If You Have Never Donated Blood, What’s Your Reason?

[MarmaladeSandwich7]

I went to donate back in the 90s & wasn’t allowed to as I hadn’t long been back from South Africa. Somehow I’ve just never got around to it since but would very much like to. DF donated for years. I have a tendency to be anaemic & so worry that I should maybe hang onto my blood?! My iron levels are fine atm.

I think that's it - it doesn't help if every AB and fainter and anaemic and doubtful case clogs up the system. So few people give blood regularly that their best bet is building that group up with lots of the healthy and robust type Os (mainly). I miss the crisps and biscuits though - happy days!

I have an awful needle phobia that took several months of cbt to learn how to manage.
I am awful to get blood from. The district nurses all joke about how their hearts sink when they see my name. 🤣

The last time they needed blood they had to resort to getting it from my wrist because nowhere else was complying.

I ended up with this.

My blood clots in the tube! I seriously doubt anyone's getting a pint out of me.

I would think it's you're frequently going dizzy over giving blood, that's a pretty good reason. either your body is struggling to give it or your fear is so high. either way, that's sounds a pretty good reason to me

I’m sorry to hear that some people have had issues with rude staff. Even when I haven’t been able to donate (e.g. due to anaemia, too close in time to an operation) I’ve always been thanked for coming along.
I get a text telling me where my donations have gone and it’s very interesting to see where they have ended up.

They don't want woozy people. They will look after you if it happens and take every precaution to avoid it but if it happens more than once they will
probably tell you not to come back, they haven't got the resources. It happened to me once years ago so it's on my records and I sometimes get asked about it, I was told if it happened again that would be it for me.

Yes. Things like POTS, low blood pressure can lead to fainting etc and while you can try to address them, if it's not easily done you're just using resources and time. Similarly if you're terrified, sure it's worth trying, but not to the extent of repeated forcing yourself through physical distress. There are lots of people able to donate without these problems, and getting more of them to donate should be the strategy.

I don’t mean for this to sound sexist, but I do think they need to do some big drives to attract more men into donation. When k have been (before I was sacked as poor veins / ab / chronic illness) it seemed like quite a few of the donators were women. People like me who really wanted to help and would fight through bad veins / feeling faint etc. and not so may men.

men are far more likely to have a decent blood volume and therefore have less side effects and less likely to have had a transfusion as so many are associated with child birth. Sixty to seventy per cent of donators and particularly new donors are women.

Stick a load of vans in gym carparks, diy stores, angling lakes and sports stadiums and offer a free Greggs after and then the stores will be tickety boo. Obviously (I hope) facetious, but the point is that it isn’t attracting the right balance of donors.

I’ve been trying for several years but getting an appointment is ridiculous! Have to book appointments on average 4 months in advance to get a time after work. Several appointments I made they contacted me and cancelled. In September last year I got a phone call asking me to make an appointment, the earliest availability they had was Boxing Day or 2nd Jan, I booked 2nd Jan but due to being full of cold over Christmas I failed the questionnaire, I went online to rearrange, I’ve got an appointment on 27th April which was the next available they had. I’m not looking at a single donating venue, was looking at all options with a 30 minute drive.
The website to book isn’t great, I want to look at appointments after 5pm with 10 miles, I can’t put that search in so it takes ages clicking in and out trying to find something.
Hopfully, 3 years after registering, I’ll make my first donation in April. If they don’t cancel on me again.

Yes, it would be great to see some sportsmen getting involved and presenting it as the thing to do. They need to screen for injecting supplements and risky behaviours, but I hope a lot of these men would qualify

They might qualify but they probably wouldn’t want to do it as it would affect their performance. There always seem to be plenty of men where I donate.

I donated once when i was 18 but I'm AB+ve, so fall into the "don't call us, we'll call you' category, which didn't fit into my lifestyle at all at that time and for some time after, so i removed my details from the register.

Are you an RO?

I have a severe needle phobia. Whilst I managed bloods etc during pregnancy, had covid jabs etc, it's a huge ordeal. I have to have somewhere to lie down, my husband with me, emla cream, music to distract me and through that I can just about manage a blood draw, albeit after several sleepless nights and panic attacks. For me to sit there whilst they pumped out a pint I think they'd need to knock me out first.

So whilst I feel like a wuss for not donating, it would have a disproportionate psychological effect on me compared with others.

Blood transfusion prevents me.

Low iron

Like some previous posters, I feel sad and slightly annoyed/concerned that a previous transfusion prevents me. It was always something I meant to do more often and when I received a transfusion (in childbirth, like many others) I was reminded what a critical thing it is to do.

Went today, there were lots of men there, more than women. All very quick and efficient and I have managed to book in again in a convenient time/place for pretty soon after my next eligible date, so all good.

I have HSV2 (on my shoulder) and although on paper it is fine to donate when I’m not having an outbreak, I don’t think I could live with myself if I gave an ill person this.