View Full Version : Giving Blood
DarrenSV650S
21-02-08, 10:30 PM
If this doesn't guilt trip you into giving blood nothing will
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k164/DarrenStewartTait/DSCF0002-2.jpg
ASM-Forever
21-02-08, 11:27 PM
I give blood, probably more on an ad hoc basis than anything and i have to say they are a bit pushy, bombarding you with letters etc.
Having said that i gave some blood at uni a while ago and i ate the whole pack of biscuits. I think i know who came out ahead! :)
Also they sometimes won't let me donate and sometimes they will....*******s.
Keith1983
21-02-08, 11:29 PM
I have never and will never give blood............................................. .................................................. .................................................. ......................... Purely down to the fact that I have a heart defect and am not allowed to as it would cause me serious problems. I do however agree with it in principal.
I do, but only on condition it doesn't go to Scotland as they get enough freebies there as it is.
ASM-Forever
21-02-08, 11:34 PM
I do, but only on condition it doesn't go to Scotland as they get enough freebies there as it is.
:smt003
I do, but only on condition it doesn't go to Scotland as they get enough freebies there as it is.
Don't they have their own separate blood service like Wales does?
lukemillar
21-02-08, 11:40 PM
I think i know who came out ahead!
:lol: Genius!
I hate giving blood, but I still do it because I totally agree with the principle. I even went for blood platelet donating test the other other day as apparently I have a high count. However, I passed out after the blood test, fell off the chair and smacked my head on the radiator on the way down, so they wouldn't let me donate :( That is the sort of reaction I always have with anything blood and needle related!
Luckypants
21-02-08, 11:40 PM
Don't they have their own separate blood service like Wales does?
Do we have local blood for local people? Oes na gostyniad am bobl sy'n siarad Cymraeg?
Do we have local blood for local people?
yup
Oes na gostyniad am bobl sy'n siarad Cymraeg?
i have no idea what that means
ASM-Forever
21-02-08, 11:44 PM
:lol: Genius!
I hate giving blood, but I still do it because I totally agree with the principle. I even went for blood platelet donating test the other other day as apparently I have a high count. However, I passed out after the blood test, fell off the chair and smacked my head on the radiator on the way down, so they wouldn't let me donate :( That is the sort of reaction I always have with anything blood and needle related!
I don't particularly like needles either. I just look away and focus on other stuff. If i pretend its not hapening it isn't.
:smt020 La la la la.....
ASM-Forever
21-02-08, 11:45 PM
Don't they have their own separate blood service like Wales does?
You're allowed to sacrifice factual accuracy for comic effect. Its the law........
lukemillar
21-02-08, 11:57 PM
I don't particularly like needles either. I just look away and focus on other stuff. If i pretend its not hapening it isn't.
:smt020 La la la la.....
That's what i try and do! Just staring out the window. Next thing I know I'm on the floor with a cut on my forehead and about 10 nurses (hello!) round me.
ASM-Forever
21-02-08, 11:58 PM
10 nurses (hello!) round me.
A clever ploy, if ever i heard of one. :)
10 though...thats just greedy! Personally i think their is a saturation point around 7 nurses. :p
lukemillar
22-02-08, 12:07 AM
10 though...thats just greedy! Personally i think their is a saturation point around 7 nurses. :p
Hey, I didn't get a choice!
"If you pass out, they will come..." :D
ASM-Forever
22-02-08, 12:09 AM
Hey, I didn't get a choice!
"If you pass out, they will come..." :D
Knowing my luck they would all be old and ugly. Maybe only a good idea in Oz. ;)
northwind
22-02-08, 12:27 AM
I'm not allowed... TBH I can't help but think that some of the disqualification criteria are a bit daft, if we really are as drastically short on blood as we're told why are we disqualifying people who've received recent transfusions for instance? I can understand the concern over older blood stocks, but mine was just 2 years ago and so would have been donated under current rules- so there's no more chance of my own blood being a CJD risk than there is with the blood currently in stock. But under current rules, they'll never take my blood again.
Some of the sexual disqualifications seem OTT as well, frinstance if you're a man who's ever had oral sex with another man, even with a condom, you're considered an unacceptable risk... Even if it was a decade ago and you've been screened for HIV since. But not just that, if you're a woman who's ever had sex with a man who's ever had oral sex with another man (even with a condom, even after testing) then you're also considered a risk, so great is the risk of catching homosexuality.
chakraist
22-02-08, 01:24 AM
Out of interest, what the hell are blood products? Sounds like some sort of franchise scheme.
northwind
22-02-08, 01:37 AM
Out of interest, what the hell are blood products?
An emo band
tigersaw
22-02-08, 01:44 AM
I gave gallons in the past, but then they told me there wasn't enough iron or lead or whatever in it, and not to come back
chakraist
22-02-08, 01:59 AM
An emo band
haha, made me chuckle. 'hi we're the blood products and we cry ourselves to sleep.'
Out of interest, what the hell are blood products? Sounds like some sort of franchise scheme.
Plasma, platelet, immunoglobulin, red cells etc. Various components or products derived from whole blood used to treat specific conditions.
http://www.patient.co.uk/showdoc/40000201/
I quite fancy having a go at platelet donation, they hook you up to this funky machine which extracts some blood, removes the bits they need and then pumps rest back into you, how cool is that !
Gazza77
22-02-08, 10:37 AM
Don't they have their own separate blood service like Wales does?
Yes they do.
Gazza77
22-02-08, 10:38 AM
Plasma, platelet, immunoglobulin, red cells etc. Various components or products derived from whole blood used to treat specific conditions.
http://www.patient.co.uk/showdoc/40000201/
I quite fancy having a go at platelet donation, they hook you up to this funky machine which extracts some blood, removes the bits they need and then pumps rest back into you, how cool is that !
It also takes a whole lot longer than blood donation and can only be done at certain centres. Great if you can do this, but be aware of the downsides.
SoulKiss
22-02-08, 10:42 AM
Would do, but they dont want mine.
Have given in the past tho
It also takes a whole lot longer than blood donation and can only be done at certain centres. Great if you can do this, but be aware of the downsides.
They do platelet donation at my local centre, I've read all the info, just have to wait until I'm ok to donate again.
eviltwin
22-02-08, 10:55 AM
I'm not allowed... TBH I can't help but think that some of the disqualification criteria are a bit daft, if we really are as drastically short on blood as we're told why are we disqualifying people who've received recent transfusions for instance? I can understand the concern over older blood stocks, but mine was just 2 years ago and so would have been donated under current rules- so there's no more chance of my own blood being a CJD risk than there is with the blood currently in stock. But under current rules, they'll never take my blood again.
I'm banned for that reason too. I'm also a vegetarian which makes it all the more amusing
Welsh_Wizard
22-02-08, 11:06 AM
I can't.. tattoo's.
I'm all for the idea of giving blood, and have done it lots in the past (I got badges and stuff to prove it). I also enjoyed the biscuits.
I think theres a fine line to be drawn though in the way the operation is ran our centres (not sure about yours) between:
Doing good for the community and potentially saving a life or two and getting that warm fuzzy "helping out feeling"
and
taking 3 hours off work to sit in a cold hall and read cr*ppy magazines about decorating your home whilst being herded like numbered cattle.
tigersaw
22-02-08, 01:15 PM
I can't.. tattoo's.
? Whats the ruling on that then? Its 20 years since I got at tattoo, but longer since I gave blood, I remember the bit about not taking asprins etc 48 hours prior, but thats about it
ASM-Forever
22-02-08, 01:30 PM
I'm all for the idea of giving blood, and have done it lots in the past (I got badges and stuff to prove it). I also enjoyed the biscuits.
I think theres a fine line to be drawn though in the way the operation is ran our centres (not sure about yours) between:
Doing good for the community and potentially saving a life or two and getting that warm fuzzy "helping out feeling"
and
taking 3 hours off work to sit in a cold hall and read cr*ppy magazines about decorating your home whilst being herded like numbered cattle.
:smt046
wyrdness
22-02-08, 01:51 PM
? Whats the ruling on that then? Its 20 years since I got at tattoo, but longer since I gave blood, I remember the bit about not taking asprins etc 48 hours prior, but thats about it
6 months, according to the Blood Transfusion web site www.blood.co.uk
DarrenSV650S
22-02-08, 04:55 PM
? Whats the ruling on that then? Its 20 years since I got at tattoo, but longer since I gave blood, I remember the bit about not taking asprins etc 48 hours prior, but thats about itOn the back of the letter I got, it says if you have had ear/body piercing or a tattoo within the last year your blood could transmit an infection. Also if you have visited the dentist within the past 24 hours
...they rejected me last time round cos I'd just got back from the USA and they said I might have West Nile Disease:rolleyes:
Huh I never got a letter :( but I don't really need one, just know its the right thing to do :) never know when I am going to need it back :smt103
I donate regularly I think its great to do considering how easy it is.
On the 'daft' rules though I did read an article in one of their magazines about how infections spread through blood donations and they were able to show how infections were much more likely in countries that didnt have strict selection criteria. So fair enough I suppose, wouldnt want to catch 'tattoo disease' or anything......eewwww. :-)
BernardBikerchick
23-02-08, 12:41 PM
If this doesn't guilt trip you into giving blood nothing will
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k164/DarrenStewartTait/DSCF0002-2.jpg
i have no guilt as i have given about 20 pints over the years
northwind
23-02-08, 12:55 PM
On the 'daft' rules though I did read an article in one of their magazines about how infections spread through blood donations and they were able to show how infections were much more likely in countries that didnt have strict selection criteria. So fair enough I suppose, wouldnt want to catch 'tattoo disease' or anything......eewwww. :-)
Oh aye, very true, good selection criteria are essential- we've been caught twice in this country already after all, so it's no wonder we're a bit paranoid. But there's probably a middle ground. At the moment (according to a doctor mate) we're banning a significant number of suitable, safe candidates, and often younger and fitter ones (since statistically within the donor age ranges we're more likely to be getting tattoos and bein' all deviant and stuff.) who're also statistically very likely to give blood... while at the same time guilt tripping everyone else. Maybe if the risks of running short are so big we could run a 2-stage blood bank, a primary store of "known good" blood and a secondary, emergency store of "smells a bit funny when you take it out of the fridge" slightly suspect blood to be used only when the main stocks fall.
Plasma, platelet, immunoglobulin, red cells etc. Various components or products derived from whole blood used to treat specific conditions.
http://www.patient.co.uk/showdoc/40000201/
I quite fancy having a go at platelet donation, they hook you up to this funky machine which extracts some blood, removes the bits they need and then pumps rest back into you, how cool is that !
Though many of the products that are manufactured from blood plasma (Immunoglobulins, Albumin, clotting agents etc.) are made from plasma that comes from outside the UK.
In the case of the S.N.B.T.S. they get supplies from the USA and Germany. American and German plasma is used due to the theoretical risk of the transmission of variantCJD.
Therfore if you do donate blood and your blood is taken, it will not end up being turned into these blood products.
Though you should not let that dissuade you from donating Blood, since whole Blood is certainly one of the most important medicines found in any hospital. (that last bit sounds like an advert!)
Hatman.
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