Blood Plasma

Fitness returns to normal within two days of plasma donation.

what are you talking about? two days? how about two hours. I've actually run within 2hrs of donating and I was just fine. former college runner, almost AA, sub 14, now in grad school, doing it myself, I go twice a week, but only get $75/week, though right now I'm in the middle of an anthrax month (if you do the anthrax series of vaccinations, you can donate twice a year, for 4 weeks at a time, for anthrax rate, which is $100/donation, or $800 in 4 weeks) so definitely going twice a week, but often skip at other times. It guarantees me about an extra $3000/yr that I wouldn't otherwise have, and all I do is pull up multiple tabs on my browser window and read articles that are assigned or do other homework....or sit on letsrun. you just have to be good with your left hand to work the notebook mousepad, but for free money, why would you not?

as far as peformance DEhancement, I still run occasionally and paced a buddy to a 4xmile last week, did the whole thing with him and this was the next day after donating, so no, it does NOT hurt your runnign at all. of course you may be the outlier, but it (as you seem to be aware) takes zero red cells, which is what matters. the water, you can replenish that, but not the red cells. since all they take is basically water, you are good to go. take their money and say thank you. just watch out for the clientele, I always carry a sidearm in my backpack and keep it next to myself, within quick reach, as some of the people that go to the local donation center here are a little sketchy. other than that, cute staff, easy money, free study time, is how I see it.

starving student wrote:

since all they take is basically water, you are good to go.

lol.

two units of h2o, stat!!! wrote:

starving student wrote:

since all they take is basically water, you are good to go.

lol.

I don't know if you are laughing because you doubt his accuracy or because it sounds stupid. It kind of does sound stupid, but is 100% true. Well, 92% true.

I work for a plasma donation company. Used to work in the center and can tell you, while it does vary by person, most people see little or no affects after they donate a few times and their body adjusts. As the previous donor said, drink plenty of fluids and you should be good to go. I have a friend who has been donating for two years and runs 50-60 miles a week, but he also does a lot of other activities (kayak and bike mainly) and has been trying to analyze any changes in how he feels. Still waiting for a report, but the simple answer is there was no change.

1) Check to see the amount of time. It takes more time than giving a unit of blood.

2) I have heard from a couple of people who have worked at plasma centers that the sanitary conditions can be sketchy. Risk of infection is high.

Get ready to spend time with the homeless folks.

Performance is impaired 2 hours after plasma donation, but not 2 days. VO2 never drops but time to exhaustion transiently increases. It could be several hours, but is more likely a day or so. Definitely back to normal in two days.

Hill, D. W., J. L. Vingren, et al. (2013). "Effect of plasma donation and blood donation on aerobic and anaerobic responses in exhaustive, severe-intensity exercise." Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism 38(5): 551-557.

Read that article.

For those wondering about whole blood donation the figure is 3 weeks.

luv2run wrote:

2) I have heard from a couple of people who have worked at plasma centers that the sanitary conditions can be sketchy. Risk of infection is high.

Get ready to spend time with the homeless folks.

This is absolutely false where I worked. I agree it can and does happen with certain donation centers, but our was impeccable. And we cross referenced addresses and did not allow homeless or transient people to donate, so that is also not true. Yes, occasionally someone homeless or living out of a hotel would come in and may even donate once, but we always found out and they were not allowed back. You absolutely did not have a bunch of homeless people hanging out there.

Plasma collection is regulated by the FDA, people. What the hell do you think they do with it, dumb it in a dumpster behind the center after paying someone to lay around for an hour? Jesus.

thank you to those that actually know what they are talking about and posting here.

to the OP, the last time i went in, I was in at 5 til, out at 10 after, so 1hr 15min, from parking to driving away. That said, i'm in the anthrax group right now so I get priority, but the other way I've found works well is come in right before closing. Trust me, they want to go home, so they'll get you in as quickly as possible. Doing it this way, I average about 90-95min, from parking to driving away. fyi, doing this (plasma donation) is allowing me to drive a brand new prius, which is pretty bada$$, if you ask me.

yes, there are some unsavory types in there, but just as often I sit next to a guy in a collared shirt and dress slacks, haha. just maximize your money and you'll be sitting pretty. try to get into an anthrax program if they have one, that's where the real $ is at.

adsfadsfds wrote:

Fitness returns to normal within two days of plasma donation.

If plasma is taken, does that mean your RBC count increases per ml of blood? Meaning, more RBC per ml means more oxygen carrying capacity.

It might be obvious to some, but I don't have a clue.

relatively, yes- but only for an hr or two, it's only "higher" b/c of your lower blood volume, but that get's replenished in an hr or two of rehydrating. also, the TOTAL number of hemoglobin inside your body does NOT change (probably obvious), so no, no more O2 carrying capacity. but i like your thinking, that's what leads to knowledge. :)

How do you know your red blood cells are still as functional after being whirled around in a centrifuge a bunch of times?

Then when they're returned they're still alive, so you won't make new ones. Over time you'll end up with a high percentage of red cells that have been for a spin. Many of them multiple times, probably.

it IS a fair question, but one that (anecdotally, at least) has already been answered by blood dopers. if it didn't work, they wouldn't do it. many of them skip the whole blood reinfusion and simply spin it down to rbc's only, then reinfuse, ditching the "excess" plasma. obviously there "could" be some damage from spinning at 10,000rpm, but since it clearly has been working for dopers for about 30+ yrs, I'm not too concerned about my mediocre fitness. hasn't seemed to affect me yet, and i've been doing it for about a year now. extra $4K/yr for sitting there studying makes me feel smart :)

Bad Wigins wrote:

How do you know your red blood cells are still as functional after being whirled around in a centrifuge a bunch of times?

Then when they're returned they're still alive, so you won't make new ones. Over time you'll end up with a high percentage of red cells that have been for a spin. Many of them multiple times, probably.