Who does it?
I would if it didnt freak me the hell out! They have a blood drive at my school every year.
My parents and sister do it, but I'm too young.
I would love to give some of my blood,but I have to wait until next year because I have a piercing :( and it's not allowed, you have to wait at least a year... I can do it after January 15 ;) yay!!!
Ooh, that's something I didn't think about. Does getting a tattoo mean you can't do it?
Have a piercing where? Why does it matter?
Lmao, I just had a funny mental picture of someone taking blood from your belly button. :D
It matters because if it gets infected it shows in your blood - for a few weeks it's essentially an open wound until it heals around the piercing.
What the. How can you prove something like that? And how can you prove it wasn't infected after that?
My sister has a small tatoo on her lowerback and a bellybutton ring, and they never asked her about those things...
That's what I asked when they told me.
They looked at me stupidly and told me to leave.
@ NeX: That's becuase they couldn't see them. They forget to ask at times.
I would give blood but I'm scared of needles. :(
I tried to give you rep Dark Kirby.. but I couldnt. Lol. Anyway, I agree. I am scared of them too.
I've given blood at least 4 times for blood drives, and had blood taken for medical tests more times than i can remember.
For the blood drives, they ask you a serious of lifestyle questions (engaged in sexual relations with anything you can imagine, taken drugs etc) and a few others about places taht you have been. If I remember correctly, eating beef in europe was enough for them to disqualify you from giving blood;)
My highschool was in some sort of bizarre competition with another school to see who could donate more blood. This meant that the admins put out a bunch of incentives for everyone to give blood. Basically, if you gave blood, you didnt have to do anything all day. So I took them up as much as possible. Whoever, you also got people like my friend andrew who showed up to school after taking 6 vicodin and 2 percosets and then donated blood. *** bless american high schoolers:)
Edit: only wusses are afriad of needles.
Lol, I know you're not emo. I was just joking around. Especially because of the whole
My blood belongs inside my body, and barring any minor to major accidents, that's exactly where it's going to stay. Other bodily fluids that are released through natural everyday processes, I'd be more than happy to donate.
I bet raptors afraid of needles:cookie:
Wikipedia to the rescue.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emo_%28slang%29
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=emo
3.Emo
An entire subculture of people (usually angsty teens) with a fake personality. The concept of Emo is actually a vicious cycle that never ends, to the utter failing of humanity, and it goes something like this:
1. Girls say they like "sensitive guys" (lie)
2. Guy finds out, so he listens to faggy emo music and dresses like a dork so chicks will see that he is sensitive and not afraid to express himself (lie). He dyes his hair black, wraps himself in a stupid looking scarf, develops an eating disorder, and rants about how "nobody understands".
3. Now an emo guy, he meets Emo chick and they start dating, talking about how their well-off suburban lifestyles are terrible and depressing (lie)
4. Emo guy is just too much of a pussy. His penis is too small, he's too depressed to bathe, and has more mood swings than emo chick, and he doesn't even have a menstrual cycle. Emo chick dumps him, saying "It's not you, it's me." (lie) as she drives off with Wayne, the school jock and captain of the football team.
5. Emo guy goes home and cries, proceeds to write a weak song and strum a single string on his acoustic guitar. Another emo chick sees how he is so in touch with his feelings, and the cycle continues.
This is the sad truth of the emo lifestyle/music, and now that I look at how pathetic it really is, maybe the emos DO have something to cry about!
I must admit that I'm a little put off by needles, but that still doesn't stop me from donating.
I also don't have any tattoos or piercings, so that stuff doesn't apply to me.
A few years ago (2001 IIRC), I just started doing it at my college, and since then I've been going regularly after the minimum number of weeks (10-12).
...And we don't even get paid to do it here. ;)
...Speaking of which, how much do you guys get for bleeding on someone? :p:
I'm giving blood in 2007. You have to be at least sixteen to do so... My blood type is A-, so it's likely to be appreciated.
I gave blood once during a blood drive at school. Got kind of dizzy as I stepped off the bus but, regained my balance quick enough, before falling.
They can determine it as soon as you give some. Or, if you have the right materials, you can find it out yourself. MIGHT ENTAIL SOME SELF-HARM, THOUGH, PRICK PRICK SLIT SLIT.
I've never been dizzy, even after losing 3 pints in one day. Weird.
"you don't even know me, so don't judge me"
MOST EMO PHRASE EVER. Seriously, half of the morons who lock themselves in their rooms with livejournal open are just writing variations of "gawd no1 understadns me i h8 everyone btw wut r u wearing 2 skool tomoro"
I've been both a regualr whole blood donor and apheresis donor since 1998. Given my profession, I can't very well go around trying to recruit other people to donate if I don't do it myself.
At my current job we have an in-house donor program for our employees only. I used to coordinate all the donations, but we finally got a secretary to do that so I can stay in the lab doing the actual testing. Employees come down to donate, and then we use the fresh blood immediately over in the lab to do testing on our filters. We pay our employees for each donation ($70 for your 1st, 2nd and 4th donations, $120 for your 3rd and $150 for your 5th, then it starts over again at $70) because we really need the units and it's hard to get blood centers to give up fresh blood for research purposes. Typically we have to purchase units from Pennsylvania in addition to our donor room blood, and we buy platelets from about 3 different sources as well.
Normally, blood centers don't (and shouldn't) pay people for donations. It's supposed to be a volunteer program to ensure a safer blood supply (otherwise crackheads would lie on their medical history form just to get the money, putting everyone at risk with their bad blood). We can pay donors because our units are strictly for research purposes only. Often times our employees will lie on thier history form about some of the sillier things (tattoos, travel to foreign countries) because we know the unit won't ever go to an actual patient. They will never be transfused, and even in the lab we use "universal precautions" where we treat every unit as if it were already infected with HIV and HBV.
They're supposed to do a complete history check on you for everything from the obvious (Do you have HIV?), to risk assesment (Have you ever used intravenous drugs - which could put you at a higher risk for contracting HBV or HIV), to the more obscure (Have you taken aspirin in the last 3 days - aspirin kills your platelets; Within the last year have you gotten a tattoo or peircing - which could potentially put you at risk for contracting a bloodborn pathogen if the needles weren't safe; Have you spent time that adds up to 5yrs or more in Europe - risk of having contracted CJD; Have you ever spent any time in Africa - risk of contracting maleria). Then a mini physical to ensure you're not at risk of getting sick by donating (checking your hemoglobin levels, blood pressure, temperature - to see if you have an infection). Then..... you can donate.
For those scared of needles, just don't look when it goes in. I never do. It is a huge needle though, 14-16g, but it just feels like a pinch and a slight burning for a few seconds if the anticoagulant in the tubing line traveled up near the needle hub. Other than that it honestly doesn't hurt at all, and it's typically over in 7-15mins depending on how good the placement of the needle is and a few various other variables. Plus you get juice and cookies when your done :)
So yeah, I know quite a bit about donating. If anyone has questions, feel free to ask. But keep in mind, rules/laws are different by state/country.
****, I need to work at that lab. I'de give blood constantly.
I have yet to give out blood. I have gotten my blood drawn many times for medical reasons and I'm sure I could donate blood.
I tried to donate blood once and got turned down, my blood is "tainted"
p.s. "tainted" does not mean I have AIDS or any other disease, incase that's what you thought.
Wow I just got blood taken yesterday...
Nex - I'd rather that if it would affect the donation that they knew about a tattoo. It's like pretending you aren't HIV+ and giving blood - it's just pointless, possibly dangerous.
As to emo, no they aren't self-obsessed manic-depressive cutters; they just pretend that they are.
And over here there's no regulation about CJD, which is weird, because we're in Europe. We do get asked about Africa and the Middle East, but I'm sure everyone does.
I think it's a four-month gap before you get donate again over here. I'm A rhesus positive, which is like the second most common, but hey - they're always gonna need free blood, and I'm always gonna need free orange juice and biscuits.
I've had blood drawn for medical tests, but never for donation. I'm sure I'll do it sometime, I think we have a blood drive coming up relatively soon.
Heh, my dad used to drive up to this big city to give blood and get paid for it. He says that's usually how he got his "date money" for the weekend. Keep in mind that this was about 40 years ago.
Wings, if they had the same strict rules regarding CJD over in Europe your blood supply would be non-existant. You'd have to get all of your blood from us here in the states, which wouldn't happen because we don't have as big a population willing to actually donate as you guys do. Fortunately my company has made a filter that removes prions from blood, so as long as they're still using it over there in Europe you guys should be safe ;)
[URL="http://www.nybloodcenter.org/bloodfacts/index.do?sid0=2&sid1=19"]Info about donating[/URL], for those interested.
I have AB++ blood, meaning I can literally accept any blood type, but only give to other people with AB++
My blood is obviously far too precious to give away. I mean, seriously, look at me. Have you seen pictures of me? I'd die if any of it left my body.
Judge, you should become a plasmapheresis donor. That's where they only remove your plasma and you keep all of your red cells. Type AB plasma is like liquid gold. It's very rare and just like type O red cells, type AB plasma can be given to anyone. Anytime we have to do an exchange transfusion on a newborn we need to use type AB plasma. Or if a trauma patient comes in and we don't have time to determine their blood type, we need to issue type AB plasma. And since only 4% of the population is type AB, its very hard to come by.
Assuming someone I knew needed a blood transfusion from my blood to save their life...I'd think about it.
The sad thing is that if the worst were to happen and one of your loved ones did need a few units of blood, plasma, platelets, or cryo - you wouldn't be able to help them at that point (assuming it was an emergency/accident type of thing and not pre-planned sugery). It takes minimum of 1-2 days to process your unit and perform all of the required testing on it. If mommy was in a car accident and lost half her blood volume, she can't wait 2 days to ensure you never picked up any cooties during your lifetime.
Often times we'll get fathers wanting to donate blood for their babies in the NICU, but they're the wrong blood type. So they go and donate for the regular population as their way of saying thanks to the people who were the right blood type and able to help save their baby's life.
I'd rather give and hope I never need to take myself, than to wait till I need it and then repay the favor at that point.
I'm not a selfish little prick, so I would. In fact, I have given blood. Several times.
If I had super rare blood, I'd sell it on ebay. :D
I was under the impression that a body-body transfusion is a good idea if the patient's gonna die anyway.
Every year at my school they'd have a Blood Drive (well, twice a year, but that isn't the point) and for my Junior and Senior years I gave blood. I meant to do it during my Sophmore year, but I fell asleep during class and missed it.
Whoops.
I'd give blood but I don't know my blood type and my school needs a permission slip :crying:
I'd like to donate blood sometime but I probably smoke too much weed for them to accept it. Although maybe that doesn't matter I don't really know..
JS: you probably don't weigh enough, you need to be 110 pounds
Philsdad: weed is fine, just stay away from the IV drugs
The first time I gave blood I had to fill out a registration form, but nothing as heavy as a birth certificate. I think that's to do with the health service over here, though - they could pull up my details immediately on their computer system.
About a week after I donated they sent me a card with my blood type on it, information about donating, etc. There's some sort of incentive if you donate over 40 times, apparently.
Like I have said a couple of times now.....I live in Puerto Rico so things down here are completely different :).