Do you guys give blood?

Do you guys give blood?

  • Yes

    Votes: 29 32.2%
  • No, but I want to/plan on doing it

    Votes: 14 15.6%
  • No, not allowed

    Votes: 16 17.8%
  • No

    Votes: 31 34.4%

  • Total voters
    90
No, because I have tattoos and they wont take my blood.
 

I actually do not know... I have asked why, but they have their own reasons. Maybe I'm the youngest one in the family, and nobody else in my family, except my father (who only donated once about three years ago) has donated blood.

It's been about a year now since I have thought about donating but I think reading this thread, with the potential of being a universal donor, has kicked in a huge motive for me to go out, donate and spread the love.. in a good way, of course :-D
 
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Wow, from your people's descriptions, our red cross sounds like a bunch of saints. Yeah, the questionaire mentions gay men, but only if you've had unprotected sex with them, nothing more, along 3 other pages of questions where you could have contacted something nasty. And they don't hassle anyone, it's purely on a volountary basis, once you give for the first time, you're in their system and they only send you an invitation in the post every few months when the blood drives are in your area.

Also it sounds like the people taking your blood aren't even trained medical personell... My dad's given for 50 years already and never had or heard of a single problem like you people are describing. And I don't give a rat's ass about the politics. I give blood, that blood will get to someone who needs it, that's all I need to know.
 
^ Agree on the politics thing. Its more likely to do someone good in a bag than in me.

And here in the UK, the questionnaire specifically states that you can't give blood whether you were using a condom or not.
 
Yeah, in the UK, it doesnt matter if they use protection or not, gay men are banned from giving blood. I also think that any woman who has had sex with a bisexual man is not allowed to give blood at all
 
Question for those who give blood often, wouldn't every time you give blood you made a very small scar in your veins. I mean for people who gives blood once every few years this is probably not a big deal, but it seems like some of you give blood multiple times a year. Wouldn't that be an issue in the long run?

(I'm not really that familiar with medical stuff, it just seems like a logical concern)
 
If you tell them you're a regular donor they try to get different veins as often as possible. It actually is an issue, especially with plasma donors, who tend to come in every few weeks. The staff at most collection agencies is usually pretty diligent about minimizing scarring though, and it does take years of repeated sticks before anything becomes apparent.

But yes, scarring does occur, although I don't think it has any detrimental medical effects. It just means you have scars on the places where you get stuck the most.
 
I see. Thanks for the explanation.
 
Question for those who give blood often, wouldn't every time you give blood you made a very small scar in your veins. I mean for people who gives blood once every few years this is probably not a big deal, but it seems like some of you give blood multiple times a year. Wouldn't that be an issue in the long run?

(I'm not really that familiar with medical stuff, it just seems like a logical concern)

Yes, it leaves scar; no, it's not a problem.

I used to get a blood test once a week for several years when I was younger. I've had hundreds of blood tests (probably over a thousand) in my life in the same spot on the same vein and there is definitely a noticeable scar. The lab techs tell me that it's like poking through leather, but it's great for me: the nerves in that tiny area are dead, so I literally don't even feel the needles in that area any more :D
 
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The last time I gave, they did this thing where they take out two pints of blood, but put back one pint's worth of fluid so they end up with a double-thick bag of blood. They take a little blood, and pump fluid in, then a little more, then a little more, back and forth so as you're never 2 pints down. This only works if you have enough iron, I guess.

However, I did start to get...not well...in the chair, and they had to ice down my head and chest, and I had to do bike pedalling motions with my legs. Kinda freaked me out a bit as this was the first time I've donated in 10 years.

This place had a bwn of fig newtons and reconstituted OJ that tasted like medicine...but I got a free movie ticket.
 
I've stopped donating blood for the time being and instead I now donate plasma at BioLife. They use the apheresis machines, and according to how much you weigh determines the amount of plasma they remove, and the red blood cells get put back in. At the end they put in some saline to help you along while the plasma replenishes.

I'm still freaked out by needles and my own blood, but from doing this its been getting better and its nice because I've been doing it long enough that I know most of the people at the center. I've been meaning to donate blood again, but that would defer me from BioLife for quite a while and since I'm kind of relying on it for money until I can get a job, I just have to wait until I do get a job and then I'll go donate just blood again. :)
 
Question for those who give blood often, wouldn't every time you give blood you made a very small scar in your veins. I mean for people who gives blood once every few years this is probably not a big deal, but it seems like some of you give blood multiple times a year. Wouldn't that be an issue in the long run?

(I'm not really that familiar with medical stuff, it just seems like a logical concern)

Yes, it leaves a scar. I've donated 26 times and there are scars on the two veins in my left arm. You can see them if you look really close but it's not like I look like a junkie or anything. It hasn't been a real problem yet, although one nurse did decide to go for a different vein because there was too much scarring on one,
 
Nope, they bug me, I start listing the exotic vaccines I have, and the conversation quickly ends.
 
I've donated once, while bored working as an engineer in my previous job (but that's for another thread). The red cross came round to my company and my colleague asked me to go donate some with her. I'm usually scared of needles but was in a naughty, do-one-thing-that-scares-you-everyday mood.

The nurse injected what I assumed was anaesthetic under my skin and on top of a vein, and while the bump was still there, pierced it with the biggest needle I'd ever seen. I couldn't believe my eyes as she oriented the cut face of the needle upwards and it's lumen was huge. I've seen smaller juice box straws. Too late to back out, I lay there helpless. You can feel the warm blood flowing through the tube down your arm. We were given a chocolate drink and cookies, a short rest, and back to the grind.
 
lol! Just gave my 8th unit today. We have a visiting cardiac team doing a lot of open heart surgeries right now so we need all we can get!
 
The nurse injected what I assumed was anaesthetic under my skin and on top of a vein, and while the bump was still there, pierced it with the biggest needle I'd ever seen.
Anesthetic? For a blood-drawing needle?

Denise Mahoney from Scrubs said:
Don't worry Mr. Haforn, a lot of people are afraid of needles. I was only surprised because you're the first one I've come across that doesn't have a vagina.
 
Gave up a tiny amount of blood last week with a tiny needle for a protein test so I can continue to donate plasma at the center I donate at. If the test comes back positive for whatever protein they're looking for, or enough amounts of it or whatever they want, then I can go back to donating normally. If not I have to go back, have another test done, and wait another 10 days to find out.

At this rate I could probably start donating whole blood again for a while. Sheesh.
 
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