Donating blood side effects

[pureblood]

Hi Guys,
I recently donated a pint of blood in hopes of keeping hemocrait levels good and it turned into a small nightmare.... After bout a few minutes I had a tightening in my chest, began coughing alot,breathing issues, sinuses closed up and couldn't breathe through my nose. Felt terrible, shortly afterwards I got a cramping pain in my upper back, and my lower lip got really swollen. It was my first time giving blood so I have nothing to compare it to, but have had an I.V. during surgeries, had blood work done and never had an issue. Everything went away and got better a few hours later, but left me kinda worried about doing it again.
Any ideas what might have caused this?
Thanks

 

[ERO]

Are you perhaps allergic to Iodine? Your symptoms sound like an allergic reaction and the only likely possibility is some of the Iodine they swab you with getting into you when the needle is inserted.