Giving blood

[Mr Lovebucket]

I gave my 39th donation last week. I would encourage anyone that is eligible to sign up, it's virtually painless (the 'prick' in the finger to test for anaemia is the worst bit!)

You also come away with the feeling that you have genuinely done something to help others who are less fortunate than yourself. :thumb:

 

[iceo]

not to put anyone off.

but i had to laugh the last time i gave i didnt clot so managed to put a little spray across the poor guys shirt that was taking my blood. so spent the next 20 minutes saying sorry to him while he was putting pressure on my arm

 

[Titus A Duxass]

I forgot to say that over here you get a small health report (blood status) after every donation, a bag of goodies (cereal bars, biscuits, fruit juice, etc.) and a 10 € gift voucher for the local supermarket (which I swap for a bottle of Grants firewater).

 

[Maysie]

We get a cup or tea/coffee and a biscuit bar/bag of crisps afterwards!

I was told that I would never be able to donate as I was so badly jaundice as a child (when born) - this is something I was told by my parents, who were both blood doners.

Anyway, I was chatting with a bloke at work who had just donated and I told him of my story. He mentioned that he couldn't remember seeing anything about jaundice on the pre-donation questionnaire, so I went along to the local donation place and asked them directly if I could donate. Turns out the rule was historic and had been superseded by current thinking, so I donated there and then.

After around 4 donations, I swapped to platelets so attended pretty well every week for around 1-2hrs to donate platelets as it takes a bit longer than whole blood, but you can do it more regularly instead of the 3 monthly (or whatever it is) whole blood cycle. After a while, my blood started to clot in the needle with each donation, so the alarms started going off etc - all was fine, but after 3 aborted donations I felt it was time to retire. It is a shame really as the sense of satisfaction from doing such a simple selfless act for someone you don't even know was quite overwhelming.

I would highly recommend anyone who can donate does so, as it is such a great thing to do to help others who are not so healthy. The sense of satisfaction for me was off the scale.

 

[Hawks]

I was told that I would never be able to donate as I was so badly jaundice as a child (when born)

I thought the same, now I have to look into it more and I HATE needles :?

I felt that Dennis's treatment was a bit harsh there

Have to agree with that as well

 

[falafael]

Everytime i saw a blood van at various locations, i alwaysused to knock and say i had time spare to donate, but even thought they had no one in the van, they told me i had to have a appoiintment, so i registered and wud recieve phone calls when a local van was in the vicinity, but i was always working, so not a option, i could never make it to the sessions.

I even rang the bloodline, asking why can't they set it up in the local doctors surgery, as that woiuld encourage peopel to give more blood if it was on their doorstep, and wud be easier to manage...but no they said!

Seems something so easy has to be so hard nowadays!

 

[Maysie]

I was told that I would never be able to donate as I was so badly jaundice as a child (when born)

I thought the same, now I have to look into it more and I HATE needles :?

The one thing I learnt from my time donating is that the rules/guidelines for donation are always being tweaked, but I would be surprised if you were unable to donate as a result of jaundice. The nurse (or whatever it is they call themselves nowadays) looked at me like I was a nutter when I mentioned it to her - she had never heard of it before, so it makes you wonder how many of us there are out there!!

I really hate needles too by the way, although it made me feel like a bit of a hero each time I 'faced my fear' though!

I agree with dennisdk2000, the pre-donation questionnaire is very heavily stacked against donations from men in male-male relationships. There was absolutely no need for such a harsh reply to his post.

 

[Aleman]

Had to stop giving blood following the CJD hype due to the fact that I received 500ml of whole blood following a motor bike accident. . . . was really hacked off as it was something that I just found easy to do. . . . . As long as it was one of the nurses putting the cannula in and not one of the doctors . . . blimey were they butchers! You either ended up like a pin cushion or a bruise from wrist to arm pit!!!

Don't let that put you off giving though :lol:

 

[Tim_Crowhurst]

Seems mad if you ask me, our blood stocks are always too low but a lot of things in officialdom don't make sense to me.

Hoping for logic from government officialdom? Next thing you'd be asking for pixie dust so you can fly to Venus :lol:

I'm unable to donate. Not because I'm gay (I'm not much into anal or oral, I prefer more interesting stuff that the ban doesn't apply to) but because I have a needle phobia. I fainted during my first blood test, and just thinking about having a cannula put in makes me feel light-headed.

 

[itbrvilla]

Having been the recipient of 21 pints of blood in the past I am immensely grateful. Unfortunately it also means I am not allowed to give blood any more, but I used to when I was younger.

I'm in the same boat as yoy. Received transfessions so cannot donate.

 

[Duncs]

I decided to give blood last year to try to make my wife feel better about her getting stabbed with needles over at the hospital. Had the initial finger prick blood test, but when it came to actually giving blood, they said they couldn't find a vein big enough so I couldn't

 

[DrD]

I had a severe dislike of needles and was coerced into donating a few months ago. I work in a hospital, every now and again the blood donation lady comes around to guilt trip people into donating, being in a lab full of girls at the time I agreed and by the time donation day came around I couldn't come up with a viable excuse to avoid it.

So... I decided to use it as a way of getting over my aversion to pointy, vein piercing things. The donations were being done in the hospital sports centre and I found the atmosphere in there to be quite unpleasant, didn't realise I'd be lying down, too many needles and bags of blood etc etc. Went through the motions and almost backed out and legged it but told myself to stop being a fanny. The actual donation wasn't bad, minor pain in arm but that was it, nothing like the vampiric mortal danger I had pictured and I found the wait in the hall worse than the actual process itself. Doing it got me over my issues and as luck would have it I had reason to have a blood tests and influenza vaccinations shortly after, which I wasn't bothered by at all. The donating van is in my local supermarket car park tonight so I intend to pop in and get drained if they have space.


TL;DR - I didn't like needles, I gave blood anyway, now I don't care about needles.

 

[joe1002]

I donate regularly, in fact I donated this week. Think it was my 30th donation :thumb:

 

[Pearlfisher]

I used to donate when I worked at North Staffs RI , and tried to donate a few years ago but my iron levels were too low.

 

[Cononthebarber]

I donate as often as I can, think I'm on number 20 next time? I reckon really that I should as if I were ill or in an accident I would expect treatment including blood so I better give some back for others really? Also I find after I've given blood it only takes me about 3 pints before I'm trolleyed, so a cheap night out as well :lol:

Last time I went there was a little presentation for another bloke who had just given his 100th donation, I was well impressed! He got a present and a plaque, well done him :

 

[Maysie]

I donate as often as I can, think I'm on number 20 next time? I reckon really that I should as if I were ill or in an accident I would expect treatment including blood so I better give some back for others really? Also I find after I've given blood it only takes me about 3 pints before I'm trolleyed, so a cheap night out as well :lol:

Last time I went there was a little presentation for another bloke who had just given his 100th donation, I was well impressed! He got a present and a plaque, well done him :

I was really surprised how quickly my donation count went up when I was giving platelets. Because you can donate weekly, it really doesn't take long to 'overtake' those that donate whole blood. I was surprised that my donation count was way more than my Dad, who had donated for years, despite the fact that I only donated for around 3 years before I had to stop. The little badges they give out are a really nice touch.

 

[Cornish Knocker]

When living in the UK, always gave blood. The firm I used to work for even gave people time off to do it too, which meant no more going after work and getting home late (later). After leaving the UK in 2006 I no longer donate.

Was also on the bone marrow register and was called up to give a second blood test after a possible match, but came back negative.

The good thing was they did find some blood in my alcohol stream. :

 

[TRXnMe]

My best friend took 5 pints one night after parting company from a motorcycle, I started giving blood after that, had to stop when my blood pressure went over 100 on the bottom end, by then I'd managed to pay back more than twice what my mate had taken out the system so didn't feel too bad about it.

When I was giving I hated it, needles scare the stuff out of me and I never got over the fear

 

[dennisdk2000]

*

 

[phettebs]

As a cancer survivor, my blood is not welcome. As a needle hater, I got stuck more than enough when I was a patient. Much respect to those who give... :thumb: