Understand your plasma experience. If you go to a place that pays for donations, then you will find a lot of people that are selling plasma to stay alive. There are however other places that do not pay for a plasma donation and they take 1000ml per appointment and have a minimum rest period of 30 days between appointments. While probably not quite as effective as a $10k plasmapheresis, in about 4 months you likely achieve a similar result for free and with less shock for your body.
I agree! Tried Vitalant but they only take 200 ml and always try to force me to give everything and when I say I only want to give my plasma, they claim the machine is not available any longer. Where did you find this place you mention ? Thanks 🙏
Your experience with Vitalant is interesting, since this is the place I use. However, it could be that different locations do different things. I go to the one in Elk Grove (near Sacramento). I usually make an appointment just for plasma donation and they take 1000ml and I am on the machine for roughly 90 minutes. If you donate something else in addition to the plasma, then they only take 200ml. And yes, they try to push to donate everything, but I politely decline and that’s it. Hope that helps.
thanks for your feedback...If I decline (because I am O- and they really want my blood), they claim they don't have time or whatever. Or that the system does not allow them to only take plasma "look at the screen, It's not me it's the code that decides what you can give". I go to San Francisco...to be honest if Elk Grove would tell me they would take 1000 ml I would go :)
Valerie, in order to give you up to date information, I made an appointment for plasma donation this coming Saturday. I will let you know if I encountered any problems. Then you can decide if it is worth for you to drive to Elk Grove even though there are quite a few Vitalant locations in the Bay Area.
Here is my recent experience: despite having an appointment for plasma only, they asked 3 times during the intake if I wanted to donate more than just plasma. I stood by my choice. Then I found out that they were 2 nurses short, and the ones working were kind of skittish. Although the computer said I could donate 1000ml my nurse asked another nurse if that’s ok and the other nurse said she gets nervous when plasma donations go over 400ml. I told them that I have done 1000ml plasma a few times before and that I feel better than after a whole blood donation. That convinced them and everything went smoothly after that. I did some research and apparently there is formula depending on your weight that determines how much plasma you can donate. For someone weighing 50kg, the estimated blood volume is somewhere around 3.5l which means you have roughly 2 l of plasma. Since they take about 20-25% of your estimated plasma, you might not be eligible for the 1000ml. Your best bet is to call them and ask to talk to nurse and then provide your stats and ask how much plasma you can donate once a month.
Understand your plasma experience. If you go to a place that pays for donations, then you will find a lot of people that are selling plasma to stay alive. There are however other places that do not pay for a plasma donation and they take 1000ml per appointment and have a minimum rest period of 30 days between appointments. While probably not quite as effective as a $10k plasmapheresis, in about 4 months you likely achieve a similar result for free and with less shock for your body.
I agree! Tried Vitalant but they only take 200 ml and always try to force me to give everything and when I say I only want to give my plasma, they claim the machine is not available any longer. Where did you find this place you mention ? Thanks 🙏
Your experience with Vitalant is interesting, since this is the place I use. However, it could be that different locations do different things. I go to the one in Elk Grove (near Sacramento). I usually make an appointment just for plasma donation and they take 1000ml and I am on the machine for roughly 90 minutes. If you donate something else in addition to the plasma, then they only take 200ml. And yes, they try to push to donate everything, but I politely decline and that’s it. Hope that helps.
thanks for your feedback...If I decline (because I am O- and they really want my blood), they claim they don't have time or whatever. Or that the system does not allow them to only take plasma "look at the screen, It's not me it's the code that decides what you can give". I go to San Francisco...to be honest if Elk Grove would tell me they would take 1000 ml I would go :)
Valerie, in order to give you up to date information, I made an appointment for plasma donation this coming Saturday. I will let you know if I encountered any problems. Then you can decide if it is worth for you to drive to Elk Grove even though there are quite a few Vitalant locations in the Bay Area.
Here is my recent experience: despite having an appointment for plasma only, they asked 3 times during the intake if I wanted to donate more than just plasma. I stood by my choice. Then I found out that they were 2 nurses short, and the ones working were kind of skittish. Although the computer said I could donate 1000ml my nurse asked another nurse if that’s ok and the other nurse said she gets nervous when plasma donations go over 400ml. I told them that I have done 1000ml plasma a few times before and that I feel better than after a whole blood donation. That convinced them and everything went smoothly after that. I did some research and apparently there is formula depending on your weight that determines how much plasma you can donate. For someone weighing 50kg, the estimated blood volume is somewhere around 3.5l which means you have roughly 2 l of plasma. Since they take about 20-25% of your estimated plasma, you might not be eligible for the 1000ml. Your best bet is to call them and ask to talk to nurse and then provide your stats and ask how much plasma you can donate once a month.
Hope that helps.