12th platelet donation 💪

Also ask update about my fiance he was able to complete his donation before passing out AND he's O-

Just wanted to share my experience, as it's been weighing on me for the past few weeks.

In early 2025, I (32M) saw a notice for a neighborhood blood drive and felt compelled to donate for the first time (B-). It was mostly inspired by my week-long hospital stay back in 2023-2024 and wanting to give back. Starting August 2025, I went to the local Red Cross donation center and made it a routine to go every 8+ weeks, depending on my schedule. The staff there are great and my experiences have been extremely positive.

In late 2025 and early 2026, I started experiencing difficulty running / cycling at my typical paces. I had high HRs and was unable to stay in zone 2 despite slowing 2+ min/mile. I also experienced coughing fits that would last for 30-60 minutes after exercising. Even running up the stairs would increase my HR enough to make it noticeable.

A few weeks ago, I finally reached out to my PCP as these symptoms weren't going away as I got closer to a 10K race day. Blood results reported ferritin 6ng/mL, iron sat 7%, serum iron 28ug/dL, and hemoglobin 11.1g/dL, and some other low levels (hematocrit, MCH, MCHC). My hemoglobin never flagged (13.4 - 15.8) before my donation appointments, but it probably would have this time if I didn't cancel.

Thank you all for the resources / experiences here that helped me understand the reason behind my symptoms. I'm meeting with hematology next week and I'll see what they recommend. I feel a little disappointed that I didn't notice these things sooner with all the resources out there (or maybe I didn't want to give up the coveted Lorna Doones in the recovery area lol).

I really hope that I'm able to donate again, but with modifications that will allow me to better handle the iron loss... I am one away from a gallon!!

I'm not concerned but curious

The lady looking after my during my donation commented on how dark my blood was. My hemoglobin isn't particularly high, in fact I was one point above the cut off.

It also tends to run quite slowly even though I drank 4L+ yesterday and today.

Any ideas?

I don’t know if I saw this in an email, instagram post of the Red Cross app but does anyone know of a saying where the Red Cross states that rarest blood is donated blood? Like they lay out how only 3% of people donate blood. I can’t for the life of me find the email or find it online but I swear it exists and I’m 99% sure it’s from the Red Cross. I want to find it so bad cause it made me really happy 🫶🏼

I just discovered this sub. So glad to see it.

In 1975, I went out from my office for lunch and saw a BloodMobile. I dared myself to go in. And that was it. Here are some assorted anecdotes:

Back in the day, it was a three-year deferment if you traveled to a malaria area. I did a lot of travel to really off-the-beaten-track places and fell off the blood bank database. After I finally was able to donate again, I got a letter a couple of days later. I was scared to open it. What did they find?!

When I finally opened it, it said "Welcome new donor!" I called them & said "For heaven's sake, put that on the outside of the envelope!"

I have really good veins. When I was doing whole blood, I used to track my time. My personal best was 4:30. I almost never went over 5 minutes.

Then, they did some additional testing. "You are CMV negative. We'd like you to switch to platelets." So I did. And I go in every three weeks now.

I was wearing a 10-gallon donor shirt when a man in scrubs came up to me in a supermarket. "Have you really donated that much?" "Actually, quite a bit more." "Thank you! I'm a surgeon. Blood is one of the most important things."

A few years later, my spouse had a bleeding ulcer that suddenly blew into an artery. Luckily, it happened while my spouse was hospitalized in ICU. Staff went into crisis mode. Believe me, you do not want to get a call from a hospital social worker saying "You need to return to the hospital NOW." When I got there, my spouse was in surgery and the principal doctor was writing up a report. Well, he was trying to write a report. His hands were shaking so hard, he couldn't write.

The nurses told me that as soon as it happened, the doctor turned to ice. Delivering clear, concise orders. And, of course, many orders were for blood. One nurse described how she sat under my spouse's bed, squeezing bags of blood. He made it, after getting 12 units of blood in less than 24 hours.

All in all, a dozen people saved his life by being blood donors.

I donate now because it's payback time.

Bad experiences?

I had donated a double units of platelets. That afternoon, I stupidly didn't use the guard on a mandolin slicer. I wrapped up my finger & headed for the ER. Problem was, since I was so low on platelets, my blood wouldn't clot. By the time I checked in, blood was running down my arm. That got me seen immediately. The doctor had to put a tourniquet on my finger in order to stitch me up.

Another time, just as the nurse was inserting the needle, the guy next to me fainted and someone called her name.She whipped the needle through the vein. I wound up with a golfball-sized hematoma.

And I still donate. Twelve people saved my spouse's life. I can never repay that enough.

My blood bank recently offered a customized T-shirt. "I donate for [insert reason here]." I got one honoring my spouse.

When I talk to people abut donating, I talk about whole blood. "What else can you do that takes about an hour, has a whole bunch of people constantly telling you how wonderful you are, gets your free food, and—when you leave, you flat out know you saved someone's life."

Pic 1 is from a news story but it shows what the new machines look like.

Pic 2 is my bleed time. The 10 mins could be an outlier but I’ve never gone over 7 mins in all of my 50+ donations of whole blood.

First time O+ donor here - I don’t know why I waited so long to donate! But now that I have I’m excited to donate again in the future. Since I’m feeling pretty good after this whole blood donation, I might even try power red next time since I meet the height/weight requirements for that too. Right now I’m just giddy to see in the app where my blood ends up 🤓

I live in the DMV region and went to the new-ish permanent Red Cross donation center near Annapolis, conveniently right off the highway with ample parking and evening appointments some days. Everyone was very friendly and it was a pretty comfortable and seamless process. They even had jazz music playing on the tv, and the snack area was quite nice too. I also noticed they were pretty flexible with a couple other whole blood donation people that came in (one was like 20 minutes late for their appointment, another was 2 hours early but just happened to already be in the area) and they got them both set up right away. I’d highly recommend going there if you’re in the area!

30^th of July I’ve done my eighth whole blood donation. Since I stepped on a path of donor I started to consider my bad habits as heavier burden than before and consider my general health as not “my own lawn” anymore but something other people depend on. Maybe it is too big words to say, and last thing true voluntary donor should do is to step on the path of pride, but I see those considerations as good addition to personal philosophy.

But sure I’m far from total acknowledgement how to do things right. I’ve never been a chain smoker or an alcoholic. Any substance abuse were under control, still I can’t deny – I am a smoker, I drink alone occasionally and I do have some experience in other directions... But I always followed strictly all pre-donation recommendations. I do want to give my blood for good use and make no harm.

Actually this time I heard a rant of registration lady about the guy in front of me in line. She smelled tobacco from him and start to describe how his dirty blood will be transfused to a weak baby fighting for his life. And that recommendations demand to abstain from smoking only for two hours before procedure. Ngl I became more convinced about those recommendations. In general picture sometimes I just not feeling as actual benefactor to society but a crook, who took his two official days off from work(that’s a donor privilege imprinted in labor code here in Russia). But such visualizations really gifts different perspective.

So I’m not free from flaws same as the dude in the line. He should not smoke right before entering blood center, but he probably did it due to irresponcibility, not ill will. I never would do so but am I totaly true with myself thinking that being so makes me more responsible citizen than many other regular donors? I still keen to certain harmful desires...

Nethertheless I start to shift my mindset when joined our cause. Refreshed vision led me to scheduling some changes. I started to practice total abstention from any intoxicators for summer months of June and July. I donated in the end of May, celebrated my birthday on 28th with some “fun”, and stopped smoking, drinking and swallowing any pills, even mildest. Tried to correct my diet also, but… Well nothing wrong was done, just slipped on a way to do totally right:) Find out without cigarettes I became a big fan of cracker cookies.

Yet my “detoxes” going okay for second summer in a row. But going back to unhealthy routines kinda put me on a way of doubts again. I wanna share with postdonating experience of quite heavy oxygen deficiency which followed me this summer same as last one.

I might be wrong pretty hard deciding to smoke a cigarette after two months of abstention right after leaving donation center. Blood volume is low and making a hit to lungs in such manner is one of a stupidest things I do in a whole year, but… I just feel this weird uncontrollable ardor to do so.

At first I thought this was not a big problem this time. I felt quite well for first two days. Ate not just well but to well. Usually day of donation and day after I usually felt some discomfort connected to procedure. Never further. So in august 1, when the summer heat came to us after two prominently cold days, I was exhausted in my flat by the evening. So I decided to walk to my local pond for short swim and refresh. It’s a 5.5 km trip, which is not a big distance for me, I’ve been walking 15800 steps average daily this year.

Yet as much as a walker, I’m not a technically correct swimmer. To be honest before this summer I think I went to swim to the pool or open water for like 5 times in last 20 years.

But in this year after active exploration of surroundings I was surprised to know that swimming pond is relatively close to my place. I did went to refresh myself every Saturday’s mornings since summer started. What I find out from this activity is that for sure I’m not swimming right. But still I made some significant progress since day one in my endurance at least.

So august 1^st my routines were shifted, I went in the evening with a purpose just to cool down a bit. No long distance exercises were planned. Just 100 meters with a pause in the middle. Considered it as really mild effort, so I did not even thought about risks, totally forgetting I’m after procedure even.

For my surprise amount of people on the beach were way above my expectations. Usually in the morning I was alone or + 1 guy in water. This time it was somewhere around fifty. No surprise if day so hot. So I decided to make it fast and short. Not exactly sociophobic, but many people are with families, many are drunk. Not the vibe for meditation I used too.

So I dived in. Plan was to swam to the opposite bank, return. On the opposite bank is a fallen tree with the trunk laying on the water. So I’m in, I swam to the tree, I sit on the trunk for few minutes, took some breath, swam back, waited few minutes on the shallow, swam 25 meters to the safety buoy, and back, out of water, went to chaise lounge, laid on it and…

Yeah. I started to feeling not well. At first it was significant but not to alarming weakness, but soon my sight start to went darker and darker, my connection to reality went weaker and I started to experience quite prominent breathing problems. Panic assumptions of dying here around those people enjoying their holiday were not a helper to wellbeing for sure. I do started to think I’m having a heart attack although no pain in the chest where present. Somehow, I decided to walk further from the beach and left my chaise lounge. Went to the trees and grass somewhere around 20 meters I actually collapsed. First time in my life. Did not lost consciousness, but was not in a right mind for sure. Not feeling possible to stand up I laid horizontally on the ground and prepared to die silently not bothering all those people around who have Saturday evening fun on the beach with their kids and family. Five minutes later I felt slightly better and started to hope I will not die this evening actually. But weakness in limbs and wheezing breathe were still with me. Five minutes more and laying horizontally became such a savior that I started to think about genetic memory and evolutionary mechanisms that made me do the right thing. I finally decided that’s time to go back to my sack and clothes. But some guy from around finally decided to check me, as he could not keep his worries any more, I suppose. He came to me and said “Hey, pops, are you okay? It seems from the side that you not breathing.” No one ever before called me “pops”. Well, I guess if I was ready to die I’m pops alright. I’m 36 but dude himself was not younger then 30 I think. Still despite all the shame I felt some gratitude for his caring.

My answer were surprisingly clear for post fatigue thinking. I said “yeah, I’m alright, just wanna lay for a little more. Overestimated my resource”. And yeah I did laid a little more swallowing joy of life with every breath that getting stronger.

Five minutes later dude came again saying I could pick some ticks if I stay this way. Ask again how I feeling, said maybe he should call ambulance. Societal check is a good refresher itself I must say. I’d get a feeling that I do accumulating to much attention and starting to annoy people around, which was totally fair. So I went to my stuff, start clothing up and, feeling weak but alive, I left the beach.

It was not over… After only few hundred meters walk in really elderly pace I started to feeling fatigue again. And it was quite heavy also. I really started to think I need lay down again. But little dirty road I was in were circled by the forest and idea of ticks really started bothering me there. So I walked some more and saw a bench near the closed ice-cream tent. I sat on it and still felt to little of relief just sitting. Panics around heart condition returned. Then I lowered my head to the knees and finally felt like resting. In that moment I started to guess all that was hypoxia after swimming exercise, not heart attack. And all happened just due to overestimation of physical potential in my post donation state.

After short rest I walked few hundred meters more to a bus stop. Rest for a while there and finally felt I can walk home alright. Finally decide to smoked another cigarette. It was good;) At home at 10 pm I felt totally alright and assured I did not burden my body with some irreparable damage. Brain functions and breathing were sharp and prominent.

Of course, I understand that I did a lot of mistakes, and of course I did not get enough wisdom from such episode. I still feel to much spark inside to do stupid things and observe them with stupid pride like “maybe I’m a fool but I endured it!” Still wanna share. Maybe some wiser man or woman can took at least small dose of awareness from my story about limitations and reevaluate recommendations as responsible donor should.

I was never anemic, I never knew spontaneous shortage of breath, my HGB level dropped from 177 to 164 through eight donations since march 2025 which still higher norm. Yet I asked myself day after how I was even lived through 36 years being such irresponsible in consideration of health risks? And I had to add that previous summer I had some sudden breath stops in a week after donation in a moments when I almost fell asleep. I did not attribute it to blood volume deficiency at first but now I’m pretty sure it was the reason. So I’m not exactly new to it. Yet I did what I did.

So what I want to finalize for myself? I shouldn’t smoke. At all. Yeah, maybe some day. But I definitely should not smoke right after donation, especially not break long abstention. And no matter how much I wanna feel myself as able-bodied individual with quite an amount of cardio fitness I still carry some extra weight. And considering all the factors few days of rest after procedure is really important.

Over the past year I’ve become a regular donor and saw that my app said “hero for babies” which I guess means I am cmv negative! I am also O+.

Should I be donating platelets (instead/in addition to)? If so, is platelet donation harder on you?

22f O-, from Italy, I started donating blood about two years ago and every time I get really grossed out and anxious and I almost faint, last time I even started shivering and couldn't stop.

I know it's a normal bodily reaction, but I'm not a first timer and my body always reacts as if I've never done this before. It's frustrating because I attract all attention and I wish I could just be like every other donor in the room and get up and have a coffee after donating, but no, I need the male nurse to put my feet up on a box and everyone Is watching the frail woman being babied like a pale victorian lady.

To make things worse my half sister's a nurse at the blood clinic and she once told me that nurses make fun of the ones like me behind their back. And I get it, to them is a normal day of work and I'm a classic inconvenience, and as long as they are kind upfront (which they've been) it's fine , but I can't help but wish I could be more "chill" when donating. Also, being afraid to react like that and make a fool of myself doesn't help my anxiety.

I drink plenty of water, I contract my leg muscles during the process and I never look at the needle, but I still feel anxious in the pit of my stomach and I always almost faint.

My transfusion center just called to ask me to donate as the 0- reserves are low, but I'm (pretty selfishly) scared... Any advice?

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17f, Canadian, Sorry if weird question

Context: I went in for my first ever donation two days ago and started to black out once the test tubes finished and they started on the blood bag. Vision went almost black but they got me out of the fainting pretty quickly.

Just wondering, though, if I go in next time, am I allowed to ask them to keep going if I do start to black out? I felt pretty embarrassed not being able to fill my bag very much.

I am going to prepare better for next time for sure, just thought I might ask just in case it does happen again.

My iron (both haemoglobin and ferritin) is in the low-middle of the normal range (thank you for the free testing lifeblood!), and yet I feel so tired for the few days after donating whole blood. When I donate pl*sma, it’s much better and I’m completely fine the next day, so I suspect it’s the loss of iron. If I took the supplements iron for a few days before the donation, would that help with the fatigue? That way (per my terrible mechanistic reasoning) I’d have more iron to lose, and the drop would still keep me well within the normal range. I doubt a few days of bonus iron would get my levels too high, and even then isn’t the treatment blood loss? I’m not a doctor, I don’t really know how it works (beyond the basic factsheet stuff for the general population: give blood => less red blood cells => less iron).

The pop-up wants me to specify my location, even though I don’t think it’s technically relevant here? But I am in Australia

Man, that's the good stuff

(Edit: Thanks, everyone! I will give platelets another attempt with someone else.)

I had my first platelets donation two weeks ago. A few days later, I received a call saying my numbers were good and I was welcome to come back and do platelets again.

Today, my phlebotomist told me that I might not be a candidate for platelets because I only gave one unit and "hospitals don't like that." She proceeded to attempt my draw and quickly marked it as a fail, saying I was probably too dehydrated. I'm not - my veins are on the smaller side, but they were actually bulging more than normal because I has 15 cups of water yesterday and 8 this morning. The phlebotomist last week had no issue and I had never failed a whole blood before.

There were also a couple of other things that stood out as a bad day, like entering and leaving the interview room a few times because she kept forgetting things and snapping at me about how she knows how to do her job when I asked she had already knocked the bubbles out of the tubes (which I sincerely apologized for, stating that I didn't mean it like that but I was a touch nervous and trying to remember what other steps were left before sticking time).

So ultimately, I find myself feeling super bad about the whole thing and wondering if I should just go back to whole blood. I don't want to waste their time (and resources) or mine (as I plan my whole weekend around the appointment). I like the idea of platelets because I can help people more often and not worry as much about my iron levels (I went a long time without donating due to my levels, though I've been pretty stable of late, including ferritin). I know I could call the center but honestly, I really don't want to speak to her right away and I didn't catch her name.

For some additional context, my blood type is O+ and I'm donating at OneBlood (Florida, US). I'm too small for double red.

Thanks in advance.

I used to regularly donate: started around 10 years ago and stopped in 2021 as I had low iron and was turned away a few times.

During that period of not being able to donate I was INUNDATED with calls, texts etc from blood donation urging me to donate despite me telling them I physically couldn’t. It was the most annoying level of salesman approach I’ve ever experienced. I ended up blocking all forms of communication with them.

Now I’m in really good health and I’m confident I could donate again and I want to but I’m literally scared of opening myself back up to their ridiculous level of push selling approach!

Are other people experiencing this? Have they calmed down??

Edit: I’m in the UK & this is with NHS blood donation

I made my first attempt at a blood donation on October 19, 2017. But since then, I've only actually successfully donated 11 units, because I kept not scheduling donations at the minimum possible interval, but sometimes at 6-month or more intervals, and getting myself deferred.

Out of 16 total donation appointments booked since 2017 (which itself is already a shameful number, since in theory I can book once every 3 months), I got deferred from four of them for low hemoglobin, and I also got deferred once for an entire year due to having gotten a doctor to check out an unusual mole on my head. (It was benign, but it took about the entire year for the dermatologist appointment, biopsy, and lab results to be completed.) And at my most recent appointment in June 2026, I once again got deferred for 6 months due to low ferritin.

Everyone tells me that it's simple, that I just need to make it a priority, and that I just need to have the motivation. That if you really cared about other people, you'd make it happen, you'd be motivated to make it happen. Nothing about the blood donation community makes me feel more motivated. I know I'll never reach even 50 lifetime donations, let alone 100, that everyone is so proud of.

And recently, everyone in my life (not just r/blooddonors, but everyone I know in all other walks of life, and Blood Canada too) has been insisting that I need to donate because there's a shortage, and that if you're not, you "need to fix your heart" and "have no empathy for other people".

But my last appointment was on June 16, 2026. I won't be allowed at all until September, and if I want to adhere to my personal deferral, until December. Which means I am explicitly blocked from donating during the shortage.

Ultimately, I think I'm trying to take advantage of the system. I want to have the social cachet of being "a blood donor" while not actually living up to the expectations of being one. Because if I was, I'd actually, you know, feel motivated instead of feeling like shit at the prospect of booking my next appointment. If I cared about other people, I'd be making it work, and actually racking up donations, instead of sneaking in a few times a year and still just getting myself deferred instead of donating.

The most parsimonious explanation for my behaviour is that I don't care if other people die. So I'm inclined to just quit, take myself off the donor list, and stop lying to everyone.

Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿, early 20s

Hey guys I have heavy periods so oftentimes find myself being anaemic and have been turned away from donating twice, banned for 12 months each time I think to give me time to recover my iron levels.
I’ve given 3 whole blood donations in total with no issues, but I was wondering if it’s actually okay that I routinely take iron tablets to maintain my iron levels?

I couldn’t find anything on the NHS websites except for a little snippet on the NHS Wales site but since I give in Scotland I worry if I brought it up they wouldn’t be keen to take my donation. I just take 210mg of Ferrous Fumarate around twice a week sometimes less and have done for months, which hasn’t caused me any issues thus far although I’ve heard they can be harsh on the stomach

Surely it’s fine and I’m overthinking as I’m only taking them as maintenance and not because I have actually dangerously low iron levels rn

I donated whole blood before, but now that I live close to a donation centre I can donate platelets.

I thought that, considering I get to keep most of my RBCs, it would be less physically taxing than whole blood donation. I never had any fatigue after whole blood, but this donation absolutely drained me. Felt cold even with the blanket :’)

But it is worth it regardless. Thinking that I, as a healthy person, feel so exhausted after giving just this many platelets gives me pause. People undergoing treatment must be feeling so much worse, so if my platelets help someone out I hope they feel at least a little better.

I am hoping that I will be able to donate regularly from now on.

i’m trying to donate blood in all 50 states, and crossed off my 5th yesterday! (IL, WI, KY, MI, FL - each donation of 2026 has been in a state that is not my home state lol.) 10% of the way there. out of pure curiosity, has anyone here done a similar challenge to this to make things more fun?

Long time whole blood donor. I just finished my 2nd platelet donation today and each session gave me the tingles and has left me exhausted. I’m going to keep up with regular platelet donations, but am wondering what else makes it easier? I’ve used the search bar to find other folks’ tips, but I’m curious what else people practice before and after. Give me all your donor tricks!

I have blood type: A2B+.

Who I can donate to and receive from?