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Hello BFC! Do you need some extra cash? Do you have an hour to spare? Do you have blood? Why not turn that blood into money! What is all this nonsense? Some of you may have heard of donating plasma. Others of you may have not. For those of you who have not, donating plasma, is a quick and easy way to make some extra cash while helping out people who have rare, chronic disorders, such as alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, Von Willebrand disease, hemophilia, and Guillain-Barré Syndrome. It is also used in the production of vaccines, the treatment of shock, burns, trauma, and during major surgery, as well as for other reasons. Plasma is the liquid portion of your blood that contains cells. It makes up roughly half of your total blood volume. It is mostly water, but contains proteins, clotting factors, hormones, etc. Okay, that's all fine and dandy, but how to I get my money? The process of donating plasma is called plasmapheresis. If you're deadly afraid of needles, it probably isn't for you. If you've ever donated blood at the red cross, it's a very similar process, except you receive all of your blood cells back. What will happen is a needle will be inserted into your arm, and blood will be drawn through some sterile tubing into a machine. The blood will go into a separation device which will separate your red cells from your plasma. The plasma will go into a collection container, and your red cells will go into a reservoir. Once the reservoir is full, the machine will stop, and the red cells will be returned into your arm. The entire process will repeat itself until the desired volume of plasma is collected. That sounds easy enough, how often can I donate? A donor can donate once in a 2-day period and twice in a 7-day period. How much money will I get? This depends on where you are donating, but generally, compensations runs anywhere from $15 to $40, but I've heard of companies paying as much as $80 for the first couple donations, just to get people in the door to see how easy it is. The best way to find out, though, is to call different centers in your area. This sounds too easy, is there anything I have to actually do? It is easy! There are a few requirements, however. Your first time, and at least annually, you will need to undergo a physical examination. Now, don't worry, you're not going to have Dr. Feely asking you to drop trow and bend over. It's a fairly non-evasive physical exam. They'll feel your lymph nodes, listen to your heart/lungs, feels for masses in your liver/spleen, etc. It's a well person physical, basically. Every time you go to donate, you will also be asked a series of medical history questions, have your vitals taken, and a small finger stick will be done to test your hematocrit and protein levels. This is all done to make sure it is safe for you to donate. Do I need to take anything with me? To donate, the first time you go, you will need to provide your social security number (you will need to take in your card or an official document with your SSN on it), a valid ID, and depending on where you're donating, you may need to provide a proof of residence. Call the center you will be donating at to check their requirements. Is donating safe? Absolutely. Everything that is used is sterile and used once. All centers are licensed by the FDA, and plasma donations made at International Quality Plasma Program (IQPP) centers are performed in a highly controlled, sterile environment by trained staff. I don't want to stop playing World of Warcraft or writing smut for a whole hour! That's fine! You can take a laptop with you! Or a book! Or homework! You don't have to just stare at a wall for an hour! Is the guv'ment gonna take away my hard earned plasmabux? This is something that gets brought up in congress from time to time, and they always decide that taxing this will prevent people from getting life-saving treatments that they need. It is not something you need to report to the IRS. Cool! Where can I donate? http://www.donatingplasma.org/search/find.aspx tl;dr http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkXzG1k2DCI --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'd be happy to answer any questions people have about donating plasma. I donated from the time I turned 18 up through college, with three different companies. I would still do it if I could, but I now work in the quality assurance department at a plasma center, and our company has a policy to not let employees donate. BFC has helped me get some of my poo poo together as far as finances, and I thought that this could be something that would help others find a way to get out of their debt quicker. There are some people who have been coming the the center I work at twice a week, each week, for over four years now. The most dedicated donors can make an extra $3000 annually, tax free, by donating.  I'd like to keep this thread free of posts that stigmatize plasma donation. It's a legitimate, easy, and quick way to make some extra money while helping people out. If it's not for you, that's fine, but please let others make up their own mind.
monsieur fatso fucked around with this message at Jan 19, 2013 around 00:02 |
| # ? Jan 18, 2013 21:48 |
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| # ? May 25, 2013 21:25 |
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Hey, I'm aware this might perhaps maybe be a stupid question, but if you take medication that prevents you from giving blood regular style, would this prevent you from giving plasma?
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| # ? Jan 19, 2013 06:45 |
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I never actually found out what blood type I am - how do I go about doing this?
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| # ? Jan 19, 2013 08:44 |
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Lurken posted:Hey, I'm aware this might perhaps maybe be a stupid question, but if you take medication that prevents you from giving blood regular style, would this prevent you from giving plasma? Overall, it's not going to be as strict as blood donation, because paid plasma "donations" aren't used for the same things that volunteer plasma donations(or plasma spun off from a whole blood donation) are - they're used mostly in the manufacturing of medications and laboratory reagants, and they're not going to be used to give an actual plasma transfusion to a trauma patient. EugeneJ posted:I never actually found out what blood type I am - how do I go about doing this?
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| # ? Jan 19, 2013 10:59 |
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Cool. As a QA
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| # ? Jan 19, 2013 14:47 |
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Lurken posted:Hey, I'm aware this might perhaps maybe be a stupid question, but if you take medication that prevents you from giving blood regular style, would this prevent you from giving plasma? It depends, usually on a center by center basis. Each place will have their own "action table". If someone discloses a condition/medication/whatever, the action table is consulted and will tell you if the donor needs to be deferred from donating for a day/week/month/year/forever, or maybe it's something that's totally fine. Some companies have corporate action tables, other companies will have their own physician that will make their own action table. Our center has it's own physician and we have our own action table. Our company is moving away from this and within the next year we should have a corporate action table. It gets to be a head ache when someone goes to one of our centers, gets deferred permanently for something that is totally fine at another center with a different physician. That being said, calling ahead to ask is usually a waste of time. Places aren't allowed to give out that information over the phone. Because compensation is involved, there is a greater risk of people withholding information so that they can donate. EugeneJ posted:I never actually found out what blood type I am - how do I go about doing this? Donate at the Red Cross I guess. Or ask your doctor. Plasma centers don't test for this. You can also donate plasma at the red cross, but you won't get paid. slap me silly posted:Cool. As a QA The data tracking type stuff isn't done by me or anyone at our center, and it's more done by people at the lab/corporate office. My job is more training people and performing employee audits to make sure SOPs and regulations are being followed. There are other QAs at my center who do things like reviewing test results that we receive back from the lab. Is that more what you're asking about? As far as what the plasma we collect is made into, I couldn't really say. We sell it to a customer, and I'm not really sure what products they make it into.
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| # ? Jan 19, 2013 17:20 |
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Aww, there are no donation centers in my state  monsieur fatso posted:It gets to be a head ache when someone goes to one of our centers, gets deferred permanently for something that is totally fine at another center with a different physician. I've never donated plasma, but I've donated blood, and I've run into this problem a few times. I stayed in Ireland for a few months and every time they come to the "have you spent X months overseas? If yes, what country and for how long?" question, they usually nearly defer me because they don't know the difference between Northern Ireland (U.K.) and Ireland (Republic of Ireland). I know due to mad cow if you've spent a certain period of time in any U.K. country, it's an automatic lifetime ban on donating blood. However, since Ireland is not a U.K. country, it's fine. I can't tell you the number of times I've had the nurse go, "okay...Ireland...I don't think you can donate..." before I tell him or her to check with the main table, and sure enough someone at the main table goes, "yeah Ireland isn't part of the U.K., she's fine." I know they're trained for the medical field but for godsakes, learn a little geography, please.  Especially if you're going to be using geographical information to potentially ban people for life from donating blood.
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| # ? Jan 19, 2013 20:54 |
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I've been interested in donating plasma for a while. Is it true that you can't donate plasma if you've gotten a tattoo or piercing in the last 6 months? Or does that only apply to regular blood donation? Is plasma donation always paid? Is it rude/frowned upon to call my nearest plasma donation center and confirm that they will pay me and ask how much they will pay me? If I want to donate regularly will most places allow me to set up, say, a weekly appointment, or does that just vary from place to place? Is it anything like donating blood in the sense that you might feel woozy/light-headed afterwards?
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| # ? Jan 20, 2013 18:16 |
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Different companies have different policies on tattoos/piercings. Some places will do a 12 month deferral, others are 3 months, others don't defer at all. I know several companies won't defer at all if you got a piercing at the mall or some place that's licensed, but pretty much anywhere will defer you for 12 months if you got a tat done in your buddies basement. YMMV with respect to tattoos/piercings. A lot of places pay for plasma. It's not rude to call ahead and ask. You wouldn't believe the kind of questions people ask when they call. Lots of people call and will say some variation of "Yeah, I wanna sell muh blood! Whats I gots to do?!" I actually encourage you to call ahead and ask questions. Some places only will do appointments. Other places will only accept walk ins. Again, call ahead and ask. Some people do get light headed/whoozy/pass out during/after donating. These are usually people who thought eating a banana 6 hours earlier would be plenty for them. Eat a full meal before you go. Be well hydrated. The first time may take a little while, because of setting up a new donor file and having to go through the physical, so take a small snack with you.
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| # ? Jan 20, 2013 20:26 |
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I just started donating plasma, and here's my experience with my first visit. It was pretty much as good as it gets, despite them being busy and me having to be there for almost 6 hours (they estimate the average 1st visit at 3 hours). The nurses and phlebotomists were nice, and they had movies playing in the waiting area and in the lab. I brought a magazine to read and had crosswords on my phone to play. Aside from spending the better part of my day there, it was pretty much exactly what I expected with the ID verification process, screening process and physical/evaluation process. The worst part was just how cold they keep the donating room, holy crap, some guys were shivering in there, so I was glad I wore my sweatshirt in and will continue to do so. The lab guys (not the phlebotomists) were the ones who schedule our next visit and pay us out. They're pretty awkwardly antisocial, which is about what my experiences are with lab folk interacting with the general public. This lab pays us straight cash, though one donor was talking about another lab in town that uses prepaid cards which they load up once you get on the machine or something. I got paid $30 (Tues), my 2nd (Thurs) is $50. After that it's $25 1st the visit of calendar week and $30 for the 2nd visit of same week. There was a decent spread of donor types in the room, mostly what appeared to be low-income folks, a good handful of college students (the one I went to is near a university), and a handful of people who appear to be in my pay range (30-40k). Obviously everyone donating is to make some extra bucks. If I continue to do this regularly, it will increase my income over last year close to 7-8%. So not bad for an extra 3hrs out of my week! I'm always apprehensive about needles, so getting paid helps (even though I used to have to get monthly blood tests when I was on Accutane, but that was over 10yrs ago). I come from a line of dedicated blood donors, so this is a good introduction to that when I start giving blood. I felt a bit woozy (though functional) afterward, but since I ate at 8am and didn't get hooked up to the machine until 2:30pm, I guess that's to be expected -- I was fine to wait tables at 5:30. After my donation I had OJ and kefir at home ready to pound to get my proteins and vitamins back up, I also drank 32oz of water as soon as I got home. I'll probably use whey protein in the future since I assume that's faster to absorb than the protein in kefir (plus it's a higher amount of protein per serving, esp. when taken with milk).
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| # ? Feb 14, 2013 00:02 |
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As much as I would like to make $40-80 extra bucks donating plasma creeps me the gently caress out. I think it has something to do with being an acquaintance of someone who did it for beer/rent money on a regular basis. I would do it just for extra fun money.
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| # ? Feb 14, 2013 02:00 |
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Orange_Lazarus posted:As much as I would like to make $40-80 extra bucks donating plasma creeps me the gently caress out. I think it has something to do with being an acquaintance of someone who did it for beer/rent money on a regular basis. See, in Australia you don't get paid for plasma or whole blood, it is literally a "donation".
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| # ? Feb 14, 2013 12:04 |
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monsieur fatso posted:
Do you have some kind of source for this? I've heard people before say/think this was true, but there's no section of the IRC that exempts the sale of plasma from taxation, and cases like Green v Commissioner have ruled that it is in fact taxable.
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| # ? Feb 14, 2013 13:37 |
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My trip report after reading this thread (which I wish had been around last July when I went on unemployment - an extra $235/month would have gone a long way and I had nothing but free time over the past six months.) I started "donating" end of last month and am going to continue at least through my 7th donation (the center I've been going to does a $50 - $50 - $20 - $37 - $20 - $37 - $75 schedule for your first 7 visits.) I remember reading somewhere, years ago, that when you got paid for plasma it was used in cosmetics so I was always borderline creeped out by it and never tried it until reading this thread. The center by me uses a prepaid visa card, the downsides to which are a $.25 charge per transaction after your first purchase following donation (and its even worse for debit/ATM use) and there's a bit of stigma attached to paying with a visa card with the plasma center's name in bold red type, I've gotten a few strange glances from servers/cashiers unless I'm at a place frequented by college students. On the upside it drastically cut down on the number of panhandlers waiting outside (there are none, although the city its in is a fairly major metro area and also regulates begging for money), one of the lab techs was saying when they first opened they paid cash and donors would have to run a gauntlet of people begging for money on their way out. Clientèle is about a 50/50 split between college kids and low-income, the center is in a poorer part of town and also a few miles away from a medium-size public university. The facility is very clean and well-maintained and they always have at least 2-3 uniformed law enforcement officers standing around. I used to donate blood regularly so I wasn't put off by being stuck with needles, although it seems that the skill of the phlebotomists/lab techs aren't quite as uniform as what I remember with the Red Cross blood drive people - not that I've had a bad needle insertion, but its obvious that some are better than others. Something that doesn't seem to get repeated enough is watch what you eat for the day or two before you donate and avoid high-fat foods. Seems like every time I go there's someone next to me having difficulties drawing or returning blood because the line filter is clogged with fatty deposits (although 50% of their donors being low income with a lovely diet probably explains most of that.) Geoj fucked around with this message at Feb 15, 2013 around 23:43 |
| # ? Feb 15, 2013 23:25 |
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Man I think I'm going to try this :| I don't even really need the money but I would like to preserve my work income for necessities. I think there's a plasma center near my work too. Just the thought of watching my blood go down a tube and into a machine and then back into me creeps me out though. gently caress it I'm going to go for the gold and casually mention that I'm going to the plasma center within earshot of my employer.
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| # ? Feb 16, 2013 04:20 |
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Orange_Lazarus posted:Just the thought of watching my blood go down a tube and into a machine and then back into me creeps me out though. You can only really tell its moving at the beginning when your blood initially flows up the tube and into the centrifuge. If you watch the plasmapheresis machine throughout the process you can see fluids moving around, specifically when your plasma starts flowing out of the centrifuge and into the collection bottle, and during the red cell return process/saline return at the very end, when the fluid in the tube goes from dark blood red to bright red (by the end its basically returning blood-stained saline.) And all you have to do to ignore it is not actively watch the process - focus on something else, bring a book, dick around on your phone or (I'm assuming 99% of plasma centers have them) watch whatever movie they happen to be showing at the time.
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| # ? Feb 16, 2013 05:32 |
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Admiral101 posted:Do you have some kind of source for this? I've heard people before say/think this was true, but there's no section of the IRC that exempts the sale of plasma from taxation, and cases like Green v Commissioner have ruled that it is in fact taxable. I don't have one handy, but I've worked at the center for over four years. We don't give out anyone's name/social to the IRS or anything. They're also not selling their plasma, they're donating it, and being compensated for their time. I can try and find something though. I mean, you can claim it if you want to, but I doubt anyone does. You certainly won't be getting a 1099-misc for it or anything. Glad others have started trying this. If I ever get a new job, the first thing I do the day after my last day is go into the center and donate. monsieur fatso fucked around with this message at Feb 16, 2013 around 07:01 |
| # ? Feb 16, 2013 06:55 |
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monsieur fatso posted:I don't have one handy, but I've worked at the center for over four years. We don't give out anyone's name/social to the IRS or anything. They're also not selling their plasma, they're donating it, and being compensated for their time. I can try and find something though. Being "compensate for [their] time" is one of the definitions of taxable income. Most people probably don't claim it on their taxes. But saying it's "tax-free" as one of the highlights of donating/selling plasma when it's not is disingenuous at best.
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| # ? Feb 16, 2013 12:25 |
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Admiral101 posted:Being "compensate for [their] time" is one of the definitions of taxable income. Most people probably don't claim it on their taxes. But saying it's "tax-free" as one of the highlights of donating/selling plasma when it's not is disingenuous at best. This is kind of like saying getting paid cash to mow your neighbor's lawn is taxable income. Yes, technically you could claim it on your tax return, however your neighbor isn't compelled to file anything with the IRS showing you were paid, and the IRS doesn't really have an enforcement mechanism to go after people receiving small cash payments. Maybe if you were already being investigated for tax fraud they might ask "where are these $60 weekly deposits to your bank account coming from? (assuming you deposit your payments in your bank account) but otherwise the government obviously gives no fucks.
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| # ? Feb 16, 2013 17:17 |
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Actually the government might give some fucks. The tax on your $60 payments is going to be minimal and you are better off just reporting it. It really just boils down to be honest.
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| # ? Feb 16, 2013 17:58 |
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I bet all this plasma is going to some fountain that the super rich bathe in. I'm going to assume most people that sell plasma are dirt poor and therefore we can assume that 6-7% of their compensation will be subject to sales tax. I guess I could understand the IRS being interested in someone who managed to max a ROTH with plasma but that's it. Orange_Lazarus fucked around with this message at Feb 16, 2013 around 18:34 |
| # ? Feb 16, 2013 18:31 |
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Geoj posted:This is kind of like saying getting paid cash to mow your neighbor's lawn is taxable income. Yes, technically you could claim it on your tax return, however your neighbor isn't compelled to file anything with the IRS showing you were paid, and the IRS doesn't really have an enforcement mechanism to go after people receiving small cash payments. Maybe if you were already being investigated for tax fraud they might ask "where are these $60 weekly deposits to your bank account coming from? (assuming you deposit your payments in your bank account) but otherwise the government obviously gives no fucks. I mean, technically yes it is tax free if you commit tax fraud, but you can say that about anything.
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| # ? Feb 16, 2013 19:46 |
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OctaviusBeaver posted:I mean, technically yes it is tax free if you commit tax fraud. Picking up a quarter on the sidewalk and not reporting it as income (assuming you make enough to have to file otherwise) is technically ~tax fraud.~ If you want to donate plasma and report it on your taxes because  the guv'ment is going to find out go for it, but somehow I doubt IRS agents lose sleep at night knowing that a bunch of ne'er-do-well college kids aren't filing unreported income on their tax returns. If it was that big of a deal they'd make the companies running the plasma centers issue 1099s to their donors.
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| # ? Feb 16, 2013 21:11 |
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Geoj posted:Picking up a quarter on the sidewalk and not reporting it as income (assuming you make enough to have to file otherwise) is technically ~tax fraud.~ I don't think anyone is claiming that it's breaking the US treasury's budget. I just figured the OP wouldn't want to have made up information in his original post.
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| # ? Feb 16, 2013 23:00 |
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This seems to indicate that plasma donations are exempt from income taxes. http://www.pptaglobal.org/news/news.aspx?nid=84
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| # ? Feb 17, 2013 01:11 |
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monsieur fatso posted:This seems to indicate that plasma donations are exempt from income taxes. They made plasma centers exempt from the onerous filing requirements of having to fill a 1099 for every plasma donor who receives more than $600 of income - because keeping track of every donor including social security numbers and addresses would have been an administrative nightmare for the plasma center. This has nothing to do with whether income from selling plasma is taxable. edit: The fact that plasma centers had to be specifically exempted actually reinforces my point that plasma income is taxable. See: http://www.leagle.com/xmlResult.asp...LWAR1-1950-1985 It concerns a taxpayer with a rare blood type who received $7,000 a year for donating plasma. The tax court found that the compensation she received for donating plasma is indeed taxable (and, hilariously in her case, subject to self employment taxes because the court decided that selling plasma was her "trade or business") I'll go ahead and leave it at this because this topic is close to irrelevant to what I think you intended with this thread. Admiral101 fucked around with this message at Feb 17, 2013 around 02:31 |
| # ? Feb 17, 2013 02:13 |
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I know at one point, plasma donation by LGBT was pretty much forbidden; I think blood donation still is, right? I'd like to donate, but as someone who's openly gay, would I be forbidden from donating?
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| # ? Mar 1, 2013 04:59 |
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some texas redneck posted:I know at one point, plasma donation by LGBT was pretty much forbidden; I think blood donation still is, right? I think they've narrowed it down to the G and (male)B segments. They're concerned if you are a male who has had sex with another male since the late 70s (or are a female who has had sex with such a male in the same timespan.) I'm sure as long as you don't walk in dressed like you just got off a pride parade float they wouldn't have any way of knowing.
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| # ? Mar 1, 2013 05:27 |
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Geoj posted:I think they've narrowed it down to the G and (male)B segments. They're concerned if you are a male who has had sex with another male since the late 70s (or are a female who has had sex with such a male in the same timespan.) I'm sure as long as you don't walk in dressed like you just got off a pride parade float they wouldn't have any way of knowing. Depends on the donation center. I'm currently working in one of the two plateletpheresis centers in Afghanistan. The questions we ask imply that if you are gay don't donate, if you had sex with a gay man in the last 12 months don't donate. This is really due to the fact that certain STDs don't show up on tests for months after you have contracted it. Yeah it really sucks, but the last thing I want is some dude who lost both legs to find out that the platelets that I collected gave him HIV and now he's gotta deal with that his whole life. As far as the Europe travel restrictions go, they are also lovely. There are more restrictive amounts for military related travel to Europe (6 months from 80-96) whereas it's 5 months for non-military. They apparently gave a bunch of mad-cow contaminated beef to the military grocery stores.
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| # ? Mar 3, 2013 13:50 |
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HClChicken posted:Depends on the donation center. I'm currently working in one of the two plateletpheresis centers in Afghanistan. The questions we ask imply that if you are gay don't donate, if you had sex with a gay man in the last 12 months don't donate. This is really due to the fact that certain STDs don't show up on tests for months after you have contracted it. Yeah it really sucks, but the last thing I want is some dude who lost both legs to find out that the platelets that I collected gave him HIV and now he's gotta deal with that his whole life. I'd say if you engage in risky behavior (ie, unprotected sex with random partners) you shouldn't donate any blood products regardless of orientation. It's not like homosexuals can't have stable, monogamous relationships and not spread every STI under the sun just because they stick it in someone with the same genitalia.
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| # ? Mar 3, 2013 18:29 |
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Does anyone know whether smoking will disqualify me? Also my wife and I traveled to east Asia (her Japan, me Thailand) about 2 years ago, will this affect anything? Finally, if I lost my social security card, but have a passport, will this suffice along with my driver's license?
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| # ? Mar 3, 2013 19:51 |
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Smoking isn't a disqualifer at the center I went to, but they do recommend you abstain from smoking for several hours before as it raises your pulse/blood pressure (they check both before you go in.) Not sure about Japan/Thailand...they have a list of travel destinations that raise a flag, you could call before going in. Unless the center you go to is incredibly lax they'll want your social security card on the first visit to establish your identity. You should get it replaced anyways before you actually need it.
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| # ? Mar 3, 2013 20:15 |
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Admiral101 posted:It concerns a taxpayer with a rare blood type who received $7,000 a year for donating plasma. The tax court found that the compensation she received for donating plasma is indeed taxable Huh, you can make more money donating blood if you have a rare blood type? Out of curiosity, is A- blood rare enough to be worth more?
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| # ? Mar 4, 2013 02:37 |
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Saeku posted:Huh, you can make more money donating blood if you have a rare blood type? Out of curiosity, is A- blood rare enough to be worth more? You are only 6 percent of the population, but it's really not that rare. In a pinch we'll give an Aneg recipient Apos or Aneg RBCs. We don't want to give a A/B/O/AB neg woman positive cells because of pregnancy concerns. The best part about ABpos is not the packed RBCs it's the plasma. You can give any patient ABpos plasma which is amazing if you don't have time to do compatibility testing. http://bloodcenter.stanford.edu/abo...lood_types.html Knyteguy posted:Does anyone know whether smoking will disqualify me? Also my wife and I traveled to east Asia (her Japan, me Thailand) about 2 years ago, will this affect anything? Finally, if I lost my social security card, but have a passport, will this suffice along with my driver's license? If you mean smoking weed the rule is you cannot be high, we have interpreted that with college students to mean no weed in the last 24 hours. You are going to find that they are only concerned about malaria and as long as you didn't stay in asia for more than five years we are only worried about the last 12 months. Unless you went north of seoul Korea (DMZ) then it's two years. Just be honest and remember how you traveled (driving/ planes/ cross asia bike trip).
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| # ? Mar 4, 2013 05:47 |
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I've always been curious about this but never bothered going down to check it out. After reading this thread I'm thinking I'll go do it, at least once or twice, but I was curious how healthy you have to be. I know they do the physical, but I would like to know before I went if I'd be OK. I'm 21, 6'7, and 300lbs. I know I'm overweight and don't eat really healthy all the time, but I don't think I'm THAT bad, considering my height. If someone could give me some insight if I'd still be able to donate as long as the physical goes smoothly, that'd be great. Oh, and my mother and her father both had diabetes, does that affect it at all(I don't have diabetes)?
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| # ? Mar 13, 2013 05:13 |
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HClChicken posted:If you mean smoking weed the rule is you cannot be high, we have interpreted that with college students to mean no weed in the last 24 hours. You are going to find that they are only concerned about malaria and as long as you didn't stay in asia for more than five years we are only worried about the last 12 months. Unless you went north of seoul Korea (DMZ) then it's two years. Just be honest and remember how you traveled (driving/ planes/ cross asia bike trip). I'm kind of curious now that you mention it, if you were high while donating, would the person who receives your blood weeks or months later, or whenever, have the possibility of getting high? Seems like a funny scenario, though potentially dangerous of course.
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| # ? Mar 13, 2013 23:01 |
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Is the search tool listed in the OP broken? I find it hard to believe that there are no donation centers within 50 miles of Manhattan...
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| # ? Mar 14, 2013 21:16 |
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Schroeder91 posted:I've always been curious about this but never bothered going down to check it out. After reading this thread I'm thinking I'll go do it, at least once or twice, but I was curious how healthy you have to be. I know they do the physical, but I would like to know before I went if I'd be OK. I'm 21, 6'7, and 300lbs. I know I'm overweight and don't eat really healthy all the time, but I don't think I'm THAT bad, considering my height. If someone could give me some insight if I'd still be able to donate as long as the physical goes smoothly, that'd be great. Oh, and my mother and her father both had diabetes, does that affect it at all(I don't have diabetes)? Where I work we are only concerned with underweight, we take in 260-300 pound people on a daily basis. We are also not concerned about family history just yours. Plus as long as your diabetes is regulated you can donate (except for diabetes insipidus). The only exception to mellitus is if you have taken bovine insulin after 1980. Don't eat too much fat food the day of donation or the machine might have problems with seeing through your chylomicron filled plasma.
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| # ? Mar 15, 2013 15:33 |
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Dang. Kinda thought this thread had died out. some texas redneck posted:I know at one point, plasma donation by LGBT was pretty much forbidden; I think blood donation still is, right? M/M sexual contact since 1977 will result in a permanent deferral. F/F is fine. Female sexual contact with a male who has had M/M sexual contact will result in a deferral for 12 months from the date of sexual contact. These are FDA guidelines that we have to follow. HClChicken posted:
Yeah, there are a couple countries where if you served in the US military, were a civilian military employee, or a dependent of a member of the US military, and were there for longer than 6 months between 80-96, you will get deferred. I can't remember off the top of my head what countries, because that hardly ever comes up. I think they include Greece, Turkey, and Spain. There are a couple other restrictions on living on European countries for a period of time. Like the UK for more than 6 months. Geoj posted:I'd say if you engage in risky behavior (ie, unprotected sex with random partners) you shouldn't donate any blood products regardless of orientation. Knyteguy posted:Does anyone know whether smoking will disqualify me? Also my wife and I traveled to east Asia (her Japan, me Thailand) about 2 years ago, will this affect anything? Finally, if I lost my social security card, but have a passport, will this suffice along with my driver's license? Smoking won't disqualify you. The only type of travel that will disqualify you is travel to Europe, and that will have to be for at least 6 months to certain areas. Some companies may still defer for travel to certain parts of Africa, but I don't think any do. Our company, and others, used to defer if you would go to a number of countries in Africa and had sex with anyone there. We don't any more. Also, you have to have some kind of proof of social security number. If you lost your card, you can most likely take in a W-2. Our center will let you get a letter from your bank with your SSN on it. Schroeder91 posted:I've always been curious about this but never bothered going down to check it out. After reading this thread I'm thinking I'll go do it, at least once or twice, but I was curious how healthy you have to be. I know they do the physical, but I would like to know before I went if I'd be OK. I'm 21, 6'7, and 300lbs. I know I'm overweight and don't eat really healthy all the time, but I don't think I'm THAT bad, considering my height. If someone could give me some insight if I'd still be able to donate as long as the physical goes smoothly, that'd be great. Oh, and my mother and her father both had diabetes, does that affect it at all(I don't have diabetes)? We have people who come in to our center who are pushing 400. The heaviest person we ever had come in was 535. We had to defer him because our beds can't support that much weight, but I've heard of other centers pushing two beds together for donors that heavy. Some places may have restrictions on weight, but 300 lbs wouldn't be any where near any of those restrictions, especially at your height. With people that heavy, if they can pass the physical and their vitals are within acceptable ranges, the biggest concern is being able to find the veins. I rarely do phlebotomy any more, and I wouldn't go near someone that heavy. There's no way I would be able to find the veins. HClChicken posted:Don't eat too much fat food the day of donation or the machine might have problems with seeing through your chylomicron filled plasma. This. Again, it depends on the center, but people who go scarf down a big mac right before their donation, and then get kicked off the machine because their plasma looks like a milk shake won't get paid. Fatty plasma looks loving gross and no one is going to buy it so we have to throw it out. The machine will detect it and kick you off, and you'll get a lecture about not eating like poo poo.
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| # ? Mar 19, 2013 03:51 |
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| # ? May 25, 2013 21:25 |
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monsieur fatso posted:This. Again, it depends on the center, but people who go scarf down a big mac right before their donation, and then get kicked off the machine because their plasma looks like a milk shake won't get paid. Fatty plasma looks loving gross and no one is going to buy it so we have to throw it out. The machine will detect it and kick you off, and you'll get a lecture about not eating like poo poo. This is amazing, I had no idea the changes were that quick or that dramatic. Ick.
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| # ? Mar 19, 2013 23:29 |
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