I can't donate blood (a rant)

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I went to give blood today, so I had planned to do that, and due to some confusion, waiting and preparing for it took up quite a bit of my day. When I got there, I filled out the form, and had to tick yes to a couple of questions, including "Have you ever had a serious illness or seen a doctor about your heart?" Why on Earth they chose to merge those two questions into one I don't know. I have never had a serious illness (I interpreted this to mean one that required hospital care, although the form didn't define things like this), but I did go to see my GP about palpitations a while ago, as I used to suffer from anxiety, and they were freaking me out. I've just started considering myself recovered from anxiety problems. I then had to sit down and wait for a while before I spoke to a nurse to go through the form. I explained about the palpitations appointment, and that the GP found that there is nothing wrong with my heart: it's just caused by stress. She asked when this appointment was. I am very bad at knowing/guessing when things happened; my sense of time is rubbish, so that was awkward. She then asked when the last time I had palpitations was. I explained I'd had palpitations two days ago, nothing really bad, just a bit weird and uncomfortable. I was then told this prevents me from giving blood. To give blood, I will apparently have to be free of palpitations for six months. I'm not sure that'll ever happen.
I feel a bit annoyed, because loads of people probably have palpitations like the ones I have now (infrequent and mild), and the blood service just never know about it because those people haven't gone to a doctor about it. The other thing is, my blood is probably some of the safest out there. I'm a virgin, I don't travel abroad, I'm not on medication and I don't drink caffiene or alcohol. And others just lie and give blood, risking others. My friend feels a bit ill, maybe is getting a cold, but said that she didn't because she wanted to give blood. And though it's not serious, it means whoever recieves that blood will get a cold virus in them when they're already weak. I've known others use the blood service for a HIV test. And others just lie about their own health, so they don't have the problem I have - they overreact to any slight problem to protect you. I feel like my honesty has got me in trouble again.
The rules for this don't seem to make any sense. It's okay to give blood if you take medication, usually. I can't imagine that it's that good for the person recieving the blood to recieve a dose of someone else's medication. You can't give blood if you've ever had homosexual sex, not just 'with a new partner in the last 6 months' which would ensure the HIV test was valid. They never asked me if I suffer from dizzy spells or have ever fainted, although these would probably mean someone shouldn't give blood because they'd faint from the blood loss.
Ugh. Not enough logic.

Yep they have some pretty dumb rules

I find it funny that in a lot of countries, you can't give blood if you've been to the UK because of the mad cow disease scare! Us British people are poisionous!

lol, I could actually donate blood with those dumb rules I don't think I should because I'm on a lot of medication and I have low blood pressure, but since they don't ask whether I faint or not and don't care if I use medication, I could donate and faint

That sounds silly.

I'm not 100% sure that I can donate, my parents heavily advise me against it but I haven't looked into it far enough to know for sure.

I can't donate blood either because I have a history of fainting (a couple of times more than two years ago, it should hardly be considered a problem!) and because apparently I don't weight enough.

There are a lot of rules. I'm also annoyed because you can do this thing on the website which asks you a load of questions and then if you don't have any of the problems they mention there, it implies you can give blood. But these questions are not the same as the medical form, so it gives the wrong idea. They really shouldn't give the impression that anyone can give blood.

ebec11 - i'm not sure they actually asked about low blood pressure! That's really dumb, if they don't. Or perhaps they take yoru blood pressure before you give, so it gives an accurate reading for that day.

littlegreenleaf - why do your parents advise against it?

Brittany2907 - Yeah in the UK you have to weigh over 50kg, because they take the same amount of blood from everyone and they reckon that amount is too much of you if you're under 50kg.

According to news reports every time someone taking medication or vitamins uses a toilet, it enters our public water system. We are all drinking and bathing in pharmaceuticals. Might as well not concern ourselves with getting our meds from the blood bank as well.

http://www.seattlepi.com/national/35439 ... ter10.html

Yeah, I have never been able to donate blood either.

Living overseas and sometimes I don't weigh enough.

My brother actually donated blood a few times, but they could have dumped it from the overseas thing.

i have not the notion to donate blood. my blood is mine and i want to keep it.

i know i am not a nice person in the eyes of some people but .....there you go.

LOL I had the same rant a few days ago, only I was rejected because they couldn't find a vein good enough for the size needle that they use. I was extremely pissed off about the situation - the blood was supposed to be donated to my good friend's dad who is a great guy and getting ready to a major cardiac surgery. also, all of my friends have donated blood and they are all smokers and boozers who eat nothing but fast food, whereas I'm the one drinking smoothies and carrot juices every day and sprinkling sprouts on everything I eat, I must have some quality blood hehe :p

so yeah, once again got labeled a second grade human, even my damn veins suck

Mad Cow is a whole lot of bull...


I can't donate blood because I messed up my liver by drinking.

I always wondered if woman shouldn't avoid giving blood, because of regular blood loss from their monthly cycle. I used to be severely anemic, and so was discouraged from giving blood.

I don't know how to get the image here, but here is the webpage:

http://artnexus.files.wordpress.com/200 ... 50x490.jpg

That's the same minimum weight for blood donations in NZ.
Do they weigh you before you donate blood? If they do, do they weigh you with your clothes on or off? If it's with them on then I think that because I'm only 0.5kg under 50kg I'd be allowed, but I'm not sure. I guess I shouldn't question it.

I doubt they'd bother to take you somewhere where you can undress, and also a lot of people would object to that, so probably with them on. They may subtract 0.5 or so because of that though.
They didn't weigh me but that's possibly because I didn't get far enough in the process, or because I don't look like I might be under 50kg.

hartzofspace - we're designed to cope with the monthly blood loss. There's evidence that because of this we're actually better at loosing blood from injuries with less problems.

anna-banana - Is there a reason you have small veins or is it just the way you are? It's rubbish that people like us with good blood can't donate any! I admittedly live off junk food, though.