When donating blood and plasma I experienced tingling in both hands?!


Question: When donating blood and plasma I experienced tingling in both hands?
I donated blood in December and plasma this past weekend and experienced tingling in both my hands extending half way up both arms. What could be the cause of this? The tech at the plasma center called the nurse who found that odd as well and they wound up giving me the saline solution prior to my donation being completed and that seemed to help.

Answers:

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

It generally does not happen,either you were very concerned/anxious or you did not have had proper diet before going to donate.
It may have caused mild hypoglycemia.
Some Donor do get Vasovagal(Neurogenic shock) very often and do need IV fluids and Inj.atropine.

WW



If it only happened during the plasma donation, I would guess it was a reaction to the citrate based anticoagulant that was mixed with your blood during the procedure. Your body uses calcium to bind to the citrate and flush it out of the system. If you do not have enough calcium circulating in your blood a tingling or trembling can occur. This is easily treated with Tums or other calcium supplements and will quickly pass.

However, it also occurred during your whole blood donation. This means pretty much only one thing. Hyperventilation tetany. You hyperventilated during your donations and altered the acid/base balance in your blood. This causes tingling in both hands normally and will progress to muscle spasms that cause the fingers to straighten and clump together in a painful cramp. Once again, there is an easy treatment. Breathing into a paper bag. When you breathe into a paper bag held tightly around your nose and mouth it will cause you to re-breathe your exhaled air. There is still plenty of oxygen in it (and the paper bag is not really air-tight) but there are much higher levels of carbon dioxide in this air. Getting more carbon dioxide in your system will re-balance the acid/base levels in your blood and allow the muscles to relax in your hands.

Next time you donate, let them know in advance that you have had this problem and concentrate on breathing in a slow regular manner ( I know, once you start concentrating it is hard to breathe normally) or make an effort to breathe in on a count of five, hold for a count of five and exhale on a count of five. This may prevent the problem.

14+ years as a phlebotomist for a major blood center.




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