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.

@Lamelie well if the cap (doesn’t..) fits.. 🤣🤣 No, of course not. Just that the checker tells me I’d have to gain a significant amount of weight to be eligible. Based on that (if I could) I wouldn’t make an appointment as their calculations show I just don’t have the blood volume. I’m 5ft2 and weigh 8 stone, so I’m not exactly teeny tiny.

I’m anaemic but I really want too

I had a transfusion as a child so not allowed.

Every time I went along they took the blood test and told me I needed it more than they did!

You can’t donate blood if you’ve already had a transfusion due to the risk of mad cow disease transmission.

It seems a shame though as I bet those that have had transfusions are much more likely to donate.

that's what's concerning tho, not enough to refuse a blood transfusion but you'd think by now they could test it. here, here's blood we never want back in care it's infected!

Why, if it’s something a healthy human body can easily make more of, like blood or insulin?

I used to give regularly. Then I lived abroad for a while. I became eligible to donate again after a while but all of a sudden my veins were deemed too small.

do you really think it's more ethical to let a woman who's just delivered newborn twins die from blood loss? or to let a baby slowly deteriorated and die for want of a transfusion? a teenager run over by a drunk driver etc? how can it be more ethical to say "well, I get 10 months is all he was allocated by life!" and just essentially watch them lie there and die?

there's a vast difference morally between "I could never get an appt" and "well if me or the kids need blood, we'll just have yours even tho I'm looking down my nose at you"

I can’t donate as I’m diabetic,

Nobody ever called another person a 'do gooder' and meant it in a nice way. If you'd just said that it's difficult to find an appointment because of work, childcare etc and left it at that, we'd all have understood. I had a long period in my 30s and 40s when I couldn't donate for similar reasons. Instead you seem to have a sneering attitude to those of us who do donate blood, who do it from a desire to help others and give something back to society. I can't make sense of your tone here.

Same here, I donated blood and plasma before I had a blood transfusion.

Why we all do different things? I read with kids at school 2 days a week. Most of the other parents at the school can't be arsed - not even to spend a hour or two. I still read with their kids.

The parking and travel I can understand being offputting, but setting up an account is really no big deal, surely? They need to know who's donating. I for one am glad they take the precautions they do to safeguard the people who will receive the transfusions and the donors.

I'm in the fortunate position in London that there are loads of places a short easy journey away where I can donate and as I'm retired I can go during the working day. Never have any difficulty getting an appointment. I book the next one when I come home from the last. It must be pretty expensive sending out a donor team to a temporary location. It's probably most cost effective to concentrate on sessions in cities and big towns which they can be sure will fill up.

I used to go years ago but wouldn't know where to go now. Will look this up now.

Appointments are impossible to get here!

I have an autoimmune condition. It’s so bad they wouldn’t even let me donate dc’s cord blood for research. It was the first time the nurse’s doing the intake had encountered a rejection.

no one wants my toxic white cells. I can’t really blame them.

Well, yes. The barriers are there because in the past people who needed transfusions were given infected blood and many of them, e.g. boys and young men with haemophilia, died. The pendulum has now swung the other way and even though the risk is minimal the blood transfusion service takes an extremely cautious approach.

I faint afterwards - not every time but about one in three. If I were to lie down a long time afterwards I probably wouldn't, but I asked a nurse involved in the clinic to tell me what was less of a drain on resources - one less donor or one frequent fainter, and she said nicely that dealing with the fainting is indeed more bother than it's worth.

That's a shame. I had that experience once (didn't get told off, though!) and ever since have followed the advice given which was to donate in the afternoon rather than the morning as I'm better hydrated by then. A phlebotomist I met on a research study where I had a lot of blood taken told me that it flows better if your arm is warm, so I work on that too. On donation days I drink lots and lots of water. Never had the slow flow problem since.

First time I went I was deemed anaemic , second time they couldn’t actually find a good enough vein and then I had a transfusion myself following a PPH so then I was banned . My husband has done blood , bone marrow and plasma .

I had my transfusion after childbirth and was then banned from giving blood. That child is now a regular blood donor so it has evened out, in a way.

I think you can donate 4 months after Botox? Or if it was done by certain professionals?

Crohn’s disease is stopping me from donating.