this makes my arms hurt. I hate giving blood. when it's coming out I get a very strong sense of 'wtf, that's my blood, I need that to live'

Just after 9/11 I was determined to donate blood. I knew they didn't need it, but the desire to do something was strong and I figured it would be get me started so I would have the nerve to donate blood in the future. I knocked on the door to the donation mobile bus as it said to do. No one answered. I've never had enough nerve to try it since.

I always get really dizzy afterwards, but nothing a nice glass of orange squash and a rest with my feet in the air won't fix .

It's not scary, my arm aches a teeny bit, but as I am just sitting at my desk for the rest of the day, it's no biggie.

Superman can't give blood. True story.

Theres some kerfuffle over it in my country, because the managers of the organisation collecting the blood receive really high salaries.
A lot of people consider to stop giving blood because of that.

The UK has just changed the law so gay men can now, as long as they haven't had sex in the previous 12 months.

that sounds odd

great job on donating blood!

It's because of the increased risk of HIV as it doesn't show up on tests immediately. I think it is in place in a lot of countries, but it's been campaigned against here for a while (apart from by my needle phobic cousin who is happy for the excuse).

i can't donate blood- am on epilepsy meds :(

(as a mood stabiliser, not for epilepsy)

(and also, i am a gay man)

(who has lots of sex)

(in Costa Rica)

So many reasons.

I've donated a few times, I really should do it again soon since it's been a while. The retarded* rule about gay men not being eligible is in place in Finland too but it may be removed soon. There's a bunch of other restrictions too, like not being allowed to donate for four months after getting a new tattoo or piercing.

Do you get money for donating in UK? We just get a sandwich and a cup of coffee and a nice tote bag!


*) I think retarded is a pretty good word for it. The current rule is that if a man has had sexual intercourse with another man even ONCE in his life, he's banned from donating blood forever. Doesn't matter if he's been tested for HIV or other STD's.

We get a piece of fruit or a biscuit and a cup of tea or a juice.

I think we have the same rule for piercings and tattoos.

i had been too nervous to donate blood for the longest time. i am a total wimp when it comes to seeing blood and it was hard for me to work up the courage to do that intentionally. it wasn't until my dad had a heart attack a few years ago that i finally did give blood for the first time. we were all waiting around at the hospital and my sister convinced me to go down with her to donate blood to try to give back some that our dad was using up. i made a whole production out of it but i finally just ended up doing it...and it wasn't bad at all! i was really surprised to find that the whole process really hadn't hurt and i got to chill out in a comfortable bed and eat snacks after. they gave me a cute stuffed husky dog afterward so that was pretty cool too.

now i donate blood as often as i can. the red cross calls me up whenever i'm eligible to again so it makes making appointments easy. i haven't gone since late june though (unsuccessful that time since my iron was too low) because i'm out in the boonies with no car. i really want to donate but can't get to a donating station right now.

it is really easy to do, takes less than an hour of your time every couple of months, and it saves up to three lives every time you donate! as i said, i am a wimp when it comes to seeing blood but i really don't find the whole process too uncomfortable. it feels good to know you've helped and it's fun to get the little promo gift at the end. we're especially in need for blood now after all this irene business and summer months in general have lower levels of donations. donate blood everyone! it's easy and it saves lives!

I really never donate. I want to, but I have a really hard time giving blood. Whenever the dr. needs blood from me, it's always nearly impossible for them to get enough just to run the simplest blood tests. I usually end up with them taking it from both arms and the front of both hands (which hurts like a mo-fo)

They always really need my type of blood, too (o negative) so I feel bad that I don't donate more. :/

yeah, all the restrictions they have in place are pretty dumb though. i always lie about the places i've traveled to because it takes too long to go through and have them check the years and all that junk. my blood is fine, don't need them turning it away for no reason.

You may be a vampire

They should put you on their ad campaign, Jeanette, that was a great little promo :)

As black and gay rights activist Bayard Rustin once said, "The new Niggers are Gays." Here in the States, black people are also disproportionately likely to contract HIV. Here in DC, HIV is a huge problem, particularly among the black community. I never had been offered an HIV test until I moved here, and there's so many posters and subway ads about testing, support groups and new medication that I have never seen before.

Based on the same flawed logic, we should ban black people from donating blood too, or ban them if they've had sex in the past year. But then that would be too overtly bigoted, wouldn't it? What I don't understand is why there is just not a full on ban on giving blood without a clean bill of health. It's kind of like picking up a tiny woman on the road, thinking that she couldn't possibly have a gun and blow your brains out. Straight people get HIV too, so they really ought to either consider everyone or no one as a potential carrier.

As for donating myself, I have never donated but I have had so many needles in my arm this year (doctors, not heroin) that I don't mind getting stuck there anymore and would donate. I just haven't had a chance or happened upon a blood drive.

When you donate blood, they don't just say "Have you fucked a dude in the past year? No? Woo hoo let's do this!" They ask you a whole bunch of questions designed to assess your risk. And not just from HIV but from many other diseases. If you've had sex in a country that has a high rate of HIV infection, you can be deferred for 12 months just like homosexual sex, same with countries at risk of malaria and mad cow. Abi would not be allowed to donate in Australia. They're trying to keep the blood supply safe so it doesn't infect people with incurable diseases. This kind of discrimination is necessary.

Discrimination is necessary, but not based on your sexual preferences. It's not considered necessary based on race, even though that is statistically a risk factor. If they can find a way not to be dick weeds to black people, they can find a way not to be dick weeds to gay people as well. Circumcision also drastically cuts your risk of contracting and spreading HIV, so much so that they have started recommending it in Africa, where it is not as common as over here in the US. Do they discriminate against uncircumcised penises too? If they do, I've never heard of it.

Also you could be a heterosexual woman who has had anal sex with a bisexual man, and not know that HE has had anal sex with 100 other men and you could be a high risk factor. Where do you draw the line? Self reporting is a stupid way of evaluating risk.

Apparently I can't donate in the US either. No one wants my blood :(

I feel so dirtty.

I vant your blooooooood!!!!

They defer men who've had oral sex with other men and they also defer women who have had sex with men they have reason to believe have had sex with men. They defer people who have had sex with people who live or have lived overseas, they defer people who have had sex with people who have used intravenous drugs, they defer people who've had sex with sex workers, they defer sex workers.

Self-reporting would be incredibly stupid way of assessing the risk if it was the only way of assessing the risk. But obviously, it's not. They screen the blood. HIV can take six months to show up on the test so they have to be safe. There is no test for mad cow disease and self-reporting is a stupid way to assess if someone may have mad cow disease so they have to exclude everyone in a 15 year window in order to be safe.

Aww, thanks Twiggy! Looks like you can have it all :)