Running out of novel things to do now you've turned 18? Look no further!

I-Shot-Jr

I cant because I just came back from India.

ihavequestions

I can't because I have a heart murmur. I've tried twice, but it's on their damn records There's nothing wrong with my blood like, take it!! Apparently it's for "my own safety" and that "the needle could infect the lining of my heart and kill me" . Total crap, thats endocarditis, a completely different disorder to a murmur. God it makes me so mad because my cardiologist said there's nothing stopping me giving blood, and she should know it's her speciality, and yet I'm not allowed. I actually was way more excited to be finally able to give blood before I turned 18 than drinking and what not.

/rant over

SarahBeep!

My Iron levels are ALWAYS too low

MavisDavis

theowen wrote: »

I can't give blood for a blerg reason. Born in England, moved here when I was four, perfectly healthy and yet my foreign blood is unwanted. Blerg!

They don't want mine either.

I don't have BSE, so take my blood - I'm offering you FREE BLOOD, like!

**Timbuk2**

My twin brother gave blood today, on the same day that I got my Blood Donation Card in the post - I'm O Positive.

My dad is also O Positive (he's from the West, they are predominately blood group O) and my mother is B positive I think. If I'm O Positive it's probably safe to assume that my twin brother is anyway - sure we'll see!

I'm just putting this out there - I out-haemoglobined him by by 0.7. He vouches to beat me next time, but he won't :P (we're oddly competitive)

Insect Overlord

Good thing blood runs thicker than water :pac:

**Timbuk2**

My brother was also talking to a guy who gave blood today for the 101st time :O

How amazing is that?

My brother suggested that we should have a race and see who has given more blood by the time we reach 50. I think he's taking it a bit too far (but I will totally win)

But at least he did it! A lot of my friends were up for it, and decided not to when it was in Dundalk for silly reasons! I can't believe that only 5% of the population that are eligible to give blood, give blood. That is severely lacking!

Edit: Info on O Positive - interesting!
O positive blood is known as the universal donor, which means it can be given to people with other positive blood types such as A positive, B positive or AB positive blood groups. However, O positive blood people can receive blood from only O positive or O negative people. O negative people can receive blood from only O negative people. Transfusion of other blood types into the body will result in blood clotting of the patient. O negative blood can be given to anybody during dire situations wherein there is no time to identify the blood group type. Cancer, surgery, blood disorders, trauma, etc are times when blood transfusions are commonly required.

Looks like a good one then!

ironictoaster

Anyone in DCU or living around DCU may find this a bit of interest. I don't know if I can give blood, I'm giving blood samples to 4th year science students for the final year project for the past two weeks.

Hi everyone,


The Irish Blood Transfusion Service is coming to DCU next week. see below for details:


Venue: Multi Purpose Area (The Hub)

Date: 22nd, 23rd and 25th of November 2010

Times: 11:30am - 3:00pm
Platelet donor recruitment nurse will be present at this clinic.

How much blood is needed?

* 3,000 donations are needed every week
* Over 1,000 people receive transfusions every week in Ireland
* Only 3% of the Irish population give blood, providing blood for a population of over 4 million
* Only 5% of the Irish population eligible to give blood do so
* A car accident victim may require up to 30 units of blood
* A bleeding ulcer could require anything between 3-30 units of blood
* A coronary artery bypass may use between 1-5 units of blood


Please use this opportunity to donate. It will make all the difference !!

Piste

This thread is a good reminder, I have to go and donate soon. Hope the ol' Iron's up for it.

**Timbuk2**

Also for those in UCD, they will be there from Monday the 29th for the whole week, as far as I know. An excellent way to kill 2 hours between lectures!

A Neurotic

http://www.giveblood.ie/Current_Blood_Supply/

Blood levels are down again, due to the pesky weather. A good few of the peripheral clinics are closed apparently but the bigger ones should be open - replete with tasty snacks and hot tea. YUM.

Ginja Ninja

I completely forgot about this thread.I gave blood tuesday and for anyone who's thinking of it in this weather; Wrap up and drink plenty, you do feel the cold a lot more in this weather.I'm not trying to turn you off, they need blood more than ever with all the increased accidents due to the weather and the usual spike in demand around christmas.

Also, a friend that was going in with me got a phonecall tuesday morning saying his blood had been matched to a baby in crumlin hospital that was injured in an accident the night before, they asked if he was still in college could he please donate.So he did and when he mentioned in the clinic they marked his blood differently,put it in a special container and it was rushed to the hospital.

I'm not making this up, how cool is that? Don't forget that if you donate blood it will,quite literally save someone's life.I can't think of any scenario where you recieve a blood transfusion that isn't incredibly dangerous for the patient

bythewoods

Ginja Ninja wrote: »

I completely forgot about this thread.I gave blood tuesday and for anyone who's thinking of it in this weather; Wrap up and drink plenty, you do feel the cold a lot more in this weather.I'm not trying to turn you off, they need blood more than ever with all the increased accidents due to the weather and the usual spike in demand around christmas.

Also, a friend that was going in with me got a phonecall tuesday morning saying his blood had been matched to a baby in crumlin hospital that was injured in an accident the night before, they asked if he was still in college could he please donate.So he did and when he mentioned in the clinic they marked his blood differently,put it in a special container and it was rushed to the hospital.

I'm not making this up, how cool is that? Don't forget that if you donate blood it will,quite literally save someone's life.I can't think of any scenario where you recieve a blood transfusion that isn't incredibly dangerous for the patient

Fair play to your friend!
My granny needed a blood transfusion once, back in the day, and they had to put out an announcement on the radio asking for anyone with O- to come in and donate because they had none! Some man came in and my granny still says, to this day, that he saved her life! He did I guess!
(You can give O- to anyone, but if you are O- you can only get O-! So obviously if you're O-, or even O+ it's a huge incentive to go donate!)

Aoibheann

Just a few other things to note:

You can also donate platelets. Basically your blood goes out, platelets get filtered out from it, and the blood goes back in. You have slightly more rigourous testing to go through. There's the usual questionaire (might have a few different questions), then you go through said questionaire with the nurse there. After that, you're weighed and your height is measured. Once the weight criteria is satisfied, they check to see if your veins are suitable (alas, mine were not - too bendy to be able to take the pressure of the blood returning and too close to the bone to be sure of avoiding a haematoma. I was devastated, because I'd love to be able to donate platelets). It's not something enough people know about so just to let you all know it's there!

Secondly, you can go on the bone marrow registry. There's a lot of information on that link there, so take a look. It's probably a more serious committment as you're supposed to agree to remain on the panel until you're 55, but you can back out. It's something I'm going to sort out in the coming months myself anyway.

Mollikins

I was gonna drag up this thread when I heard that the blood levels were low to remind ye all but A Neurotic got there before me.

So after writing a freakin’ essay earlier in this thread I have now discovered that I probably can’t give blood after all. Bleurgh. Not fair.

Well done Ginja Ninja on giving blood. It’s great to hear that story about your friend too. It really brings the reality of it all home.

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

**Timbuk2** wrote: »

My dad is also O Positive (he's from the West, they are predominately blood group O) and my mother is B positive I think. If I'm O Positive it's probably safe to assume that my twin brother is anyway - sure we'll see!)

I was surprised when I read that, didnt realise their were differences in the most common blood type between different parts of the country. Just reading up on it now its really interesting.

bythewoods

Aoibheann wrote: »

Just a few other things to note:

You can also donate platelets. Basically your blood goes out, platelets get filtered out from it, and the blood goes back in. You have slightly more rigourous testing to go through. There's the usual questionaire (might have a few different questions), then you go through said questionaire with the nurse there. After that, you're weighed and your height is measured. Once the weight criteria is satisfied, they check to see if your veins are suitable (alas, mine were not - too bendy to be able to take the pressure of the blood returning and too close to the bone to be sure of avoiding a haematoma. I was devastated, because I'd love to be able to donate platelets). It's not something enough people know about so just to let you all know it's there!

Secondly, you can go on the bone marrow registry. There's a lot of information on that link there, so take a look. It's probably a more serious committment as you're supposed to agree to remain on the panel until you're 55, but you can back out. It's something I'm going to sort out in the coming months myself anyway.

Aoibheann, fair play for considering going onto the bone marrow registry!

It's meant to be really painful, so I'm wary of adding myself onto the reg, even though I know I'd defo donate to a family member or close friend if I was a match. Which is a bit shitty, but... /wimps and cowers.

I'm considering giving platelets though alright!
I'd love to give blood frequently, but my blood's too shit and iron-less for them most of the time, but this seems like a way around that!

**Timbuk2**

There are a few Dundalkians on this forum so I'll spam this here :P

The Blood Clinic crowd will be in the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Dundalk from 11.30am to 3.00pm tomorrow. Please, please, donate as there is a shortage of blood at the moment due to the cold conditions. The process takes at most 1 hour, doesn't hurt, and you will be given refreshments after!

As always, if you can't make Dundalk they will be in D'Olier Street and Stillorgan all the time.

Alas, didn't see this until now. I was definitely planning on giving blood soon. It would have been really handy to just pop in while they were in Dundalk.

**Timbuk2**

It's the thought that counts! Note that the D'Olier Street clinic is open all the time, which isn't too far out of the way if you're at college this week!

I convinced about 5/6 people to go today, but unfortunately only 2 actually went! The others had excuses, but I'm sure they could have went if they actually tried harder - although one of my friends said that the last time he went for a checkup, his white blood count was low so he didn't want to risk donating - which was probably fair enough. But the others are just lazy :P

It was on the RTE News today as well about blood supplies being low.

Pigwidgeon

Just thought I'd give this a bump again.

After a shockingly long time due to many reasons out of my control, I've finally managed to give blood again today.

Again, my blood was very slow, so it took quite a while and I was made lie down for 5 minutes after as a precaution before I could get my snacks it was still a good experience. I went to the clinic in D'olier Street. I gotta say the staff are lovely.

Also, a few tips for anyone else who might have the same problem with slow blood. Make sure you're as warm as possible, take your coat off at the very last minute before you donate; drink plenty of water, start the day before like loads, I had 1.5 litres before I went this afternoon and it was still slow so she said at least 2 litres; also try make sure you're not tired.

Happy donating folks

**Timbuk2**

The IBTS released this video recently - very informative. Thought I'd drag this thread back up, as it's what encouraged me to donate blood for the first time (I gave again for the 2nd last week!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWAPfFIAmzg

A Neurotic

Apparently my veins are a bit dodgy but they're going to "give it a go" on Thursday for platelet donation.

Stupid veins.

**Timbuk2**

My veins were a bit odd when I gave blood last week.

They were going to take it from my right arm, but they said the veins weren't that visible (?) there, so they tried my left - they said the veins on my left arm were much better, so I was moved to the chair next to me and they took blood from my left arm.

I feel lobsided

Grindylow

Well lawds! :P

I'm 18 now so like.. I can probably donate!

How do I find out when the clinic yokes are in Waterford?

**Timbuk2**

Noel2k9 wrote: »

Well lawds! :P

I'm 18 now so like.. I can probably donate!

How do I find out when the clinic yokes are in Waterford?

Fair play to you!

Go to www.giveblood.ie and press Where to Give Blood, and select Waterford.

They are there on the 28th to the 3rd in Sacred Heart Parish Centre, The Folly from 4.30 to 8.00pm (You probably know where that is)

Or they're in Cappoquin Community Centre, Cappoquin, Co Waterford, on the 24th February.

And from the 7th - 10th March, they're in Woodlands Hotel, Dunmore Road

So lots of choice :P

Grindylow

**Timbuk2** wrote: »

Fair play to you!

Go to www.giveblood.ie and press Where to Give Blood, and select Waterford.

They are there on the 28th to the 3rd in Sacred Heart Parish Centre, The Folly from 4.30 to 8.00pm (You probably know where that is)

Or they're in Cappoquin Community Centre, Cappoquin, Co Waterford, on the 24th February.

And from the 7th - 10th March, they're in Woodlands Hotel, Dunmore Road

So lots of choice :P

Ah thanks Tim! :P

Hmm so I'll probably just go to the sacred heart one so!

What happens the first time you go? :P

Pigwidgeon

**Timbuk2** wrote: »

My veins were a bit odd when I gave blood last week.

They were going to take it from my right arm, but they said the veins weren't that visible (?) there, so they tried my left - they said the veins on my left arm were much better, so I was moved to the chair next to me and they took blood from my left arm.

I feel lobsided

Mine are like that too. They can only ever get it from my right arm. First time I tried I had lovely huge bruises on both arms.

Pigwidgeon

Noel2k9 wrote: »

What happens the first time you go? :P

I can't multiquote on my phone so sorry for the double post.

Going the first time takes a bit longer, you fill out some forms, go for an interview. Then they test your iron levels through a finger **** ask a few more questions and then you're off.

Start drinking water from the night before at least two litres, try not to be tired and be as warm as possible and you should be grand.

If you watch that video Tim posted you'll get a better idea. Their website and Facebook page are great. They tend to respond quickly to questions.

Best of luck with it

**Timbuk2**

The first time isn't any worse, per se, as other times - it just takes longer because (a) the form you fill out is more detailed and (b) you have to have an interview with a nurse, who basically asks the questions you were asked on the form. Then they test your iron levels (which happens every time anyway) by pricking a finger (it doesn't hurt).

They'll put you on a bed/chair thing, then they'll start taking the blood (this takes about 5 minutes, you can't see any blood while it's happening). Once you're done, they might put you sitting on another bed for about 5 minutes before they direct you to refreshments (usually can of pepsi, biscuits and crisps, etc.) - as it's your first time, they'll only let you drink cold drinks afterwards - no tea or coffee!

Best of luck with it