Hi Shane,

It is not unusual for patients to pass out whilst having their blood drawn. It can happen for several reasons.

1. If you havn't eaten before your blood test or it has been a long time since your last meal you may be more suseptable to passing out.
2. Some patients pass out due to an involuntary nervous reaction.

If you find you are a person who faints frequently the best course of action is to let the technician know before you have your blood drawn and ask to lay down on a bed for the procedure. If you are lying down it is not possible to faint. The reason you faint is because of the blood leaving your head. Because of gravity the blood can't leave your head while lying down. So you can save yourself and the technician a whole lot of excitement by lying down to begin with.

When you donate blood at a blood donar clinic you are donating 1 pint of blood. It is more common when donating a pint to faint. When you give blood at a lab the most they take is maybe 2 to 3 tablespoons. 50 tbsps = 1 pint of blood. So it isn't due to large blood loss. It is especially important to eat before donating (unless you have to have fasting blood work done) . Hope this helps. Take care.

Deborah


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