Donating Plasma

Casually Hardcore

Time is short and money is tight and I'm thinking about donating plasma for extra cash.

Is there anything I should concern about or is there anything I should look for?

Slider

A few of my college roommates would donate plasma to make a few bucks. Other than that, I don't know very much about it. You'll be fine.

matt has a problem

It has a quicker recovery time than donating whole blood, but it takes longer to donate plasma as they have to extract the plasma before returning the blood to you. A friend of mine would do it once a week in college, for $50 each time, and suffered no apparent ill effects.

[Michael]

I've only ever done it twice. The first time took about 2 hours, because they had to run a bunch of tests prior to allowing me to give them plasma. The second time took about an hour. There's some drugs that will prevent you from being able to give plasma, basically the same ones as donating blood. I couldn't do it initially because I was on accutane.

I think the place around here gives $20 dollars the first time in a week, and $30 dollars the second time in a week. You could only donate twice a week, with at least 48 hours in between or something like that, so $50 a week max. Hilariously enough, lots of places will occasionally have coupons for an extra $5 or $10 for your first "donation," so you might want to check that out.

Also, you get free cookies and juice! (unless it's a terrible plasma donation place)

MegaMan001

You can safely donate twice a week. No sooner than 24 hours apart. A typical donation takes anywhere from 1-3 hours depending on hydration. Often the first donation nets you $20.00 and the second donation $30.00. Donation volume is based on weight. For example, I am 190 lbs and I was scheduled for 750 mL of plasma. My girlfriend (at the time) was nearly half my size and scheduled for 450 mL of plasma. It took her about 30 mins to donate and took me 1.5 hours. Again, depending on hydration.

All research points to plasma donation as safe. Safe in the sense that you don't suffer any permanent problems. However - it feels weird. They put a 18 gauge needle in your vein and take out blood, wash it, and give you the red blood cells back. You commonly will get a weird metallic taste in your mouth from the 0.9% Normal Saline they give you as replacement. The whole process just feels...weird.

Anyway, yeah it's safe. It feels weird and can lead you feel dehydrated and exhausted if you are not taking in enough fluids.

Of course on the other side, this is how me and my girlfriend purchased a ton of frivolous electronics just based on donations without any impact to our bottom line.

So, my advice? Do it of you need the money , but be safe and drink a lot of water the day before to speed up your donation and make yourself feel better afterwards.

Casually Hardcore

Sweet, thanks for the advice guys! I was recommended to this one Donation center from a good friend, so I feel safe enough for this.

mts

keep in mind they pump you up full of anticlotting agents so if you are planning on bleeding any time soonafter you might have some issues with blood loss