Should plasma donation have hurt?
I donated platelets — not plasma, but I believe the process is very similar — almost biweekly for almost a year and a half a few years ago. My arm was a little sore afterward pretty regularly — I think it was just keeping my elbow locked in one position for so long. There was occasionally a bit of bruising, nothing major. I don’t think yours should have hurt as much as it did, so maybe the phlebotomist messed up. For me, the most regular discomfort came from occasional vibrations of the needle while it was inside the vein. Very odd feeling. The phlebotomists told me it was caused by improper placement. They’d adjust it a bit and then there was no more vibration. The worst experiences I had were a couple bad sticks. The fluid (blood, plasma and an anti-coagulant) being pumped back into my arm leaked out of my vein and between it and the skin of my arm. That’s a peculiar and hair-raising kind of pain. These bad sticks came towards the end of my platelet-donating days. I’m not sure if
I was a phlebotomist at a plasma donation center when I was in college. It sounds like either your vein is very close to a nerve, so the needle put pressure on the nerve, or that the tip of the needle was resting on a valve in your vein. You can’t really fix the first problem, you would just have to use a different vein. The second problem could be fixed by adjusting the position of the needle (either deeper or more shallow could work). I’ve seen tens of thousands of plasma donors, and it is a safe process. Some people react poorly to the change in blood volume when donating. The only bad complication that I’ve seen was an infection at the venipuncture site, but there were no lasting effects. I’m certain, though, that if you dig enough you would find a horror story or two, but that’s true about blood donation as well. The social implications are complicated. The industry does tend to market plasma donation to poor people. However, plasma is used to make a number of critical care drugs
I’ve donated whole blood and plasma, and I’ve never had that problem. I am a horrible bruiser- only the most experienced needle sticker would leave me with a tiny bruise. Otherwise, I would get a three by four inch bruise that would turn very interesting colors for the next week or so. Even so, I have never felt pain while donating, except where the needle was in my skin. I’ve been told to wear a sweater in advice complimentary to muddgirl’s, and also to drink a lot of water in the 24 hours before donation to make it go faster. They usually have you donate from your dominant arm in the theory that you use that arm more and the veins are bigger. It may be different for you, so if you continue to have problems, try switching.
