Donating without applying Local Anesthesia

[Shan Xue]

my last two platelet donations were done without applying Local Anesthesia (LA). of course, this was upon request to the nurses not to apply.

first time, i felt the pain of direct injection is about 1.3 times that of when applying LA, but the pain lasted about 0.7 times that when applying LA.

second time, i felt both the pain and the duration shorter than applying LA. Hm.. in that case, why bother to apply LA? :roll:

has any one else tried donating without LA? what is your feeling?

[z]

Never tried without LA...

But just to share what I've seen in M'sia....('cos I've donated in M'sia and Sgp only)

In M'sia, platelet or plasma donation, by default, they don't use LA.
I had to ask the nurse to apply LA. My observation is quite a number of donors don't use LA.

In Sgp, it's the opposite, by default, they use LA unless we ask them not to.

As i have a phobia of a needle staying in my vein, i like to have LA.....just a personal preference

:D

[Shan Xue]

do you know whether in malaysia, LA is used for whole blood donation?

[Shan Xue]

donated whole blood without LA last wed. not much pain. just feel the abruptness of the needle suddenly going into the vein. it is over very fast, unlike the LA that lasts much longer.

[z]

For whole blood donation, from what i noticed.....they usually use LA.....

[Shan Xue]

Yes. even for apheresis donation. you can request the nurse not to apply LA.