I donated blood today!

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Doubtful they don't allow much in the way of anything in the blood but if they can't detect it then yeah.

^That makes you wonder just how many donations are tainted with some type of drug. If they do pay you to donate, there would be many druggies willing to do so, just to buy their next fix.


I hope they test all the sample before using them.

Yes.

And they do test the samples before using them. I doubt they test for weed, but they do test for HIV, siphyllis (sp?), mad cow disease (seriously), and other blood-borne pathogens.

Every time I've donated blood, they've had a step where you can privately tell them not to use your blood. So you can donate blood even if you know you could infect someone - and tell them not to use your blood, or else they'll probably figure it out on their own.

BTW, HIV tests in particular keep getting more accurate. I imagine the Red Cross is careful enough to use the latest, fastest screening test and then re-test to weed out all the false positives. And I think they'll even call you and let you know if you test positive for anything.

If someone got a pint of my blood, they would probably get loaded from my "brain meds".

I routinely give blood every six months. It's some of the reasons I still look forward to the turn of every new year: no matter what goals I won't be able to achieve this time, I have a mission. At least if I can't find a purpose for my life, I am giving other people time to find theirs.

Needles make me squirm, people say it doesnt hurt, but I think it does, I would much rather keep my blood in my body, but that does sound a bit selfish, but it is just scarey.

I'd give, but I don't think I'm allowed =/

Also, my vains suck

Seeing as I lived in England, I will never be allowed to give blood in this country.

I think that if I could get over my fears I would like to donate blood so that I can help others, but it would have to be in England.

I regularly donate blood every few months. It's one of the few things I can easily contribute to this world, outside of helping people at my job. I feel really good afterwards knowing that every time I donate, it helps save 3 people.

Some of the blood drives I've been to have double red cell machines and double platelet machines. What they do is take a double amount of only one component of the blood (in this case, red cells or platelets), and it helps more people who need a specific component since you're donating several units of it, as opposed to one unit of each component of whole blood. I don't qualify for the double red cell machine since you have to be at least 5'5" and 150 lbs, which I'm not, but I've done the double platelet machine a couple times. The only difference between the platelet machine and donating whole blood is it takes over an hour for the platelets, and you might have a tingling sensation of the lips which has to do with something in the machine, but otherwise it's not much different.

I don't usually have any of the side effects of donating that some may get, like dizziness, nausea, or anything like that. The best way to prevent any of that is to take it easy for several hours afterward, especially not heavy lifting, don't smoke for at least an hour afterward (if you smoke), drink extra non-alcoholic fluids for the next day or two, and certainly have the food and drink offered at the donation site. I do all this to the letter and have very rarely had any problems afterward.

If you're eligible to donate, it's really a great thing to do. Every unit of whole blood donated helps to save 3 people. And you're giving the best gift you can give anyone: the gift of life.

I haven't donated any blood, but I would like to. I am registered on the bone marrow list, I was tested because they wanted my cousin't family members to be tested, she has leukemia, but is doing great now.

I would just like to point out that platelets can be received by any blood type