Donating Blood - how long...

Theremin

do you have to wait after having some hash to donate blood? Friend of mine wants to donate because of the current crisis and wouldn't like the hassle of being asked uncomfortable questions.

sutty

Yes you do and I think they ask you not to give blood with in 3 months or something if I remember. They also will ask you these questions anyway.

WhiteWashMan

the uncomforatble questions are there for safety of people.

personally, i dont want the blood of someone who does drugs if i happen to be unfortauntely enough to need it.
i suggest you ask the blood board. they would seem to be the experts in this area.

nesf

I've "heard" 3-6 months. I've not seen any official figures for it tbh.

Sleepy

24 hours. I gave blood about a month ago and was asked did I ever use drugs. I answered truthfully that I smoke hash once or twice a week (used to be a lot more) and was then asked "have you smoked in the last 24 hours?" which I was able to answer that I hadn't.

All traces of hash leave your body in a few days and apparently any trace there after 24 hours doesn't make your blood any less useful to the Blood Transfusion Board.

You'll be asked uncomfortable questions anyway, some of the questions seem completely ridiculous to be asked but it's easy to see why they have to ask them. Giving blood is something I'm proud to do and kudos to your 'friend' for doing it.

IANOC

it soaks into your fatty cells and can linger there from anything from 3-6 months
so i would say your blood would not be ideal even after 3 months :eek:

nesf

Exclusion rules: from Oasis.ie

You should never donate blood if you are in one of the following groups:

* You are a male who has had sex with another male
* You have ever used a needle to take drugs of any kind
* You or your partner is HIV positive
* You have had jaundice after the age of 13 years or you contracted jaundice under the age of 13 years that was caused by Hepatitis B or C
* You have spent more than one year in the United Kingdom between 1 January 1980 and 31 December 1996 (this is to protect against any risk of vCJD transmission via blood). The United Kingdom includes England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.
* You have received a blood transfusion in the Republic of Ireland since 1 January 1980.

You should not donate blood for 12 months if:

* You have visited a Malarial Area
* You have had any part of your body pierced
* You have had a tattoo
* You received acupuncture by a non-medically registered practitioner
* You gave birth to a baby
* You received a blood transfusion.

You should not donate blood for 6 months if you have had major surgery or you have visited a tropical area.

You should not donate blood for 1 month if you have had contact with infectious diseases (where you have not been previously infected), e.g., chicken pox, mumps, measles or German measles.

You should not donate blood for 2 weeks if you have recently recovered from the flu or have just completed a course of antibiotics.

You should not donate blood for 1 week if you have a cold sore, a cold or an uncomplicated dental extraction or have been on short-term medication.

If you are on long-term medication, you should contact the IBTS before donating.

You can donate blood if you are on Hormone Replacement Therapy or are taking the oral contraceptive pill.

If you are in any doubt about whether you can donate blood, you can e-mail the IBTS at info@ibts.ie or contact the IBTS Information Line at 1850 731 137.

The Irish Blood Transfusion Site doesn't have any direct info it. They do have an email address for questions though: info@ibts.ie

Maybe email them if you are very interested in knowing. It's confidential afaik.

Boston

I'm of the mindset to say fuk 'em. There is no blood crisis, they spout this out every year to keep supplies up. It's what allows them to so blatently descriminant. I've a sem-rare blood type, and I would give blood if I was allowed, but I'm not, so as I say fuk 'em.

*Page*

When you join you will start to recive letters they will tell you when you can donate! every three months for me..

nesf

LiouVille wrote:

I'm of the mindset to say fuk 'em. There is no blood crisis, they spout this out every year to keep supplies up. It's what allows them to so blatently descriminant. I've a sem-rare blood type, and I would give blood if I was allowed, but I'm not, so as I say fuk 'em.

Well, they discriminate for good reason generally.


I'm not allowed give blood. But I can appreciate why.

Boston

I'm not allowed give blood and I can appreciate why as well. The public need to have faith in the quality of the blood given to them. The public don't have faith in blood from someone like moi. So the blood board panders to stereotypes, mispreceptions, and unfounded fears, all in the name of public convidence.

eth0_

iirc the blood board SELL the blood to the hospitals, unlike in the UK where health boards operate it.

I think their ban on people who've lived in the UK giving blood is faintly ridiculous, what makes an Irish person who has lived here all his/her life and eaten meat products from the UK (which the majority of frozen meat products are) any less likely to be a carrier of CJD?

I do give blood when i'm in Belfast at least twice a year.

WhiteWashMan

nesf wrote:

Well, they discriminate for good reason generally.


I'm not allowed give blood. But I can appreciate why.

is it because you are gay?

i give blood every three months. in fact, they phone me up every day until i do give blood when three months comes around again.
but since i live right next door to the place the do it, its no big hassle. besides, it means i can go home from owrk a few hours early. go me!

nesf

WhiteWashMan wrote:

is it because you are gay?

i give blood every three months. in fact, they phone me up every day until i do give blood when three months comes around again.
but since i live right next door to the place the do it, its no big hassle. besides, it means i can go home from owrk a few hours early. go me!

No, it's because of my blood pressure. They don't want to take blood from me cause it's high (due to meds).

The whole gay issue, is a bit annoying but doesn't really apply to me.

Edit: Bluntly, I've never had penitrative sex with a man. If you really want to know.

Beruthiel

LiouVille wrote:

There is no blood crisis.

there was this weekend, at least in Galway, my Dad was going in for an op and it had to be put off a few days till they got more in

Boston

A National blood Crisis would be a dramatic reduction in the reserves of blood. This is not the case. Specific hospitals may be short specific blood types on any given day but that is a shortage. If your father op could not have been prosponded they probably would have had the reserves.

Nesf, to be blunt, they don't make the destinction between penetration sex and oral sex.

nesf

LiouVille wrote:

Nesf, to be blunt, they don't make the destinction between penetration sex and oral sex.

Touche.

*shrugs*

I can't say it is a very PC or nice rule, but they did have good reason originally. Maybe that reason isn't valid anymore though.

Boston

nesf wrote:

Touche.

*shrugs*

I can't say it is a very PC or nice rule, but they did have good reason originally. Maybe that reason isn't valid anymore though.

Fear of an unknown desease, spreading through an underground community, with no means of screening for, and no clue exactly how it was tranmitted other then though blood and sex. None of that is true today.

dudara

I'm not allowed give blood due to the fact that I had heart surgery as a child. Apparently major surgery like this leaves you at a life-long higher risk of bllod infection, and while my blood is fine, they're more concerned with giving me an infection by means of the needle.

I'm kind of peed off at this, because I used to give blood regularly before, until this new rule came into play. I had major surgery and I'd like to repay the favour.

Sleepy

LiouVille, I appreciate that you're discriminated against by the organisation and agree that it's ridiculous to refuse to take someone's blood because of their sexuality, but please don't dissuade people who do qualify to give blood from doing so. It literally can be the difference between life and death. Transfused Blood is only usable for a relatively short window of time so they need all the donations they can get.

eth0_, while I'm far from certain of this, I'm sure the idea of the blood transfusion board charging hospitals for blood is a preventative measure to prevent individual hospitals from requesting more than they need of given blood-types to ensure the most equitable distribution of blood possible. Both bodies are government run and funded from the same budget so any cross-charging really doesn't effect how tax-payers money is being spent. If the blood service was a private company, sure I'd be outraged at charging hospitals for something given freely but given the broader environment, a nominal charge for blood would makes perfect logistical sense.

nesf

Sleepy wrote:

LiouVille, I appreciate that you're discriminated against by the organisation and agree that it's ridiculous to refuse to take someone's blood because of their sexuality, but please don't dissuade people who do qualify to give blood from doing so. It literally can be the difference between life and death. Transfused Blood is only usable for a relatively short window of time so they need all the donations they can get.

Well said.

Theremin

I'm gonna answer the questions truthfully anyway (let's dispense with this 'friend' malarkey). It's just that I want to know if there's any point in me doing the interview. Regards hash, I'm gonna go with what the guy who actually did this interview recently said (24 hours).

Now then, how about ecstacy? Not in 6 months and no intention to again anytime soon. Long enough?

dudara

I'd truthfully say that your best bet is to contact the blood board via that email address yourself.

passive

regarding the hash: you're fine as long as it wasn't within 24 hours

and at that i think it's really just "for the sake of it" or so people aren't there stoned, rather than because it has any effect on the blood (methinks). I gave blood over easter and had to politely ask the hash question myself (it didn't come up, they asked about cocaine and stuff like that).

"umm.. about drugs. i do occasionally smoke cannibas. is that a problem?"
"when did you last smoke some?"
"umm..yesterday"
"yesterday...morning?"
"umm....afternoon"
"you should be okay"

While we're on the topic: I presume mushroom & acid are "no no"s to giving blood for a long time? wouldn't have noted it at the time but vaguely considering summer experiences so i'd like to know if i should give blood before that if it's going to make me ineligible for a while.

thanks. (edit: http://www.ibts.ie/generic.cfm?mID=2&sID=79 only mentioned needly drugs)

Tar.Aldarion

for drugs they said to me amonth or 3 months cant remember but they werent specific about type of drug

tk123

Yaay - i jst mailed them to ask if i can still donate cos of my thyroid medicines...Now do they give you a can of coke etc after donating so you don't pass out?

Tobias Greeshman

tk123 wrote:

Now do they give you a can of coke etc after donating so you don't pass out?

Or the most pityfull glass of guinness I've ever seen! I was lead to believe it was a pint, how wrong I was

eth0_

How can gay men be banned from giving blood when it is a scientifically proven fact that heterosexuals are the biggest spreaders of the disease?

*Sassy*

Anyone know how long after other drugs eg. coke, E?

Thanks for that making that point Sleepy about why the blood board charge the hospitals, I hadn't thought of that and it does make perfect sense.

egan007

Theremin wrote:

do you have to wait after having some hash to donate blood? Friend of mine wants to donate because of the current crisis and wouldn't like the hassle of being asked uncomfortable questions.

6 weeks - What's his problem if he's man enough to smoke it he should be an enough to admit it. uncomfortable questions - like whens the last time a man took you from behind?? They ask em all......tell him get over it

kenmc

i have never seen anything about not donating haven taken drugs, except intraveneously. They don't ask do you drink much, or smoke much. I think they're more worried about infections than ppl getting high off someone elses blood.

Sleepy

eth0_ wrote:

How can gay men be banned from giving blood when it is a scientifically proven fact that heterosexuals are the biggest spreaders of the disease?

Because of a backwards way of thinking that only homosexuals practice anal sex which is known to be a high risk activity in terms of passing on the disease.

Evil Phil

Don't worry about uncomfortable questions, its all confidential so nobody will find out. The questions are there for a good reason and if you can't answer them honestly you really shouldn't be trying to give blood.

0utshined

eth0_ wrote:

...it is a scientifically proven fact that heterosexuals are the biggest spreaders of the disease?

Is it?

Boston

eth0_ wrote:

How can gay men be banned from giving blood when it is a scientifically proven fact that heterosexuals are the biggest spreaders of the disease?

Because certain people are too feicing stupid to make a destinction between safe monogamous sex, and someone that practices unsafe sex. Somehow a women that has un-protected sex with a stranger will only be banned for afew months, however a male that has sex with another male, regardless of how safe it was, will be banned for life. Truth is their not that stupid, it's all about a stigma.

0utshined: Yes it is. Thought maybe not in Ireland. Certainly the fastest rising rate of HIV infection is amount Young Irish women.

Esel

As this thread has gone a bit off-topic, I heard a good joke recently....

Guy goes to donate blood. Attendant asks him if he had sex with another man.
He looks at her funny, and says "No, . . . . but how did you find out about the first one?".

0utshined

LiouVille wrote:

0utshined: Yes it is. Thought maybe not in Ireland. Certainly the fastest rising rate of HIV infection is amount Young Irish women.

Fair enough. I'm sure you're right, it was just that phrasing of the piece I quoted that stuck out to me.

Pet

Because certain people are too feicing stupid to make a destinction between safe monogamous sex, and someone that practices unsafe sex. Somehow a women that has un-protected sex with a stranger will only be banned for afew months, however a male that has sex with another male, regardless of how safe it was, will be banned for life. Truth is their not that stupid, it's all about a stigma.

Look, I don't see what you're so worried about. Do they prosecute you if you are gay and give blood? Do they check up on you? No. If you're clean and you know it, you donate blood. Don't get pissy about them, they're not out to discriminate, they're out to protect the safety of the public. And maybe they haven't got their facts right, but still. It's a good cause, don't deny someone the opportunity to blood that they need.

passive

egan007 "6 weeks"

ummm... no. as stated by the other 2 people it's 24 hours as hash is unimportant to it..

if he's man enough to smoke it he should be man enough to admit it

*flexes muscles* HUAH... i am manly and all powerful.... i laugh in the face of danger for i have smoked cannibas. I fear not your uncomfortable questions. muahaha... bow before me, puny people.

Beruthiel

any chance we could get back to the topic at hand?
B

cuckoo

/back on topic

i've rung the lo call phone number asking questions about donating before and they're very helpful, and it's confidential.

edit to add:

If you are in any doubt about whether you can donate blood, you can e-mail the IBTS at info@ibts.ie or contact the IBTS Information Line at 1850 731 137.

LundiMardi

i had planned to give blood some time but after reading this thread it appears i do not qualify as i lived in the UK. Pity.

RuggieBear

i wonder if my girlfriend would be allowed donate blood? she's english but a vegetarian. I reckon it is far more likely that i have been exposed to vCJD than she has....

englander

I get annoyed that I am unable to give blood here due to living in UK and also my Irish wife and so many other Irish people I know. And then they compalin of a shortage ! I say fcuk them as well.

(If I need blood I'll get some shipped over from England anyway )

To be honest after the Foot and Mouth crisis and the effects of it in Ireland (ie farmers moving livestock around in middle of night and all the shady goings on with untagged cattle etc) I would wager that lots and lots of infected BSE Irish beef found its way into the Irish food chain.

I would much prefer to eat British beef than Irish Beef tbh

As for CJD - they should have seen many many more human cases by now for it to be a worst case scenario (still only about 50 odd cases a year).

There are still loads of cases of BSE in Ireland - how many have not been noticed before finding their way into supermarkets here ?

Eoin

englander wrote:

I get annoyed that I am unable to give blood here due to living in UK and also my Irish wife and so many other Irish people I know. And then they compalin of a shortage ! I say fcuk them as well.

(If I need blood I'll get some shipped over from England anyway )

To be honest after the Foot and Mouth crisis and the effects of it in Ireland (ie farmers moving livestock around in middle of night and all the shady goings on with untagged cattle etc) I would wager that lots and lots of infected BSE Irish beef found its way into the Irish food chain.

I would much prefer to eat British beef than Irish Beef tbh

As for CJD - they should have seen many many more human cases by now for it to be a worst case scenario (still only about 50 odd cases a year).

There are still loads of cases of BSE in Ireland - how many have not been noticed before finding their way into supermarkets here ?

This is going seriously OT, but for a start CJD can take many years to manifest itself in a human, so they are just being sure.

WRT to your comments about shady goings on with Irish farmers etc, have you ANY proof of this whatsoever, or are you just being patriotic in some odd way?

englander

This is going seriously OT, but for a start CJD can take many years to manifest itself in a human, so they are just being sure

Where is your proof of this ?

According to a report I read in New Scientist (I read it New Scientist, but will dig it out for who wrote teh article etc) the number of victims of CJD per year should be increasing now for there to be any chance of some epidemic.
This research was done by looking at the circumstances of people who have (or died from) CJD (when they ate meat, when they were infected etc) and based it on teh number of meat eaters when BSe was at its height. The number of CJD infections should be rising. The levels are steady.

WRT to your comments about shady goings on with Irish farmers etc, have you ANY proof of this whatsoever, or are you just being patriotic in some odd way?

Patriotic !? WTF? I am not some crazy nutter who lives in another country telling people to buy British. I'd see this as being a nutter. Not patriotic.

(Although I did come across a few people in England who were from ....lets say ... another country, who were like that. (suffice to say they would tend to buy KerryGold butter))

Did you see the Irish News during the Foot and Mouth crisis in England ?
Day after day there were reports of untagged cattle being found in Ireland and farmers questioned about cattle being moved during the night etc..

Even now, neighbours of my inlaws down the country move sheep from farm to farm to collect extra subsidies and that !

Is that not shady ?

I spent many years working from MAFF in England - where procedures seem a lot stricter than those 'procedures' operated down the country in Ireland.

That is the basis of my opinion - that I would much prefer to eat British meat than Irish meat. Nothing to do with patriotism.( WTF ? ).

As far as giving blood - I reckon its a shame that so many people are excluded for no real good reason. IMO.

astrofool

The thing is, as people have stated, is that it does not matter at all what the facts are when it comes to blood transfusion. Perception is what matters, and right now the Irish perception is that homosexuals and people who lived in England would taint their blood somehow, and as such they would not be willing to recieve the blood. If public perception changed, then they would allow homosexuals to give blood. So really the campaining should be made against the public rather than the blood transfusion board.

I lived in England myself, and as such can't give blood in this country, but have to respect that people will always feel a right to have body fluid integrity. If Dr. Strangelove taught us anything, its that the consequences of denying an individual of their precious bodily fluids can be dire for everyone

However, if it was a REAL emergency, i.e. a real blood shortage, and lots of people started dying because of it, the rules would definitely be relaxed as much as possible with regards the rules that seem to be soley there to enhance the publics confidence in the blood they could recieve.

bandraoi

It's more to do with the fact that the BTSB have had their asses nailed to the wall repeatedly for incompetence and idiocy of the highest order - the Hepatitis Scandal and infecting people with HIV.

Their ideal blood donor is a virgin, vegetarian nun with a nice high level of iron who's never been sick in her life.

They're afraid that vCJD will be their next AIDs scandal, they're even more scared that AIDs will be their next AIDs scandal, so they're engaged in a very large ass covering excercise.

Given the general attitude of the Irish Public to everything, this is probably the only sensible way to behave.

danniemcq

LiouVille wrote:

I'm of the mindset to say fuk 'em. There is no blood crisis, they spout this out every year to keep supplies up. It's what allows them to so blatently descriminant. I've a sem-rare blood type, and I would give blood if I was allowed, but I'm not, so as I say fuk 'em.

don't know if anyone else has said this but go on shut up, if more ppl had your attitude then what kind of state would we be in. just cause you can't do it doesn't mean everyone should boycott it

Eoin

And in the news today:

Blood donor treated for suspected vCJD

A blood donor is being treated at a Dublin hospital for vCJD, the human form of mad cow disease.

While the man's diagnosis has not been confirmed, his condition is being described as a "probable" case of vCJD based on preliminary test results.

A patient at a second Dublin hospital who received blood donated by the man was informed yesterday that he had received the donation from a man suspected of having vCJD.

The Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) said last night that the man with probable vCJD had, however, only ever given one blood donation.

It added that components from this donation had only gone to two patients. One of them was dead from a cause unrelated to the blood donation and the other was the patient who was informed yesterday.

It is not known what the risk is of a person contracting vCJD from blood given by a person infected with vCJD, a degenerative brain disease which is invariably fatal.

A spokesman for the National Blood Service in the UK said nobody actually knows what the risks are.

Prof Bill Hall, chairman of the State's vCJD advisory group, said he did not think anybody could quantify the risk. "It could depend on the blood product they received and how much infectious agent was in the blood," he said.

There have been just two cases of vCJD to date in Britain linked to blood transfusion.

The IBTS said that while a person is infected, but symptom-free, it is possible they may pass on the infection through blood donation. "While a number of precautionary measures have been put in place to reduce the risk of transmitting vCJD by blood transfusion in Ireland, no universally effective measure exists to prevent its transmission," it added.

The results of further tests on the man with probable vCJD are awaited. Informed sources said the patient was showing all the signs of having vCJD.

This is the second suspected case of vCJD in the State in the past year. Last October a man in his 20s was treated at a Dublin hospital for the condition. He died recently.

His was the first indigenous case of vCJD in the State and given that he had never given blood or received a blood transfusion, or been operated on, his diagnosis had no adverse implications for the national blood supply. The source of his infection was believed to have been infected meat, which has been the source of the majority of cases of vCJD to date in Britain.

It is considered likely the source of infection in this latest case is also infected meat as blood would not have been taken from him recently if he had ever received a blood transfusion or spent time in Britain when BSE was at its height.

Given that vCJD can be lying dormant for 10 years after eating infected meat, he could have become infected before rigorous food safety controls were introduced here in 1996 and 1997.

Last night Minister for Health Mary Harney said she had been assured that every possible safeguard and preventative measure had been taken by the relevant agencies. "Out of respect for the patient and the patient's family, and the confidentiality of the doctor-patient relationship, the department (of health) is appealing to the press not to identify the hospital and to respect the privacy of the family at this very difficult time," she added.

englander wrote:

eoin_s wrote:

This is going seriously OT, but for a start CJD can take many years to manifest itself in a human, so they are just being sure

Where is your proof of this ?

See text in bold in the article.

Annasopra

danniemcq wrote:

don't know if anyone else has said this but go on shut up, if more ppl had your attitude then what kind of state would we be in. just cause you can't do it doesn't mean everyone should boycott it

I don't actually think Liouville was suggesting a boycott at all.

Do you know how annoying it is to be banned when you've only had anal sex with a condom, when you've had tests which you prove you are STI free, when your work colleagues (who you are not "out" to) are pressuring you to donate

Also UCC LGB society organised a college petition/protest about this - specifically asking people to donate but sign the petition as well - numbers of donations went up - most gay people who are annoyed by this ban do not advocate other people donating