Are there risks to donating platelets

Do not take aspirin products for at least 2 full calendar days prior to your appointment. For example, if you take aspirin products on Monday, the soonest you may donate platelets is Thursday. Plan to be in the donation chair for about three hours to ensure a full donation.

Get a good night's rest prior to your donation. You should consume plenty of calcium-rich foods and beverages for a few days prior to your donation. You may donate platelets every seven days, up to 24 times a year. Read more about eligibility requirements including travel and medication restrictions. Who is eligible to donate platelets? At age depending on state, individuals in generally good health who meet weight and height requirements may become eligible to donate platelets.

Please review our eligibility requirements as some states require parental consent. You can also find more information about travel and medication restrictions. When donating, bring your Red Cross blood donor card or other form of ID. Eligibility requirements for platelet donation are the same as a whole blood donation. As long as you meet the minimum requirements for donating whole blood you may be able to donate platelets.

Recently, it has been discovered that women who have previously been pregnant are more likely to carry antibodies that are believed to sometimes cause post-transfusion complications for blood and platelet recipients. Until these complications are better understood, the Red Cross will ask new female platelet donors about their pregnancy history and test those that have been pregnant for these antibodies. A positive result has no impact on the health of the donor, however donors who are positive for antibodies may be advised that they are better suited to a whole blood or Power Red donation.

What blood types should donate platelets? All blood types, except for type O negative and type B negative, are encouraged to try platelet donation. Type O negative and type B negative can make the most impact for patients in need by continuing to give whole blood or a Power Red donation.

If you are type AB you can make the most impact by donating plasma. When you make a plasma donation, you can donate up to three times the plasma that would be collected during a regular blood or platelet donation, allowing you to make more impact with fewer donations. Can I donate plasma at the same time as platelets? Yes, if you have type AB blood and your local American Red Cross Donation Center does not currently offer plasma-only donations , platelet donation is your next best option.

You can give a platelet and plasma donation at the same time. Type AB donors are the universal plasma donor, meaning any patient can receive your AB plasma, regardless of their blood type. Ready to Donate? Later we exchanged our phone numbers. From my point of view, I would not say that I had saved that child, nor I would care about what the child is doing now, because I am unable to care about his future development.

Respondent 10, In the first event, Respondent 9 did not hesitate to agree to donate blood platelets to repay Renqing. She felt apologetic when she could not help. After the child recovered, being morally motivated, the parents sent out greetings during festivals. MABD is usually conducted among acquaintance. Donors would be happy with successful outcomes, but might face distress if the medical procedure failed.

Respondent 11 male worked in a lighting factory. He started donating whole blood in and turned to blood component donation in At the time of the interview, he had donated blood for more than 50 times. He had experienced MABD twice; both experiences were unpleasant to him. The second MABD was given to his cousin, who unfortunately did not survive.

Given these two unpleasant events, he said. I have always insisted on donating blood to the blood bank. In such one-on-one situations, it is sad as it means that people around you have accidents. After they fill in the Mutual Blood Donation Registration Form and go to blood bank to donate platelets, the hospital will provide the same amount of platelets to the patient.

However, MABD encounters at least the following obstacles in practice. First, mobilization is difficult as some out-of-town patients would be unable to ask their relatives and friends to donate blood in medical settings and high costs may be involved e. Second, it is usually impossible to know whether the mobilized relatives and friends are suitable for the platelet donation. These difficulties cause some patients to buy platelets from brokers when they find it hard to recruit donors among their networks, or when they are unwilling to make such requests.

Thus, MABD has often been twisted into monetary transactions. I know that blood brokers sell blood but I do not have the right to condemn them.

Those family members do not have to thank us volunteers for blood donations as the blood has not been allocated to them. They will be grateful to the blood brokers and spend money to get the blood. Faced with the severe shortage of platelets and obstacles, MABD has often deviated from its original intention of serving as a source of emergent supply to become monetary transactions. Despite the issues of mental distress, physical discomfort, and monetary transactions, some people have become regular platelet donors.

According to the interviews, the motivation is backed up by the simple feeling that it saves lives and is a happy act. The following excerpts from the interviews clearly show this motivation. So why not? I do not know who to save. In any case, I feel that blood donation can save people. So I insist on doing it, although sometimes I would not succeed, anyway I have tried my best. I donate blood and maybe save someone. Being nice is good for others as well as for oneself, especially when the patient recovers.

I would think that although I have a bit of pain, I can help others, and it may not only help others, but it may also save a life. This is already worth it to me. Every time after I donate blood, I have a happy mood and it prompts me to insist on blood donation.

It is a virtuous cycle. It may be that helping others makes me feel good. The difference between VUBD and MABD is that the former is a pure gift relationship between strangers, while the latter is potentially loaded with Renqing , moral pressure, and in some cases, monetary transactions.

VUBD reflects the social value of donors, which is the positive motivation for them to donate platelets. The findings suggest that two issues may need further discussion and analysis. First, why the donors would feel stressful when their blood components were re-transfused back to their bodies? This may stem from the fact that after the blood leaves the body, people would think that it may become unclean or even dangerous. The famous anthropologist M. Douglas has made a profound interpretation of filth and danger in her book Purity and Danger.

For example, we do not think that our excretion is unclear until it leaves our body and is seen to be dirty. The same might be true of blood. We may worry about contamination. In apheresis platelets, the blood components flow through the vascular tract, being separated by the machine and returned to the body.

The blood circulation outside the body is clearly in an improper place outside our body system. Second, the regular platelet donors were unwilling to participate in MABD as it may induce a moral burden, and it may be associated with monetary transactions. People may feel morally obligated to help friends and relatives who need blood transfusions by buying blood from brokers at high fees. Since there are no electronic linkages among blood collection systems of different cities, some blood sellers may donate blood in different cities under MABD without adhering to the recommended intervals, thus compromising blood quality and their health.

Some blood donors might conceal their health status and introduce risks of transmitting infectious diseases to the recipients in the presence of window periods for detection [ 11 ]. MABD not only involves moral burdens, but may also have been turned into monetary transactions, which is against the wish of some regular blood donors. Human blood is rare and precious. So far, we are unable to use artificial blood on a large scale for clinical blood transfusions.

The majority of blood for clinical use is obtained from other people. Blood is seen by people as the source of life, which is not only for oneself but also for all human beings. At the same time, we also see that this act is appreciated by the entire society and various cultures; it brings spiritual joy to the blood donors [ 14 , 15 ], who also donate blood to show that they are healthy.

After they donate blood, they save lives and are happy. Therefore, blood donation is an act of benefiting others as well as oneself. The practice of platelet donation tells us again that blood donation is gift giving among strangers.

Safe and sustainable blood supply can be guaranteed only through VUBD. We acknowledge that the results of this study may not be generalized to the national scenario of Chinese platelet donation, given the study was conducted only in one city and its qualitative nature. Despite such limitations, we believe that this study has provided insightful and culturally informed data on whole blood donation and platelet donation, as well as VUBD and MABD.

The observations remind blood banks to target prospective platelet donors who have more free time e. All data and materials related to the study can be obtained through contacting the first author at ycp Institutional incentives for altruism: gifting blood in China. BMC Public Health. Article Google Scholar. Accessed 13 May Platelet transfusion: a clinical practice guideline from the AABB. Ann Intern Med. Abstract A decreasing blood donor pool in the presence of increasing blood transfusion demands has resulted in the need to maximally utilize each blood donor.

Publication types Review. Substances Citric Acid. If you are 16 years old, you may donate blood if you have a consent form signed by your parent or legal guardian.

Consent forms are available by calling the Blood Donor Program, or emailing donateblood mskcc. For more specific information about donor qualifications, see Additional Donor Requirements. If you are 16 years old, you may donate blood at Memorial Sloan Kettering if you have a consent form signed by your parent or legal guardian. To receive a consent form, call the Blood Donor Program at or email donateblood mskcc. Yes, before you donate blood or platelets, regulations require that you show identification with your name and your signature or a photo.

Yes, it is safe to give blood and platelets. Everyone has an ABO blood type, and most transfusions can be performed if the blood type of the donor and patient are compatible, regardless of their races or ethnicities. Most donors feel fine after donating blood or platelets, but a small number of people may experience an upset stomach, feel faint or dizzy, or have bruising, redness or pain where the needle was inserted.

Your body will replace the liquid part of the blood plasma and platelets within two days and the red blood cells within 56 days. You should plan to spend about an hour in the Donor Room if you are giving blood and two and a half hours if you are giving platelets.