Passed out having blood taken

[Nikia]

I still feel a little out of it. I passed out two other times having blood taken too. It's awful. The first time, I thought that I had died and gone to hell because they used smelling salts. I wasn't even looking. I started feeling ill with the tourniquet. She started taking blood and I felt tinglly. Then things were dark. Then my head was hurting badly and I didn't know where I was for a second. They had me rest in the ER for a while and sent me home after juice and crackers and taking my blood pressure several times.
Does this happen to anyone else?

[Kamika]

1. yub

Don't worry about it.. I always pass out when they take my blood. I have low blood preassure and things just go white then I wake up on a bed or something. It helps if they tie a belt or something around your arm.

I once passed out at home just like that, woke up on the floor with a bump on my forehead :p

[qwertyMike]

2. Just shock

Invasive procedures affect people different ways. I almost go into shock while having my teeth cleaned by a dentist.
No biggie.
It's your body.

[Kamika]

4. not shock

it's her blood preassure that gets too low

[Pobeka]

3. I almost passed out last time I donated blood.

I usually have no problem, but they were running really late, and didn't start drawing the blood until well into my normal lunch hour.

Hoo boy, when I sat up my head was just woozy. They made me lay back down for a while, and brought some juice and cookies to me.

Sorry you're so severely affected.

[sabbat hunter]

6. giving blood

i give blood often (5 times a year)for the past 6 or 7 years. so far i never have had a problem.
and they love my blood O-, it flows well and i have great veins (3 or 4 in each arm) that can be used.


peace
david
:hippie:

[Crowdance]

5. Used to happen to me all the time

Then I got cancer, and they drew tremendous amounts of blood, day after day. I got over it. I think it's emotional. My advice: Self hypnosis. Convince yourself that this is a nothing burger. And, really, it is.

[Nikia]

7. Does taking blood cause blood pressure to drop usually?

I've usually felt woozy with the tourniquet on even if I've been lying down and felt woozy the longer that its on. It's cutting off blood flow. That couldn't be good for blood pressure.
I would think that dropping blood pressure and passing out as blood is taken out of the body would be a good self defense mechanism against bleeding to death.
Are most people not affected by blood pressure wise by these things?

[Lostmessage]

8. I have to lay down and someone holds my hand

When they draw my blood they never find a vein and it takes hours. If you need your blood drawn go to the hospital and ask for the head of the dept where they draw blood.

[put out]

11. The tourniquet is on your arm. They would not take

your blood pressure from that arm. If they do, RUN AWAY RUN AWAY.

For real, here, the small amount of blood they take will have little effect on your body, unless there is an emotional component. All of your blood is replaced in 3-4 months. The volume taken will be replaced in about 24-48 hours. But, you can get an buzz from alcohol cheaper after you give, so I'm told.

That said, I am not allowed to give and I envy you for being able. Thanks for giving it. People very dear to me have benefited from what you are doing. I would do it in a heartbeat (Ha, get it?).

[Lostmessage]

13. I give as often as I can I am RH-A

If they don't find a vein in my arm I end up going home.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

9. I just passed out reading this thread.

[Dudley_DUright]

10. Clunk

Me too. Happens to me almost every time. I get woozy just thinking about it.

[populistmom]

12. It's low blood pressure

My blood pressure gets low at times and this has happened to me, usually when I'm hungry too. I have no squeemishness at all. I've been through some pretty intense physical stuff, very long labors (back labor), migraines, teeth getting pulled, and I'm studying to be a nurse. The sight of blood doesn't bother me. With children, I've been bled on, peed on, barfed on, boogered on, you name it! It can be simply a physical reaction for some people. Next time, eat plenty beforehand and do something physical. That will help.

[Pale Blue Dot]

14. It happened to me once.

I hadn't eaten in a long time before I gave. When I came to, I said to the nurse: "I feel so embarrassed" and she replied (picture in a German accent for maximum effect): "Vell you should!"

[geniph]

15. Had blood drawn today at noon

Hadn't eaten since yesterday around 7 p.m. I was fine. I *did* faint once during a medical procedure - it was an arthrogram of my wrist. They injected the dye. We were all watching the screen, and my vision did the weirdest thing while I was watching the dye creep around my wrist bones and illuminate them - it shrank to a little pinpoint, like an old-fashioned TV, then came back. When they finished, I asked if that was normal, and they got all panicky, made me lie down, brought me juice and cookies, etc. I was perfectly fine, but they regarded that as a faint.

I used to faint all the time in school, but that was probably because I didn't eat during the day. I still don't, most of the time.

[Lars39]

16. You probably need to ask to lay down while they take blood.

They'll usually be glad to oblige. I'm an occasional fainter, too, doesn't matter if I've just eaten or not. Re: smelling salts: there was a time when I passed out as a teenager, they brought me to with smelling salts. I thought they were telling me to eat them(smelling salts). :)

[MountainLaurel]

17. The last time I did

I'm O-, which makes me real popular with the Red Cross. Last time I donated was about a year ago, at a blood drive in my office complex. I was almost finished donating when the phlebotomist, in the process of checking the blood bag, bumped the needle in my arm. Just enough so that every time my heart pumped, the needle vibrated against the wall of the vein. That squicked me out so fast that I was out cold before I could tell him what had happened.

[TEXASYANKEE]

18. It's nice that you donate.

A bloodmobile comes to my office every few months, and I give as often as I can. I have gotten squeamish a time or two. I've learned that if I tell the technician as soon as start to feel woozy, they will tilt the chair back and bring a cold rag immediately. This takes care of it quickly and without incident.

Kudos to you, and others at DU, for donating. It's not fun but it is a very necessary and worthwhile endeavor.

[radwriter0555]

19. Don't ever get pregnant.

You get your very own vampire when you get knocked up. They take GALLONS of blood from ya every month for billions of tests....

[Ilsa]

20. Sounds like a vaso vagal reaction.

Partly an emotional deal, but causes the physical reaction.

I have given gallons of blood over the years as I am O- also, and I am negative for CMV. But for some reason, over the last two years, donating blood has affected the sensor cells in my circulatory system, and I start going woozy near the end. I think it is a threshold of rapid change in blood pressure that is reached and kicks in the sensory reaction.

As for blood tests, it is no big deal. For blood tests it is only a few teaspoons in each vial that they take, if that much. Your body probably doesn't even notice a volume change.

Be sure to always ask for a really good phlebotomist. And you may do better without the tourniquet, or one that is not so tight, or just lowering your arm below the body while you are on a stretcher. (I used to draw blood when I did home health care, and with some elderly people I would sort of "milk" the veins because their skin was too fragile for a tourniquet - it would tear.)