Stop them, before they make off with the good platelets!!

The_Minister

Those blood-burglin boogymen are back, and they've got Robin.....I mean Rhesus!:eek:

No, seriously though, who is planning to give up a pint to the harvesters?

I probably won't due to exams and essays meaning that I have better things to do, and I can't be woozy.

They are in the Astra Hall today and tomorrow.

Raphael

And yesterday too. In fact, I think they may have been there since monday.

Ontopic, I can't give blood, due to being born in the UK in 1989 and proceeding to live there for a while

panda100

Raphael wrote:

And yesterday too. In fact, I think they may have been there since monday.

Ontopic, I can't give blood, due to being born in the UK in 1989 and proceeding to live there for a while

Me too.My english blood still isnt good enough for them despite living in Ireland for the last 8 years and being perfectly healthy and having enough blood to satisfy a ravenous vampire.

dajaffa

I cant give it either cause I'm just after getting the first in the series of Hep B vaccinations.

rain on

i can't because i have tattoos so they think i might have HIV.
also i'm scared of needles.

Seifer

rain on wrote:

also i'm scared of needles.

Was your tattoo licked on by kittens?

rain on

Seifer wrote:

Was your tattoo licked on by kittens?

are you kidding? have you seen the claws on those things?

Garret

i gave

took like an hour and a quarter

but they fed me before and after

good times

fish-head

I couldn't do it.. needles.. no..

elmyra

Giving blood is my pet ...issue, type thing.

It's been in the sig for months...it's one thing that you can just do rich or poor, young or old. I wholly support dajaffa's motion from last council.

It doesn't take long, unlike giving money to things, you know that it's going to the right place cos let's face it...there's not much underhand stuff you can get up to with a pint of blood. They also do treat you very very well! The clinic on d'olier street in town is particularly nice if you don't fancy queuing in college.

Also...it really, really doesn't hurt. Swear.

I'm all sad that I couldn't give this time cos of being sick cos it's this time of year that it's going to be needed....inevitably they run short around Christmas because that's when loads of accidents happen in the winter weather and people get busy with buying presents and doing Christmas stuff and people who have just served 90 days since last donating suddenly have to say 'oh, wait, I was in Bolivia or somesuch on my summer holidays and got x, y or z vaccination...can't give'....bleh, I'm not a med, I don't know the ins and outs of it...

but....seriously, they always run short around now and my poor ex with his fantastic rare blood has had to be called in to his local A&E on two of the last 3 Christmases (actually, last Christmas he dashed in, left his car unlocked and had his wallet and phone robbed while he was giving....bad or wha'?).

Moral of said story: Give blood!

Stepherunie

Here here, having spent the past week working in an major a&e dept I'm telling you it saves lives and improves peoples quality of life. Many major operations can't be undertaken without blood transfusions so without your help people will die.

I'm out for giving blood for three months or so as of today - however I can finally rejoice at the fact that after 3 years of rarely being allowed to give blood even though i tried many times that come January I'll be able to give blood more regularly as i've finally got my very last vaccination (only took three months of absolute panic to organise - damn the stupidness of the HSE).

Vorsprung

I got the flu vaccine last week so not sure if I can donate. I'm studying for some of my finals right now so not gonna make it into Belfield, but I try to get into D'Olier St as often as they'll let me, haven't be for about 5 months though at this stage. It's up there among the most selfless things you can do, and if you're not mad cow like Panda, head up tomorrow if you can.

Stepherunie

Pretty sure any vaccine rules you out for a minimum of 4 weeks although can't find any info on the ibts website to confirm but last time i tried to give blood and i'd had my varicilla vaccine 5 weeks previous they said it wasn't long enough.

rain on

kittens aside, I do think it's a very worthwhile thing to do and I do intend to give blood whenever possible, but the regulations make it pretty difficult for me:

Do not give blood for 6 months after:

* You have had any part of your body pierced
* You have had a tattoo
* You received acupuncture

these are the ones that get me. i have literally never in my adult life gone six months without doing any of the above and i probably won't for the forseeable future. they've relaxed the rules a bit lately though -- a few years ago you had to wait a year after getting either tattooed or pierced or possibly both -- so maybe with the rise in popularity and respectability of body mods, the regulations will be relaxed even further.

Stepherunie

The acupuncture one is also not for everyone - if you get it done by a physio and some other people you don't have to wait six months but you have to discuss it with them - they can advise you best.

Feral Mutant

Raphael wrote:

Ontopic, I can't give blood, due to being born in the UK in 1989 and proceeding to live there for a while

Weird, that's my exact situation. Same year and everything.

Garret

a confused alter ^


you can give if you've had the menangitis vaccine

randomchild

I gave, I normally do it in stillorgan but decided to do it in ucd so I could drag some other peopel with me.

pretty*monster

I tried to give blood, I tried really hard, but I have tiny girl veins which would not fill the blood bag.
Seriously.
It was most irritating after having gone through the whole assembly line thing, eating their horrible sandwich and generaly giving up an hour and a half of my life in order to do something good.

I'm just happy I'm not elligible to give platelets, at least I don't have to feel bad about that.

Byrno

If I didn't have this stupid cold I'd be down there in a flash. As everyone else has said here it is one of the most selfless things you can do and they are always looking for blood. I even got phoned one day to give blood as someone was going into surgery and they needed my white blood cells. Really felt good then!

elmyra

Byrno wrote:

If I didn't have this stupid cold I'd be down there in a flash. As everyone else has said here it is one of the most selfless things you can do and they are always looking for blood. I even got phoned one day to give blood as someone was going into surgery and they needed my white blood cells. Really felt good then!

I didn't know I could give more than blood. Tell me how to give platelets!!! Tell!!!

mloc

i cant give blood for health reasons but a few of my friends in final year pharm have been pestered into giving 100mls for experiments, those platelets need to be fresh.

how much does one donate to the blood bank? I'm grand with needles and so forth, but whenever I give a blood test sample of more than 2 vials I get unusually faint and ill. It's wierd, I have no problem giving the blood but afterwards my blood pressure plummets and I get all woozy. There was one time they kept using the wrong vacutainers for the blood samples and I had to give 6 vials... wasn't the best after that.

singingstranger

One donates 470ml at a time. About 5/6ths of a pint.

/me donated in D'Olier Street while at home

The_Minister

I tried to donate, but I chickened out:(

fish-head

I feel quesy reading this thread.. But I think the better part of me is poking at me to do it.

Pythia

Wasn't feeling well so didn't do it this time. Also, not sure if I can do it only 3 months after the dog bite I got.
Must ring up and check about that.