so did you end up donating blood?

I donated a few times before I had a really bad experience (feeling faint, nauseous, hot, sweaty) nearing the end of the donation so I stopped donating after that.

But my dad ended up getting leukemia and required a lot of blood transfusions, so when the blood mobile came to work, I signed up. The nurse was WONDERFUL, stayed by my side the whole time, talked me through it all distracting me, gave me warm water filled glove to massage with my hand, etc. I had none of the previous problems.

I've donated twice since, both when the blood mobile comes to work. I haven't had any problems and I do wish I can donate more but might as well do it while getting paid! I'm interested in donating plasma as I'm AB+ and we're universal plasma donors (total opposite for whole blood).

Anyways, in terms of exercise, I remember going swimming the day after the first time I donated. I sure felt it, I had very little zip and had a pretty tough workout.

Like others have said, drinking water about an hour before donating really helps.