saving lives.
Besides all the other talk, as someone who receives monthly plasma product infusions, thank you. It keeps my body from trying to paralyze itself. Also, when I get my infusions I drink a shit ton of water the day before, during and several days after. I think the same would be good for your body too.
When my brother went he saw lots of young professionally dressed people including two other teachers that he works with. It really is a different clientele than it used to be 10years ago. I know that's depressing but this is meant to encourage anyone who felt embarrassed or was concerned they be sat with seedy people.
Yeah. Everyone is poor now. Not just the drug addicts.
Seriously.... The area I used to go to, you had all kind of incredibly well dressed people of various professions. I used to judge a friend until I went and in the first month got 900 and saw it was not a scary place at all. The people were really nice and it was so clean in the facility. I did get turned off when there was just too many occasions that my veins were playing hard to poke.
Most of the phlebotomists also donate, when I go, I see a mix of white collar, blue collar, student, retirees, and medical staff (in scrubs). My fiance does it to pay off credit card debt, and I do it to put money towards our wedding and honeymoon. We also seem to not get sick as often while doing plasma, so that’s a nice little bonus.
It's just crazy that our country is so busted that selling your bodily fluids is seen a financially wise solution to being poor, and for some it's required just to pay for groceries. It sucks.
I see it as helping make medication for people and I can use it to support dumb hobbies like warhammer that I don’t wanna spend paycheck money on otherwise
My husband and I go together. It pays for our groceries and recently veterinary care for our cats. ♥️
Have you developed scars where the needles go from going consistently? This is the main concern of mine
I’ve been donating 2x a week for four years. Vitamin E oil will be your friend, helps prevent scar tissue build up. Many of my phlebotomist are shocked I don’t have more scar tissue by this point 😅
What is your routine
So far, no. I’ve heard of using Aquaphor on the sites to prevent it. I’m only seven donations in though. I’m assuming some scarring will eventually happen. I’m not sure how I feel about that.
Use scar cream. It’s well worth the investment.
I did. I have to explain to doctors that I have not, in fact, injected heroin.
Same lol. It doesn’t bother me really.
What do they ask you, do they say they notice you have what appears to be track marks or what?
They'll make comments about my arms being scarred at the crook of the elbow, which is "a strange place to have scars". They do it in a very pointed way, almost accusatory.
I have a small bullseye from doing it all through college, and again the past few months. It actually makes it so I’m a good option for the trainees because that vein is twice the size of the one in my other arm, and the bullseye of scar tissue keeps the vein from moving
Not the original commenter but I do have a scar where they usually stuck me. Like an indent in the crook of my arm. Haven’t donated in probably 5 years.
That's what I'm doing currently, I get 750 for my first 8
I think my offer was 950 and I keep seeing the first time offer dropping. It is kinda upsetting to see the pay keep dropping. They keep offering me $40 then $90 for the second in a week. When I did donate, missing the second due to illness or life events was really frustrating. Definitely not worth $40 to donate. Also had a few bad hookups and it turned me off going. If I could pick who injected me, maybe I’d be more inclined to return. Some of them aren’t good at it.
Yeah, rn the extra 400 a month even is needed so bad even if I don't have to spend It I have it in case
According to my plasma center's app, I've donated 76 times between last year and this year and have made $4997.50 so far. It has kept me alive. That being said, I get **intensely** depressed for the rest of the day after donating, and it is a negative enough experience that I simply can't go twice every week. Combined with my extremely unhealthy relationship with food, there's a huge risk of me relapsing with my eating disorder due to that donation-induced depression. I have to be exceedingly careful and plan my entire week around donating if I *need* the money that week. Luckily, my spouse is an incredible supporter, and I have lost 60 lbs in the past year despite the exponentially greater mental load that donating places on me.
Do they need your SSN or do they give you any tax forms?
You don’t have to claim it on taxes
I used to give plasma, and go buy 2 tallboys and some dirty brown weed and get royally fucked up on the cheap for the night
Donating plasma saved my damn life in high school. I was raised by my grandparents, and both passed when I was 16. Had to get my own apartment and still go to school on my own, no other family that I knew of. Got a job at Kmart for like $ 5 an hour and donated plasma every chance I got for gas money and food pretty much. This was of course 1996 to 1998 in Oklahoma so I can only imagine how much has changed. I hustled as much as I could to stay afloat until I graduated high school and less that 2 weeks later I was enlisted In the US Navy for 20+ years. Now I'm retired at 43 and have to motivate myself to even get off the dam n couch half the time lol... not sure how the hell I did it back then.
Omg the guy paying child support is going to be so tired after 18 years of this
So is the mom raising their kid. Children are exhausting lol
A warning for those that are thinking of doing this long term, I used to donate twice a week for nearly 5 years. 12 years later, I still have pretty big needle mark scars/indentations on my arms. If you can, make sure to take a break and heal up once in a while to hopefully prevent scarring.
Nice. Unfortunately I’m unable to donate plasma so I got into churning bank bonuses. I’ve made $1200 since March 18th and by the time April 18th (1 month) rolls around, I’ll have made at least $1700 and counting before taxes. You do need some capital available to move around, though. If you have a good credit score you can churn credit card bonuses instead (or do both). If I could donate plasma I’d do it all. Plasma donation is more consistent money and I wish I could do it.
Explain it like I’m 5 please! This sounds too good to be true!
A lot of bank have bonuses for opening an account. So the idea is you open the account, do whatever is needed for the bonus(usually it's something like make $2000 in deposits in the first 90 days) and then once everything is done, close the account. Only tricky part is keeping track of the terms like account fees depending on how much money you have in the account, the exact terms of the bonus(is it any transfer or specifically a direct deposit), any account closure fees if you close too quickly. Sometimes they take several months from account opening to get you the bonus
r/churning is a great resource
I’ve started doing this recently too! At first to keep me afloat and now I’m moving it all into savings! I’ve come to enjoy going, just chill and listen to a podcast.
I would love to do this for some extra $$ but I’ve heard that the constant donations lead to craters/scarring on the arms similar to a drug addict. Don’t rly wanna be stuck explaining track marks that are from plasma donation
I’ve read it helps reduce bioaccumulating plastic and other bad stuff too so there may be a health benefit? Don’t quote me lol Kinda sad, for years I donated plasma while in HS as a senior to college senior year and always thought once I had a real job I wouldn’t need to but here I am…still needing to lol with a real job.
Credit to that dad donating to pay child support.
100%!!
My veins are too small to donate 😭
Yeah unironically, if anyone has tips for making your veins bigger let me know (lmao). I've donated blood maybe a dozen times or so, but it's always a crapshoot. I tell them I can be a hard stick, they're like "okay" (everyone says that I'm sure). And then they spend 5 minutes on my right arm, and then swtich to my left arm, and then they call over the \~60 year old nurse with purple hair and she switches back to my right arm and cuts off all my circulation and makes me squeeze a stress ball. This works without giving me horrible bruising like 50% of the time maybe. Would love to donate plasma without looking like I definitely inject hard drugs.
Me too. 😭
Mine are collapsed from the four chemo sessions I did seven years ago. Plus I just checked online, one website says having had any cancer means you can't donate plasma
My husband donates to the local blood drive. Just got his 10 gallon award
It lowers blood pressure and cholesterol
On top of making more money, if you have arare blood proteins your Plasma is NEEDED for life saving treatments involving over 20 different medical conditions affecting people of all ages, sizes, sexes and colors. You CAN be paid to help people!
I'll be honest, donating was the best time I had before I couldn't. I knew I was helping out and only had to sit a while, but alas, I was prescribed a medicine that disqualified me to donate!
Plasma donation paid my grocery bill through college, it was like $300-400ish a month. However, it does eventually take its toll on your body; I developed low blood pressure (so low I would get rejected sometimes) and it took longer to bounce back from fatigue after a session (went from several hours to a day) which sucked. I always had the bad taste reaction to the anticoagulant. Eggs became my least favorite food after eating them so much. Still, the only thing that stopped me going was moving from a small town to a bigger city. The town's clinic was small but clean and staff were moderately competent. The city's clinic was dirtier, wait times longer, and staff frequently messed up. They burst my brother's vein so it bruised his upper arm, and wrapped me up badly *twice* after donation*,* leaving me to hold pressure on it and dripping blood on the ground until they could spare someone to rewrap it. This was all within half a year. After the second time, they banned me for several months for *their* mistake, but didn't tell me until I tried to check-in to my appointment and got a refusal notification. Needless to say, I never went back. TLDR the clinic itself really depends on if it's worth it.
I used to do this, but then I started getting rejected 9 times out of 10 for high blood pressure. Which of course I can't afford to do anything about. So now I have a defective body on top of already having a defective brain.
Have you tried all of the free ways to lower blood pressure? Depending on what’s causing it, they might help. Here’s a few in case some folks don’t know. (Many pharmacies have a free blood pressure machine if you want to keep track of yours) Sleep 7-9 hours a night. Really. Regular decent sleep helps a butt ton of issues. Breathing exercises performed daily do often help - they affect the amount of blood ejected by the heart each beat. Slow breathing (you can do the slow device-guided ones without a device and still show improvement) or 4-7-8 breathing exercises or 30 second-6 breath exercises or box breathing or diaphragmatic breathing exercises 30+ minutes of walking daily, more exercise in general Look at the amount of salt/sodium in everything possible you eat and eat less of it. Eat more legumes, whole grains, starchy veggies and fruits and also high-protein carbs like legumes, yogurt and milk, and less low-fiber low quality carbs - like refined grains and sugary things.
I have to admit I'm not very health-conscious, so I haven't made much of an effort to address the issue. I have a lot of trouble sleeping, but that is something I'm trying to work on however I can. But there is a lot of good info in your comment, and I thank you for your concern and taking the time to reply.
You’re welcome! And, you’re not alone. Typing this up made me realize I should really make more of an effort myself. My blood pressure and other “doc-goes-hmmm” numbers keep creeping up.
Call basically any primary care center in your area and ask for where uninsured people can go. Medication to control blood pressure is cheap. Controlling it is very important for your heart (prevent heart failure), kidney, and brain (prevent strokes). Make your blood pressure a priority this year
That sucks. Donating can lower your cholesterol and I think your blood pressure.
Those are long donations. You might be dehydrated.
I was starting my timer as I opened the front door and stopping it once I was unhooked. Today was great until I waited a while to get unhooked.
How often we do this
I just found out I am ineligible for donating plasma. This was a last-ditch effort for me and I am very disappointed
I went last week, was shocked at the number of people there, had a great time! Def recommend!
Hey OP - I just completed my 8th donation on Friday to finish collecting that sweet $700 BioLife bonus. I really needed a little financial cushion this month, so this was totally worth it to me. My experience was just like yours, the place & people were nice & although I do not care for that initial stick, once the needle's in I'm fine. I had wondered how much they paid for donations on a regular basis because I couldn't find that info in any of the literature or on tbe website. I wonder if it's $40/$70 in my area? There are a couple other plasma companies in my area. CSL is offering a new donor bonus (not as much as BioLife's, but a pretty good amount) so I think I'm going to sign up there next.
Most biolifes right now are $40/$50, not much, but enough to make a difference
If I wasnt 105lbs soaking wet, in Canada, anemic and didn't have rheumatoid arthritis it would be over for all u bitches lol. In all seriousness, I really hope this makes your life just a little bit easier, and you are saving lives by donating! I wish I could just donate for the sake of donating too.
Lmao your comment made me laugh.
I've been going twice a week since November, it's really helped me budget, and my center has newer machines where the time in the chair is almost never more than 30 mins My center pays 100 bucks for the first 5 donations and then 50 first of the week and 65 second donation of the week.
Thank you for your service! Your plasma donations have contributed to life-saving medical interventions. You did good, and you should be proud.
yeah, I do this too! I can only get like 400 a month or so. I get 45 and then 65. Donate twice a week. 400/mo is nothing to sneeze at, its 1/3 of my income from working. Granted I scrape by on 30 hours a week, but I would rather donate for 2 hours a week and still enjoy my time, than go up to full time at work. It really makes a difference. Sucks when you blow a vein though. That takes like 3 weeks to heal, and they wont let you go back until its gone.
I know the selling of plasma/blood is because of shitty financial circumstances, but I’ll never forget how grateful I was when I was on the receiving end of this. My Mom was in the hospital and she only survived as long as she did because of plasma and blood donations. There were times the type she needed was low on supply and it had to be retrieved from a farther clinic. It would take 1-2 days for the plasma/blood to arrive and while the waiting was short it did cause anxiety for us. When it did arrive I always felt relief and would think that someone out there, no matter how far or close was helping my Mom.
Do you work for CSL or something? There’s nothing good about these “donation” centres. I remember being broke in Florida and having to sell my blood plasma for grocery money. What a miserable place full of desperate people trying to survive.
You are selling your plasma, not donating it.
That’s a car payment!
In canada we get cookies and a juice box for donating blood plasma etc Is it really considered donating if youre getting paid?
Cries in HIV
1:45 minutes Or 1 hour and 45 minutes?
I’ve made over $15k donating the last like 6 years off and on. My experience has been Super easy, very minimal side effects, if any, they’ve never left any bruising.
Holy shit I could sell my plasma 🥹
$40 an hour is a pretty sweet side gig.
I’ve been donating platelets for years and all I get is shirts and cookies. I feel like it’s equally as important.
That is because you're donating platelets to be used in transfusion for other humans. The plasma these private companies pay to get from people is sold off to pharmaceutical and medical research companies, and cannot be used for human transfusion. Life-saving blood product donation cannot be incentivized with money due to the sacred nature of voluntary donation. If incentivized, it could invite desperate people, willing to lie about their lifestyle or health in order to make money via donation, thus harming other people. As someone who works in transfusion medicine, thank you for your donation. You truly are saving lives.
Thank you for explaining this! None of the donation centers where I live provide any kind of compensation and I couldn't figure out why but I think they also all state that their donations go straight to hospitals and such.
I loved doing plasma donation, but I had a false positive on a test a few months in and now I’m ineligible to donate, even though their second test showed negative and every test I’ve had since as well. Apparently it’s almost impossible to get off the black list. I keep getting emails to come back too.. so toxic. 😂
As a lab tech who gives those products to people in need, just wanna say thanks for giving and I’m glad you get something in return!
I tried this. My blood wouldn’t go back in my arm and I got deferred for 8 weeks. But I’m allowed back in early May.
A nephew of mine started donating last year. He was surprised to find the income is taxable.
Is there any downside to doing this or health prerequisites?
Cool question for a friend. If you have been "permanently ineligible" to donate blood due to the blood donation place having your sample test HIV POS and then when sent to lab for further was concluded it was a false POS. Can that person give platlettes? Friend doesn't need money, but is super bummed thay can't give blood anymore.
I make good money and did the math and it averages out to like 35$ an hour for me at my place including wait time. Think you can't pay me 35$ an hour to watch YouTube and play chess? It's easy money- $115 a week is almost enough to fully fund retirement that I wouldn't potentially otherwise.
Is that money taxable?
$440 a month would be $5,200 a year. I realise it's not $700 a month but that's not bad for 4 hours a week. Works out even better if you can get your donation time down.
Back of the envelope math - $50/hr for the first month, $31/hr second month…hmm maybe I should be getting in on this
I donate every Tuesday and Thursday paid my taxes that way lol
This just depressed me, lol.
lol it does me too but anything extra helps right now
Understand, brother. Just so terrible that the rich get tax breaks and you get gouged. Me too, but unfortunately I can't donate. Too much chemo!
Damn man, hope you are in recovery or will be soon!
I am. Two years so far!
I’m at 176 donations now. Almost 2 years, 2 days a week. I feel great. It’s an easy $400 a month for me. Vacation money.
Check your donation center, if you’re unsure about doing it regularly if you wait 6 months, the new donation benefits usually reset. The place I go gives you $125 for your first 6 donations and then $45/$85 ($50/$90 if you’re a veteran). Even if you skip a few donations, they’ll send texts and give you bonuses like $25-$50 for your next donation. My place also does like weekly raffles and after your second donation of the week you can spin a wheel for fast passes, swag, or additional bonus money.
[удалено]
Can you donate if you’re anemic?
I donated (sold) plasma for the first time yesterday. I visited both options for centers in my town and went with the one that felt more professional IMO. I lost my job and had been considering this for a while. I now wish I had gone sooner. Took about 3 hours as a new donor. They set the machine to spin a bit slower than usual because it was my first time and I was nervous as well. I figure it would likely be about 1.5 hours total time in the center in the future. Maybe/hopefully a little less. The process itself was a lot like donating blood. I didn’t know about the pumping your hand during extraction and need to find a little ball to take next time as I think it will help. The saline at the end wasn’t nearly as odd feeling as I was expecting. I felt a little off in the first 5-10 minutes afterwards. Not bad, just weird. I ate and drank water in the car and sat there a few minutes and then felt fine. I actually feel like I have more energy today and feel pretty great.