So I had some cranial pressure and a bit of a headache which I don't normally get. Had ACL surgery in October, so I'm not eligible to donate blood for 1 year. I could get a script for a phlebotomy but I believe I wouldn't be able to donate blood anymore because of it. I've pulled out blood before and it's not a pleasant experience. So what I did this time is take an 81mg aspirin with each of my first 4 meals and a 325mg aspirin with meal 5. I went low fat with meals 4 and 5 to lower blood lipids and hopefully thin it up a little. Added citrulline to my water all day to expand the vessels a bit. 1 hour after meal 5 I had a couple big glasses of red wine with some vodka added to each (also not pleasant). This put the veins on display more than usual and I was ready to go. Used a 24oz water bottle that I marked at 16oz. Drilled 2 holes in the cap, 1 for the hose and 1 to vent. Used a short length of vinyl hose that fit nicely into a syringe barrel, other end into the cap. Screwed on an 18ga needle and pierced a large vein on my inner right elbow (left handed). This as you donators know is not a quick process. The blood seemed to flow better than on previous attempts and once I got to 16oz I decided to get a bit more since this time worked better than previous attempts. Ended up pulling ~20-21oz. Cranial pressure was relieved, headache gone and I woke up today feeling better for it. I'd like to know if anyone has any other techniques or input in general on this. It went very well but for all I know some or much of what I did may not have been necessary or a good idea. The amount of alcohol used might be too much for some but I used to drink heavily so I was just a little light headed (and prepared for the unpleasantness). Thanks for any input.