A pint? That's nearly an armful. [A Bug's Life]

I last gave blood some 5 years ago; it didn't go well, they had trouble finding a vein and then I only managed to fill half a bag before the needle site started hurting lots. One time before that I failed the haemoglobin check. But today was a glorious day, I felt in riotous good health, I'd passed the local hospital earlier and remembered about blood donation, and was feeling thoroughly underemployed.

To my relief the session went well - the bag was filling nicely. About halfway through a light started flashing to warn that the rate was dropping, so they gave me a thing to squeeze and all was okay again. For about a minute, when I started to feel very dizzy. They stopped the donation (80%! So close!) and tilted the chair back. And back a bit further. And a bit further still. And bam! my brain came back, after treading along the thin edge of consciousness.

I'm disappointed, and they don't want me to come back again given my history. But if it's something you've been putting off, or never tried, I do encourage you to give it a go. They do good biscuits including KitKats.

And hey, now at least I can ~~have gay sex~~ ~~take intraveneous drugs~~ get a tattoo :-)

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I've given blood 10 times now apparently (I thought it was more, I think they lost count when I moved reigons), and it was only the last couple of times where I didn't nearly faint afterwards. I don't like needles, but I'm used to giving blood now.

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The first half dozen times I gave it was okay, but I seem to be getting worse at it. "It's not for everyone," they said.

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It's an all-too-common female experience, alas. I'm currently banned because of the anti-depressants. Before that, I used to fail one time in 3 for low blood pressure or anaemia.

Oh God, are ADs a fail too? In that case I fail on two counts! Oh well. I would if I could.

(It's all that gay sex nonsense, of course - I've slept with very few men who haven't had sex with another man! It still irritates me that that discounts you.)

To paraphrase a comedian (sorry, I forget who), you'd be fine if you'd slept with Russel Brand but not if you'd slept with Stephen Fry.

Mitch Benn in an incredibly irritating and under researched song. If you saw the docco where Stephen Fry took an HIV test it was clear that it wasn't a formality. Brand goes to the US too much to donate, and I'd be staggered if he'd never slept with a sex worker, given his lap dancer habit. But unfortunately they've never perfected the question they really need for heterosexuals ~~Are you a slag?~~ Do you very frequently sleep with people you've only just met?

They reckoned it was okay to donate on sertraline, I don't know about other ADs.

I inquired about this, and their response was if you're stable at the moment, and feel fine, then you are OK (providing you meet the other criteria, of course!). The general line is that you should ask first.

The incidence of HIV in MSMs is 20 times that of the population at large - obviously the factor is larger still when compared to the subset of the population who can give blood. There's no 100% effective test for HIV, and no test for the next blood-borne disease because we don't know what it is. The rules make sense, unfortunately.

I didn't know about the AD issue. I've had the low BP fail in the past too.

They ask you about any medication at all and then look it up in a big book. I've missed a couple of donations because I forgetfully took a couple of aspirin for period pains within the 48 hour window.

They said It was fine for me to donate and I think I'm still on the same meds as you.

It does sometimes seem to depend on the knowledge of the person doing triage.

I was OK on my first few times giving blood, but they advised me to stop in 1999 after a post-donation faint. From what I remember, the world greyed out and sounded funny; that was possibly as close to experiencing a spontaneous reboot as I will ever get :-)

Ha, the advantage of going to the hospital, rather than the sessions at the Methodist Church: we never get kitkats!

Maybe I should switch to donating at Addies though once I've had my next appointment in November. It's on the way home now, more or less.

They keep changing the rules I think, and I'm no longer sure if I can/should give blood. I had TB as a child and that was OK at one time, but then it became a no for transfusions but they would use my blood in research which I thought was good enough reason to donate, save the good stuff for a real case. It did mean I could tell people that they weren't allowed to use my blood on humans, but I think even that has been changed now.

I am pleased to find out that though they can't use my incomplete pack for patients, they can still use it for research.

I used to go dizzy and I was told not to come back many years ago after the second consecutive dizzy spell. But I started again a couple of years ago because I thought it was all a bit silly, am very careful about having had a moderate amount to eat first (neither too much nor too little) and haven't had any problems since.

I had a cracking donation session yesterday actually, an ill-timed cold sore last week meant that I had to reschedule from my normal session, and I ended up at the Fishmongers' Hall, which is an old style Livery Company hall, full of stained glass and wood, and never normally open to the public. I'm definitely going there again.
But they were very nannying - I normally jump off the bed after ten seconds, swig down weak lemon drink, grab the KP crisps (are blood donor sessions the only remaining source of KP crisps I wonder?) and run, but these guys literally stood over me with an actual stop watch to make sure I didn't stand up too soon, and barricaded the entrance until I'd drunk my tea properly, sitting down.

The Fishmongers' Hall sounds neat. At RAF Henlow the donor sessions were held in a utilitarian concrete room, with giant ducts that happened to be painted (venous) blood red.

I'm weeks overdue for my next session due to one of those stupid colds that won't go away, but it finally seems to be clearing and I'll probably give blood next week or the week after (which is a school holiday so I can go early). Think I'm up to 87 donations, never fainted but I had my arm start bleeding fairly spectacularly after the last donation. The nurse encouragingly said "we don't normally get more than one or two like that a month, you're the third I've had today," which made me wonder if she perhaps needed a little more training or something.

I cannot give blood at all in Australia, since I lived in the UK for more than six months between 1980 and 1996. :(

I'd donated a few times before (a long time before, actually), but after a stay in hospital at the start of last year for a fairly major op, I really wanted to donate again. Unfortunately, the thing that really kicked that feeling off was needing a transfusion after the op, and that gets me banned from ever donating again.

This is at least easier for dealing with my phobia of needles, I suppose, but I'm a little disappointed.

A group of us used to go after a session down at the climbing wall, then head off to the union bar for 'silly night' and vast amounts of vodka. I'm sure there were some really well thought out reasons for doing that at the time...!

> really well thought out reasons

We'll be all wobbly and get drunk quicker!!!

I had a seizure after giving blood (complete with lots of embarressing side effects like wetting myself and biting my tongue to shreds) so they don't want me back either (ignoring any other reasons why I can't anyway now). I still feel guilty about it and like I've 'failed' but there's lots of us in the same boat. Go get your tattoo and enjoy it ;-)

Oh, how horrid!

I'm glad I am not the only one who feels like a give blood failure. Johns Uncle, a wonderful man who sadly died last year was a gold card holder. Me on the other hand, tattoos, low blood pressure, anemia after having had the waglets, I should go try soon as my health is thriving.

They still don't want me. And I'm not sure my cardiologist would be overly happy anyway.

A Bug's Life

A pint? That's nearly an armful.

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September