Em hotep everyone,

I decided to post this today in honor of the countless men and women who return from warfare wounded and in need of hospital attention. However, it goes without saying that this action can help all those in need of aid in the fight against illness or recovery from injury.

Yesterday, I donated blood for the first time in my life. I was rather nervous about it! A.) I'm not a big fan of needles. B.) I have itty-bitty veins.

But it was so easy.

There are countless blood banks around, permanent locations with the same set-up as you would find at a blood drive. I went to the Central Blood Bank of Pittsburgh, was greeted by a wonderfully kind medical technician who answered all of my questions and gave me a very straight-forward questionnaire about my own health history, which I answered in a secure, private room. The process itself only took maybe half an hour, and other than a pinch at my elbow no worse than a standard vaccination, it was all quite easy and comfortable. (Also, free cookies afterward! :D)

There are, of course, political issues surrounding donation at the present time, regarding those individuals who are or are not permitted to donate based on their romantic activities. I dearly hope that in the future these prejudices can be put aside and the tests of science, not hate, will decide which blood is acceptable for use.

In the meantime, I urge those of you who are able to donate to consider doing so. It was so much easier than I expected, and I find myself feeling incredibly grateful that I was able to help another person, even in a small way.

The links below offer information about the process and a means of finding a blood bank near you:

General Red Cross: http://www.redcross.org/donate/give/
Central Blood Bank: http://www.centralbloodbank.org/
A great FAQ from GulfCoast Regional Blood Center: http://www.giveblood.org/faqs

Senebty and thank you,
Ekunyi

I'm committed for life (that's what my area's once a quarter program's called), and was able to donate a few months ago, so i'll be up for next one in mid dec. Yes, the cookies and juice are awesome, but make sure to have a hearty meal a few hours beforehand and eat iron-rich foods too, as well as a hearty meal afterwards. ^_^

Central Blood Bank and CORE are really wonderful out your way. I agree with you about sexual orientation. It is upsetting to many of my gay friends that they can't help out b/c of it. I can see it changing in the near future though. They have to test each sample anyway.

(I lived in PGH for 2 years while going to school :-D)
Nice city, I kinda miss the beauty of it.

I stopped donating at Red Cross places after I found out that they often sell the blood you donate to research facilities (even overseas) instead of giving it to the hospitals, while at the same time complaining that there's a lack of blood in said hospitals.

I've taken to donating at the same hospital (DHZB) that Ibet has her heart surgeries in. They store it themselves and use it for their patients and those of the bordering hospital (on the same grounds).

And I hear you when you say "eek, needles". That's why I donate. So I can put that fear aside by doing something useful for others.

EDIT: They actually refuse donations from people who are not heterosexuals? I can't believe it! Over here they aren't even allowed to ask questions about such things. They do however, do a quick test to check primary values in your blood and it gets tested after you donate, so they *might* contact you, telling you "sorry, but we can't use your blood because of thisandthat". Effectively, you get a free HIV and Hepa test whenever you donate.

I used to donated 4 times a year, three of which were through the local Alpha Phi Omega chapter, where I actually ran the drive for a few years.

No, the Red Cross does not prevent you from donating if you are gay or bi. They do if you are a male who has had sex with a male, or if you are female who has had sex with a male who has had sex with a male...I made the mistake a number of years back of answering the question truthfully (after a number of years of not), and now I am in the system. So they will take my blood if I lie, but when it gets checked in the computers, they will throw it out as unusable. Yeah, that's why I haven't donated with them for years.

Maybe I should see if there are alternatives locally.

Gee, that is SO silly! And biased and discriminating. Duh. I'd say some other things, but they'd most surely violate the "polite discussion" rule. *stomps off grumbling*

Padjai, if you find alternatives can you post them?

Very interesting post. I actually did a "persuasive speech" at my community college about donating blood. It is beneficial for men to donate as they are more susceptible to hemochromatosis. If men donate it can lower the iron count and possibly prevent heart disease which is associated with hemochromatosis. Obviously this is not the only reason people should donate blood. You save lives by donating. Just thought I would throw that in.

There were years that I was unable to donate due to getting tattoos. I personally think it shouldn't matter, as stated before the blood gets tested before being given to a recipient.

By the way, I am new here and am enjoying reading the posts and learning more about KO. Have a wonderful day.

In UK, and presumably elsewhere, your blood is not acceptable if you have/have had cancer; dito if you have ever been on steroids for medical reasons.

It is good to see more donors !

My experiences with the Red Cross have been more positive than with the local alternative here, United Blood Services, but I have been flagged on the questionnaires because I was in the military in the 1980s (but *not* in any of the countries afflicted with Kreuzfeld-Jakob disease) and because I have been vaccinated for smallpox (like all babies were then). Ambiguous questions, ugh.

There is currently a one-year waiting period after getting a tattoo; there is also such a waiting period after getting a bone graft. I've had both (the latter was part of dental surgery, but I think of it as a gift from my Father Yinepu), so I did other good deeds for a year before giving blood again.

You guys are lucky

When I donated once, it took me a week and a half to be un-bedbound and not to fall over/etc. Turns out they disposed of my blood because they considered it 'too weak', whatever that means. I was healthy when they took my blood. I'll never forget, August 11th, lol.

But during it, I almost lost consciousness several times, and they kept insisting I have lollipops and water when I had no desire for it (me, as a sugar-holic, that's unusual). I felt the concept of feeling my pulse beating outside me pretty creepy (the tubes were on my arm), but I thought I was doing it for a good cause. ^^; (had they used my blood I'm sure it would have.) They later informed me, very seriously, never to donate again, because they "almost lost me a few times", and refused to tell me what that meant when I asked them further. Most of that day was a blur.

So yeah, not a fun experience here at all, but it's great hearing you guys had better ones.

So, last week I started donating plasma (honestly, it was because I needed money, and am having an almost impossible time finding a job).

After a few false starts, my first time made it through about 70% of the way before I got a little nauseous, and had to stop (woke up late, didn't have time to eat before). The second time, no problems.

I don't know how long I will do this, or how often (up to 2x a week), but it has been interesting to read up on how it is used differently from whole blood, etc.

I've been wanting to donate blood regularly, but with my schedule changing so much I honestly haven't had the ability to. I plan to, though, as I'm being urged to more and more as time passes.

While I was in high school, I donated at a blood drive. Watched them hook me up, watched other people come and go, had no problems. Someone offered to walk me back to the school and I didn't need it. They wouldn't let me leave for class for 25 minutes after I donated. Kept trying to feed me pizza and rice krispie treats and what have you. I finally took a treat and got to leave but didn't feel nauseated or pass out the entire time. It kind of comforts me to know that I can give blood with minimal side-effects, and encourages me to donate!

Edit: I had no problems getting stuck for blood donations, but they refuse to stick me for plasma donations! D: They say my veins are too small- it's crap!
Also, on the topic of male/male sexual history with donations.. HIV is better transmitted through- for lack of a better phrase- "going Greek" as it has a higher risk of contact with blood. It sucks, but they really shouldn't discriminate.. At the same time, it's rather inappropriate in general to ask if the donors have "gone Greek" (though, I'll agree it's still inappropriate to ask sexual orientation). And if they didn't deter SOME people, blood drives would be abused for their "free [disease] test!" ....There's no way to stop abuse, but there's no way to accept blood without testing it, and they can't test it and not tell the donor, and they shouldn't discriminate.. Gah!! It's a vicious circle!

I would gladly give my blood, in fact I tried once, but I am black listed, and it took them a 3 hour process before they decided to black list me.

Yep unfortunately i am also unable to give due to having a hereditary heart condition, its a real shame though as i would love to give

I used to donate blood in high school and sometimes plasma.

Then I got sick. Apparently being subjecting to chemotherapy and nuclear testing makes you forbidden to ever donate blood again, no matter how bad they need your type locally...

I agree it's horse poodoo.

Even though I too am forbidden from donating blood because of my orientation I did it once anyway. I figured hey, I work in the medical field and have to draw blood from people all the time, why not give a little back?

Unfortunately I ended up unable to move for nearly an hour. So much as trying to sit up and the world turned white and I got far closer to passing out than was comfortable. I still donate plasma though on occasion, plus the little bit of cash they give you really helps out when you're a starving college student

I would love to donate blood but I am too underweight to do so. I think loosing a pint of blood would be like loosing 50% of my blood volume!

I have an O+ blood type which is almost classed as a Universal Donour (if I was O- I would be a true Universal Donour) as I can donate my blood to every blood type, except negatives. I feel that I should donate my blood for that reason, but I can't

Never experienced Sekhmet until this week. Strangely enough, it's the week I finally got around to donating blood.
Ended up finding out I'm O+ and encouraged to donate double bags. Can't do that unless my Fe bumps up. After a day of broccoli and steak (not lying, like a pound of steak and tons of leafy greens/ greens all day) my hemoglobin was only 12.6 O_o (minimum is 12.5). Apparently women naturally have low Fe so.. Joy. Worth the effort. Ohhhh noooo.... Whatever am I gonna do pigging out on steak. And broccoli. All day. :3

Will be donating on a regular basis now, granted I can get my iron up.

IRON SUPPLEMENTS, FOR THE GREATER GOOD.

I can't give blood anymore due to a course of steroids a few years ago and my regular ventures into malaria zones.

I can't donate blood because I don't weigh enough. Otherwise I totally would.

I feel like I must of had a traumatic past life experience or something because ever since I was little I've had an irrational fear of loosing blood. I've gotten better but sometimes I can't even watch it being donated. My utmost respect and admiration to those that do. Nekhtet!!

I donated blood for the first time last weekend, to the New Jersey Blood Bank. I was okay until they took the needle out, at which point I got nauseous and faint, and they had to lie me down for a while. And then at home I had to haul some water up to the house (since with the power out from Sandy we have no running water), and I got a bit light-headed and almost passed out into the brook. But other than that, the experience was fine. ^_^

Shefyt

Em Hotep,

I HAVE to address this.

The resources that I have seen, a person is no more likely to contract HIV or AIDS from homosexual activity than heterosexual activity. It is not the SOCIAL activity that is the issue, and that needs to be made abundantly clear. What SHOULD be clear is the RISK FACTORS, such as multiple partners or unprotected sex. The blood donation ban against homosexual men (or MSM- Men who have sex with men) is a discriminatory policy. Period.

The current Blood Ban in place is based of statistics from the 70's and a few HIV contamination scares in the 80's. That's over 20 years ago, and new information is coming out all the time. The current Blood Ban is in place because of information that was not complete or fully understood at the time.

And I will point out that there are several countries that HAVE over-turned that ban on blood donation:
"France, Spain, Italy, Russia and Portugal have adopted blood-donor policies that measure risk against a set of behaviours, sexual and otherwise, rather than the sex of a persons sexual partner(s). According to the AIDS Committee of Toronto (ACT), this is also the direction that Switzerland is moving." (endtheban.ca, retrieved November 8th, 2012)

If you believe the practice is unfair, then I urge people to talk to their local blood bank about it. Challenge the policy, ask questions, and donate in lieu of others who can't.

If you want more information, here are a few links. Please be aware that most of them are Canadian links:
http://www.endtheban.ca
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_male_blood_donor_controversy
http://healthland.time.com/2011/09/15/br...-be-far-behind/

And please, don't get me started on the ban on organ donation for homosexual men in Canada either.

Senebty,
~Maret

I just wanted to say, thank you Maret for being so thorough and precise in the explanation of the policy. It is nice to see the myths be put to rest.

Thank you, Maret, for the information, and my apologies for not staying on top of the thread I began.

Em Hotep Nenek and Ekunyi,

I'm not angry, just keep that in mind. But it is a cause that I have recently started doing work with at my University, so I am very familiar with this. Given the urgent need for blood donors, it seems that having a policy so backwards and out-dated is literally preventing a large portion of the population from donating.

I frequently volunteer at an "End the Ban" table every time that Canadian Blood Services is doing a blood drive at my University. It is never our aim to STOP people from donating, as blood donations save lives. What I do encourage people to do is become aware of the facts, ask questions of the staff, and overtly say that they are donating on behalf of someone who can't because of the policy.

~Maret

There are also still prohibitions on women who have had male partners who have had sex with men. Again, same thing happening here.

Em Hotep,

Yes, that is also important to note.

~Maret

If you are able to donate blood, there is a critical need for it in the Northeast. Due to the storm, over 300 blood drives had to be cancelled and some hospitals lost their entire supply due to power failure.

Not meaning to revive an old thread, but I am going to donate blood tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully my hemocrit'll be high enough that I can.

Siwy: Best of luck to you! Take it easy afterwards!

~Maret

Well, I tried. I had a high enough hemocrit, but the lady assumed that since I said "I'm left-handed" meant that I wanted the blood drawn out of that arm, which means they didn't get any blood out of me. What I meant is that "I'm left-handed, since it's my dominant arm, don't use it." Well, I'll be scheduling to go back sometime in the next few weeks.

I used to donate plasma and blood fairly regularly to a place that uses it for young babies (mostly) and others who need it in my area. My first few plasma donations went fine, but the last time I went, the woman stuck the needle in wrong, so it took twice as long to get my plasma. I nearly fainted, and after I went back to work the next day, I had a dizzy spell and had to grab one of our racks in order not to fall over.

After that, I stopped donating because my iron has been strangely low since, and I've had to take supplements every so often on top of eating iron rich foods.

Donating blood is something that I would love to be able to do. Unfortunately I have a major needle phobia and I pass out, vomit, and cry uncontrollably when it comes to getting injections

I have a lot of respect for people who choose to give blood. Both my sister and my father donate on a regular basis.

I am on the organ donor register and will donate all my organs and tissue once I've passed away.

I actually got to donate today. Had a high enough hemocrit, and the lady I'd had last when they'd gotten blood outta me. I really didn't get dizzy either. I think the next time I go in, I'll give for the platelets/what they need the most currently. Dua Sekhmet!

Dua Sekhmet! That's great that you donated