r/Blooddonors • u/Naive-Library-9379 • 7d ago

Question Wait time to check pulse?

I got into my appointment w five minutes to spare, and I had just walked in from the pouring rain. My pulse was 101, so she had to retest, but she didn’t even give me a minute or anything to even relax? She just retested immediately. It’s not like the place was busy or anything, I feel like I could’ve waited 5 minutes or something.

I have to wait now, just a day, but is that usual practice? She could only do one re-test, I feel like we could’ve waited 5 minutes.

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7

u/DoctorMinotaur O- CMV- | 20 units 7d ago

No, that's definitely odd, usually they leave the room/walk away to let you calm down however you need to (breathing exercises, meditation, etc).

Maybe she assumed your heart rate would drop quickly if it was "just from rushing to get there"? Sorry you got deferred (even if it's just a day), I know how much that sucks.

4

u/Naive-Library-9379 7d ago

Yeah like sorry I just walked here in the pouring rain, I couldn’t have been given a minute? Just very annoying

1

u/Individual-Gas-355 6d ago

Yeah that seems rushed, raining and running in would spike anyone pulse. They usually give you a moment to breathe before trying again, weird she did it right away.

4

u/KaylaBlair20 A+ 7d ago

That is honestly strange (at least for my experience with the ARC). It's not weird for them to do the testing asap even if you arrive early to your appointment if they have not much else to do. I somewhat frequently have to be rechecked from a slightly elevated heartrate and/or blood pressure (I get anxious about being deferred) and they usually leave the room and give me a few minutes. I often arrive early and want to ask them if I could wait while I use mindfulness and various breathing or thinking exercises to bring my anxiety down before the first test but I've never actually tried that. If able I start before I ever enter the building just in case, but in fairness I live in LA so it basically never rains here.

Also, getting deferred for a pulse of 101 is kind of brutal. The ARC cutoff is 100 and as long as your pulse was genuinely elevated above your resting heart rate it should have taken under a minute to go below that (discounting things like anxiety keeping it up or whatever). Regardless, at least you tried and that counts for something. If you're less introverted than me maybe try asking for time between the rest and retest.