gave blood

accensi0n

gave blood yesterday. went to the place on dolier st. it was great, lots of free food and drinks and everyone there is really nice to you, probably because your doin such a good deed.
I recommend it to everyone.

The Real B-man

well done, they give you the food to build the iron back up in your body hense the guinness

Kazu

start praying you did not catch anything

Agent Smith

how can he catch anything?

silverside

Good man, everybody who can should do it.

Ever tried having one or two pints right after giving blood? It's a brilliant light-headed feeling, though maybe not too good for you

Rabies

agent smith wrote:

how can he catch anything?

don't you know its possible to catch cooties from donating blood

simu

I can't! I'm under the minimum weight to do so apparently.

Victor

Rabies wrote:

don't you know its possible to catch cooties from donating blood

Only if you have long hair and make out with the nurse before hand.

Esel

Kazu wrote:

start praying you did not catch anything

How do you get hearing aids?

From listening to assholes.

Pataman

simu wrote:

I can't! I'm under the minimum weight to do so apparently.

Not too many women can say that nowadays

Agent Smith

they will say it pataman, their just lying....

steveland?

Whats the minimum weight? i know its 8st or something but that was a girl who told me that so is it different for masculine specimines (who can't spell)such as myself?

simu

You have to be over 50 kg.

Irish Blood Transfusion Board Site

accensi0n

I wasn't weighed when I was there. maybe they only weigh you if you look real skinny?
The free pencils, stickers and fridge magnets were a nice perk also.

Lenny

haha. good post

Pataman wrote:

Not too many women can say that nowadays

Blisterman

i'll give blood once a year has passed from my piercings, which is in 9 months time.

jill_valentine

So what's the deal, you just bumble in before 8 on a weekday... presumably they test you the first time around, etc? How long does it take? My tattoo's approaching it's first birthday...

damien

simu wrote:

You have to be over 50 kg.

Irish Blood Transfusion Board Site

You can't be a gay or bisexual man either. No homo blood allowed ! People might catch the gay !

jill_valentine

Heh. Did you read the FAQ on the IBTS site? I'm paraphrasing, but it basically says...

Q. " Despite the fact that you yourselves acknowledge that heterosexual women are the biggest growth group of HIV cases, doesn't your policy unfairly discriminate against gay men?"
A. "Yes."

ravenhead

Can anyone donate .. is there any medical conditions that would stop you form being allowed to do it, I've always wanted to do it but I don't know much about it.

jill_valentine

Simu posted the IBTS link, but for Donor conditions... http://www.ibts.ie/generic.cfm?mID=2&sID=79

Jim

simu wrote:

I can't! I'm under the minimum weight to do so apparently.

Minimum weight is just over 7st! I thought I was unhealthy at a robust 9.
Might do this sometime soon, but I pity the poor soul who gets my blood.

LoneGunM@n

I donate 4 times a year & have to say I love the feeling I get when I donate blood that I've made a small bit of a difference in someone's life!

Blisterman

You can't donate blood if you've had anal sex with a man, or been in prison. I suppose if you've been in prison, the first one is a given.
You also can't donate blood if you've been paid for sex.

Krusty_Clown

LoneGunM@n wrote:

I donate 4 times a year & have to say I love the feeling I get when I donate blood that I've made a small bit of a difference in someone's life!

Ditto..
But I'm very upset that someone else got free pencils and fridge magnets..
No more donating for me!

damien

jill_valentine wrote:

Q. " Despite the fact that you yourselves acknowledge that heterosexual women are the biggest growth group of HIV cases, doesn't your policy unfairly discriminate against gay men?"
A. "Yes."

Or how about this one:
If a woman has unprotected sex with a man she can't donate blood for a year.
If a man has unprotected sex with a prostitute he can't donate blood for a year.
If a man has unprotected sex with a woman he can't donate blood for a year.
If a man has protected sex with a man he is banned for life.

I was at a debate in UCC before where the Doctor from the IBTS started her debate with facts and figures about gay men. All of the facts and figures were about the types of STDs gay men have and how they are greater than those in straight people.

That was her debate. She would not be drawn on why there was a year ban for straight people that engage in more risky behaviour than gay men who are banned for life.

Another female doctor stood up and basically told the gay members of the audience that they were an ok bunch "you people are okay , I have gay friends too you know, I've been to the George, but you really should stop being so promiscuous, I know that you are because my gay friends are"

I'm thrilled that I'm okay in the eyes of the medical professionals in this country. The same people that knowingly left some people get infected with bad blood.

I used to give blood before I had sex, I'd like to help again but what can I do ? Meanwhile they try and guilt trip the rest of the population for not giving blood.

simu

I don't like the idea of receiving somebody else's blood at all, even less so after reading through their guidelines above.

Aren't they working on creating artificial blood? How is that going?

jill_valentine

I don't like it either, but it's preferable to the alternative.

I haven't heard any news on artificial blood... depends on which component you need.

Draupnir

Where does it say you cant donate for a year if you have had unprotected sex with a woman? Me being a man.

I was gonna go in on Saturday and donate but I dont fit the above criteria. But cant find this as offical on their site.

Kappar

simu wrote:

Aren't they working on creating artificial blood? How is that going?

I'm not to up to speed on the subject but i did see on ER (the TV show) they were doing a study with it so I guess it's in the pipeline.

Jim

Draupnir wrote:

Where does it say you cant donate for a year if you have had unprotected sex with a woman? Me being a man.

I was gonna go in on Saturday and donate but I dont fit the above criteria. But cant find this as offical on their site.

Draupir, this thread isn't a medium for you braging about how you got lucky recently.

Blisterman

Noones bragging that they got lucky with another man.

eth0_

I can't believe the amount of offensive posts on this thread and it's still open!
Grow up!

accensi0n

its not in the rules and regulations pamphlet that I had to read when I was in the place on monday.

Puteq

i've been giving blood for years and for starters theres almost zero chance of catching any coodies from giving blood. the reason i say almost instead of 100% is that there were some instances decades ago (I think), but seriously, your more likely to catch something from sitting on a public bench, the blood bank is perfectly safe. in fact now that i think of it, any coodies caught were from receiving blood, not giving blood - and trust me if you have to receive blood it is better than the alternative (until the invent fake blood).

anyone wondering about it should just stroll in there and talk to someone who works there, there is no obligation to give blood once you go in the doors, people are perfectly welcome to go in and just have a chat.

as for talk of offensive posts, i dont think that applies here because anything discriminatory i have read so far is basically people mentioning the blood banks discrimination, on which i dont know enough to hold an opinion.

Draupnir

no seriously Jim, im not bragging, few drunken mistakes arent worth bragging about.

basically I just wanna make sure I dont waste my time going in if they will turn me down for having unprotected sex.

Blisterman

I wasn't meaning to be offensive. I'm just pointing out that it's OK to brag about sleeping with women, but not about sleeping with other men.

Draupnir

You werent offensive at all man, I wouldnt brag about a couple of these women anyway, they were close enough to men. Please god they dont read boards!

Anyone got an answer to my question? Does unprotected sex knock me out of the equation for blood donation? I cant find that it does on their site

Sleepy

If not, it should until you've had a clean STD test.

Puteq

Draupnir, your question is answered by Damien.M earlier in this thread:

"If a man has unprotected sex with a woman he can't donate blood for a year."

seems like they trust you after a year . . .

Agent Smith

this post will clear it all up....


right, the first time you go in, you fill out a very long form, the questions are put in a order so that you cant just say no, or yes, you have to read the questions.

IE. Are you currently taking the "pill"?

when you fill out the form, you will have a meeting with a doctor, who will go threw the form with you question by question...

after that you have a iron sample, this is a tiny prick to you finger, and a drop of yourblood is checked for iron.

if your iron count is fine, ( most peoples are) then yopu are lead to a"trolleybed" where another doctor goes threw your form, checking details like date of birth and when you last donated (if you have)

then the nurse will stick a neadle in, it a tiny short pain lasting 3 seconds, you gve the blood and the nurse will talk to you about the weater or what not....


then you lie down for 5 mins, eat a load of buns/sandwiches/crisps and your free to go....


overall it takes the guts of and hour, but well worth it

Blisterman

I'd do it if I could. I like the sound of free food and beer.

accensi0n

and you'll be asked your name and date of birth about 5 times.

Gaijin

Went in today to donate. They only got about three quaters before they had to stop!!!I started to feel quite ill. Having said that today was my first time & I dont think I had eaten properly before. It wouldn't stop me going again though.The people in there are really nice.......oh and free pencils...score!!!

Tommy Vercetti

I do it every 90 days, I have a rare blood type so I am often called exactly 90 days since the last donation (90 days is the minimum period between donations). There is nothing that states that you cannot give blood if you had unprotected sex with a woman, they ask if you had unprotected sex with a woman who has had sex with a man who had sex with another man, basically any homo activity and you can forget it. It's all good fun, plus some of the nurses are hot.

Agent Smith

yes, likewise, i give "baby bags" for babies..... (who would have thought?) because my blood is apparently rich in white blood cells....


also, altho its not the poing of blood donating.... if you agree to donate platelets, you will recive a quota of 4 donations, what i mean is, when you reach 100 donations, you get a special meal and statue, so when i donate platles, it counts as if i donated 4 times....


Joe

Explosive_Cornflake

Whats the deal with platelets? How often can you give them? I only starting giving blood two months ago, and its something i want to continue to do.

Agent Smith

platelets are once every month-5 weeks...

Tommy Vercetti

agent smith wrote:

platelets are once every month-5 weeks...

I didn't know about that. Is it with the blood transusion board people or do you go to a hospital or what?

Also, do they still give the gold and silver pins after 25/50 pints? I should be getting close to that now.

Blitzkrieger

You get the silver pin after 10 donations.

I've been donating since I was 18 but there's been some gaps because of their rules. I had to stop for a year because I got a tattoo. Now I can't donate for another 6 weeks because I was in a tropical area. I tend to go to the mobile clinic when it's in the local community centre. What's weird is they only come around three times a year.

Quick tip : If you excercise before you donate, it shortens how long it takes to donate. Just have a shower afterwards - you're sitting pretty close to that poor nurse. :eek:

Puteq

giving platelets is cool, same idea as blood except you have to go to James' hospital (when i lived in Dublin they sent a taxi to collect me from the city centre and bring me there, even though i have the most common blood type). it takes about 45 minutes (or 1 and a half hours if you agree to do a double donation, something which is not always possible, depends on your cell count or some such thing).

i would recommend it to anyone, especially if you can convince your workplace that you need to go during business hours for a good cause. i used to skip out of work for 3 or 4 hours a month to go and sit back and read a book giving platelets. just ask anyone in the blood bank and they'll give you all the info and contact numbers you need.

oh, and it counts as 3 or 4 donations and you get your free meal and statue or whatever.