Is hard because the machines have a hard time contracting my blood at a fast pace. It sucks sometimes it can make donating not as easy and more painful.it seems to get harder and harder each time I go!.. Does anyone know how I can speed up my blood flow? Should I work out or stretch before donating or eat a specific food.... let me know.

If it were me, I would stop donating.
In fact I have.

Do you have Universal blood type & you obligated?

You do know that what you give free, is then sold to patients for an extreme profit? I ask because many think patients get it for free.

I have donated in the past it is a good thing to do..

Where would all these people be if no one ever donated???

Sure they charge the patient for the blood but if you have someone in the family that needs blood you can sign up in their name and yes they get a pint of blood free for every so many you donate..

My step sister is alive today 10+ years after a liver transplant.. and would not be here if someone had not donated their liver as well as donated blood...

Make sure you drink plenty of water the day before and the day of... At times that will make a difference for some.. Then there are some that just can not donate and they will turn them away...

Donating blood saves lives~~~~

I have donated blood in the past... some of them know how to get that needle in quickly and painlessly.. others have trouble...
The last time I gave blood - it took FOREVER, as in almost an hour to get a pint out .. other times its taken as little as 10 minutes..
Do drink a lot of water before you go...
Stay away from coffee before you go...
In Canada, where I live,.. there is no money payment to give or to get blood. ITS FREEEEEE.
I have AB+ blood type..I am a universal donor.. albeit rarest type..

Ohhh..soooo. . Not.The topic I thought it was going to be..

Is the OP talking about donating blood or plasma?

I may be wrong, but I thought that plasma was "pulled" from the blood.

I have never donated...have always had trouble with those shiny needle-thingys takin stuff from my body that I need.

Yes, I know donation has saved countless lives and it is GOOD...I am just one that is a weakling.
I AM, however a donor after I die. You can have anything that is viable after I no longer need it.

Madam: what a coincidence. I've been donating for 25+ years and I can usually pump out a pint of my "crimson liquid of life" in less than 5 minutes. I will often do push-ups or curls the night before I know I'm going to donate (as I just did 5 hours ago). Then again, I once asked a Nurse why my blood came out so fast, and she asked if I drank a lot of water. There's a fine line there, though. You need a certain amount of water to keep a healthy BP, but too much can elevate your BP to the point they won't let you donate (when the diastolic is over 100). Drinks with caffeine and, of course, salt will elevate your BP and so will, surprisingly, black licorice. Good luck and keep on savin' them-there little babies (I'm a ped.-pac. donor; was born CMV-negative)

Never donated blood myself but I'm a full organ donor.

I can't give blood because I weigh under 90 pounds. A couple of times when I had to have a blood test and they had trouble finding my veins. It's kind of unnerving when 2 nurses have to take turns trying to stick me with a needle.

As someone that has worked in the industry....make sure you drink LOTS of water the day before, and eat a light meal with protein (chicken, turkey)a few hours before and you will be fine.

As far as needle phobia...the new laser needles are very small...you feel it for a whopping 2 seconds, then you pump on a ball and just relax.

Sure, there is profit in blood...but if you need it, wouldn't you hope that someone had been kind enough to donate? Insurance covers most of the cost anyway!

So please help save some lives and donate blood :) There are donor rewards programs out there too. In Arizona we have some car and trip giveaways too.

Great advice and message!

The extra water is good advice, it plumps up the skin
around the injection site making it much less painful.

You have to pay when you need blood????
Good lord, what kind of country did my girl move to ...
So what if you can't afford it? They let you die?

Over here you don't pay for that sort of thing. Why don't you ppl start objecting to that kind of Big Pharma BS. That would mean getting your head out of your @$$e$ and start realizing your healthcare system is total crap.
Maybe then things will finally change.


@ OP, maybe you're not the right person to donate. For some it's difficult due to their veins and if I'm not mistaken it will indeed get more difficult the more you do it.
If the water drinking doesn't help, I'd stop donating blood, for your own sake.
.
.

The health care mind-set of the American is different than most I would say.. My brother in law has lived in the US for over 25 years and is now a US citizen.. he goes ballistic to think that his money would help pay for someone else to get help.. 'why should my money go to pay to help some bum and free-loader who hasn't worked'?
I mean look around the world where health care and education is free - (now when I say free, I know its not free, as it is paid for with tax $), but isn't it nice to have a baby and it not cost you a thing.. or you need an operation and it doesn't cost you a thing..or you need to go to the hospital for whatever reason.. its free.
In Canada, if you are sick, you won't lose your home, which apparently, is not the case in the US.
If you ever go to the US, make sure you have travel health insurance..
OK, ready for the blast of rebuttals..

I sure as heck will make sure I have very good health insurance when I go to the US next year!
I hope I won't need it, not too keen on US healthcare. The things I've heard from my daughter when she needed surgery and physiotherapy etc... Even I know more about what is good physiotherapy for someone with hyper-laxaty than the doctors and medics there. Quite shocking. I had to stop her from doing the wrong exercises more than once, and she got those from "professionals". I was LIVID!
I had to tell her when to get the stitches out as they started to get infected. She followed my instructions and got the darned things out.
Getting 6 weeks of heavy antibiotics for acne? Nuts!
And from what I hear, they overdose every form of medication in the States.
I would've preferred my girl coming home for surgery, but yeah, it was an emergency, she had an accident, so not possible...
But seriously not impressed. Not one bit.

From what you're saying, things over here are pretty much the same as in Canada. It's going down the drain though, rapidly becoming more expensive, but it's still a helluva lot better than what my girl is getting over there.

I will get travel insurance with medical stuff included and pray I won't need it. Or demand to be flown to Canada,