I am sorry that you have had such terrible experiences with your blood donations (I prefer that description to phlebotomy; same thing LOL). At my peak, I did 8 blood donations in 10 weeks to get my ferritin down from around 800 to 13 then we stopped for about a year. I noticed that you mentioned that your session lasted around 20 minutes; my donation this Monday took 6 minutes. I asked the nurse what was the quickest time that she had seen and she said about 4 minutes. She thought hydration may have been the reason for that person's quick draining.

I am very lucky that I have not had any side effects at all from doing these donations (as of this week a total of 11). I do not feel any different at all after the blood draining, I just eat my free cookie and drink another bottle of free water then go home.

If you dig into this Board you will find others that have had bad experiences also. I do not think that there is an answer that fits all. I do not do anything special during donation days. I do drink a lot of water, but no more than usual and try to eat before going to the blood center, but again, no more than usual.

I cannot tell from your user ID what your gender is, but maybe that is an issue??? I am a 67 year old male and weight in at a little over 200 pounds. Again, does weight come into the equation??? I do not know.

How about anxiety or panic attacks? Either can cause issues of all kinds. Other than drinking a lot of water and I mean a lot and eating a big meal I do not know what else to suggest. I would think that the nurses at your blood center would have some suggestions, but maybe not in your case which seems much worse than typical.

Sorry that I cannot help, but I hope you find some answers. You have to keep your ferritin under control.

I also had an issue similar to yours and have to have an IV of fluid every time I have a phlebotomy. It helps me recover. Had 43 phlebotomist and starting a maintenance program now. Give it time and good luck.

Thanks everyone. I'm still frustrated, unfortunately. I prep for my treatments by typically eating a little more than I normally would and I drink water non stop. They also have routinely started giving me fluids after every phlebotomy. I feel great immediately after, but typically around the time I go to bed I get really exhausted and weak. That feeling then lasts for at least a day, sometimes 2.

If anyone has any additional tips for what to do before or after treatments, I'll try anything!

Ask the nurse to give you fluids during the phlebotomy. It worked for me.

I had that happen during my second phlebotomy session, they had to stop. So I started making sure I slept the night before my session, also I start drinking nuun electrolytes the day before and also right before I go to the session, I also make sure I eat. I have made it through my sessions pretty well so far. I do however get extremely tired for a day or two after. I will say that one of my symptoms is fatigue.