giving blood

i gave blood when the roadshow pulled up in dunshaughlin...

but i've one gripe.

They never sent me out that letter with my blood type on it, and they have me registered as Ms. Vincent Lawlor.

and they're in the medical profession? i'm damn sure i ticked the male box!!

Tusky wrote:

Does it matter if you...partake in certain illegal substances ? does that make your blood crappy ?

Do you think if a doctor gives someone codeine that they want that does upped with some heroin?

pork99 wrote:

You would think with advances in biotechnology and genetic engineering over the last few years they would be able to make blood in a lab? They could manufacture as much as needed and it would be much safer - no contamination with AIDs, hepatitis etc

They can, the blood plasma that's in the bags of blood at the blood bank is synthetic, they just use your red and white platelets.

Sleepy wrote:

The restrictions are crazy in fairness. Not accepting blood donations from gay men is blatent discrimination. Assuming it stems from gay men being a higher risk category for AIDS/HIV due to their sexual practices, why is there no bar on women who have indulged in anal sex? Same activity, exact same risk level.

It *is* discrimination. HETEROSEXUALS have a higher rate of HIV infection than homosexuals!

You can't ever give blood here if you've had sex with an African is another ridiculous rule. I'm assuming all blood donations are _screened_ for diseases and virii, otherwise what's to stop gay Africans who lived in the UK during the 80's and 90's who've just recently gotten a tattoo from giving blood?

We really do have *ridiculous* rules for giving blood in this country.

Yes I just realised this last night, but as I said before, what is to STOP someone with HIV from donating blood? Donated blood has a shelf life of only a few days, and HIV can't be detected for a few weeks under normal tests.

An unsettling thought, isn't it?

Well, yesterday on my way home, I decided to actually go into the blood clinic in Dolier Street rather than walk past it like I usually do, and give blood for the first time (I had no plans for the evening and basicly thought, "why the hell not"). So, for all you newbies (now that I'm no longer amongst you ), heres exactly what happens.

Walk in, sit down at a desk, woman takes your name and dob, and then says "You haven't been here before, have you?". Once this is established, she hands you a form, which you fill in at a seat and leave in a box, this takes about 10 mins, covers all the obvious questions along with some innocent sounding ones like "Have you spent more than 3 years in the UK since 1980?" or "Have you done coke in the past year?"

Then you are called in to be interviewed by a nurse who asks you a bit about your medical history, as well as asking you things like "Have you ever had anal or oral sex from another man?" with an alarmingly straight face.

Next thing, you get sent up to the iron tester, who basicly says that he's going to test your iron level, and puts your hand on a red pad on the desk, thats wired up to a little red machine. He tells you that this is an iron tester and that it'll test your blood to see that you're not anaemic and stuff, is that OK? You say yes, he says "Hang on a second, and your iron count should appear on the machine" and as soon as you look away he touches your finger with a little pen that takes a sample of your blood, with a feeling not unlike being pinched. It made me jump and he laughed and said "Hey, had to get your blood somehow, don't worry, the worst part of your entire time here is over". He looked at my iron count and asked if I'd had dinner. I hadn't, and he knew it, so he pulled out a Mars bar and a carton of orange and said "Eat these or get some free food from the canteen, and then we'll take your blood." I duly ate them, and then he sent me into the donation room, full of chairs not entirely unlike lazy boys.

You sit down, and a band is put around your arm, and you're given a squeezy toy. You lie back, and a nurse chats to you for a minute while she monitors you blood presusre and stuff, with a machine that goes ping. Then a doctor comes over and says that they're now ready to take your blood, that they're going to put the needle in now. She then took one look at my arm and said "You work with computers, don't you?" I said yes, she replyed "You can always tell by the arms, the keyboard side veins are usually practicly invisible and very hard to reach, hopefully this won't hurt a bit". She stuck the needle in, and missed the vein. Again, felt like a fairly hard pinch. She apologised, and said they'd give it another go if that was OK with me. I agreed, and she hit it the second time, and it was virtually painless.

The doctor moved on, and the nurse kept chatting, reminding me every so often to squeeze the bone toy I had in my hand. 15 mins later it was all done, they stuck a plaster on, and I was left to rest for a few minutes, feeling a bit dozy, but no more than that, before going the canteen, where they supplied me with sandwitches, chocolate, crisps and orange, all free. Jokingly I said to the woman at the counter "Don't you serve Guinness any more?" "Only to those who ask for it." she replied, pulling a bottle of Guinness out from under the counter. I ate and drank my fill, pretty slowly because the arm the needle had been in was quite stiff, and felt the drowiness lift. In 15 mins I was as right as rain, apart from a stiff left arm, and I continued on my merry way.

Overall, a pretty good experience, surprisingly relaxing and enjoyable, fairly little pain (just 2 pinches, and 15 minutes of an uncomfortable tickling sensation in your arm), a stiff arm for the evening, with free food, drink and friendly company. I'll be donating again in a few months time I think

You're taking coke with a friend/aquantance. They hand you a rolled up note that's just been up their nose, and as often happens, their nose has bled a bit onto the note. You then snort, and the virus is passed on.

It's actually a very real possibility, google it.

I used to give blood regularly as an undergraduate, and then when they tightened up the rules, they refused to accept my blood anymore. I had heart surgery when I was 10, and there is a risk that I will contract septicemia(?) or something similar from the needle. it's really annoying, my blood is fine but they won't take it!!