My blood got rejected

[seemunkee]

Vacation in Cost Rica had me passing through an area with malaria. Banned from donating for a year.

The last time they did a bad stick and couldn't get a full pint so that was rejected. I don't mind getting poked but I like to think it would help someone.

[DS1]

1. I'm banned forever because I've stepped foot in England since 1981

( mad cow )

[MalibuChloe]

4. no way...

I have set foot in England since then - and given blood...

[CaliforniaPeggy]

8. If you've been there for a total time of three months or more.......

THEN you are prohibited from giving......only after THREE months total time.......

Those are the rules.....sorry!


:shrug:

[miss_kitty]

32. It's 6 months

or did they change it?

And it doesn't matter if you're a vegetarian, at least it didn't when I called about it. I called on of the guys on the board that makes the decisions and they had even considered vegetarianism or veganism as a precluding factor to the rule. At the time, when they put those rules in place. Kind of stupid. As a vegetarian eating no meat in the 4.5 months I was there, it was less likely I would be exposed prions (no chance) than the three week tourist who eats steak and kidney pie one of more times during his/her visit (prions most likely in organ meat). Go figure.

[mwooldri]

41. Kinda rules me out.

I was in England between 1974 and 1999. Hmmm I was born in 1974. In England.

So to all of those who want my blood I say, "Moooooo! Here's some Maaaaad Blood for you!"

[Midlodemocrat]

5. That's just what they told you.

There were *ahem* other reasons.

[tjwmason]

6. I've got you beat there - both English and gay

So :P

[xmas74]

25. My brother is too.

They banned him originally for a while for spending some time there (a couple of months-it was a judgement call). Community Blood now says that he is a permanent ban because of being stationed overseas for a few years w/ frequent trips to England during that time.

[neuvocat]

48. I was in Germany from '87 to '90

and got rejected for the same thing. I was in the military over there.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. We always try our best to get the vein........

Sometimes it doesn't work....I'm sorry you weren't able to give the whole pint....

As for the malarial problem...it is a very dangerous disease, and it is spreading...

They will be glad to see you when you return in a year! And thank you for trying, at least......


:hi:

[eyesroll]

3. I've been rejected for Costa Rica travel, too.

And low iron, and low body weight when I was a teenager, too.

It's fun, getting rejected when you're a teacher at a high school -- the kids see you getting rejected and they speculate as to what you did.

[seemunkee]

34. They asked me when I made the appointmen

I told them where I had been and the didn't say anything. They asked the same questions when I gave and then called me at home about it some more and never said it was rejected. I got a letter telling me.

[eyesroll]

35. I know that not all of Costa Rica is considered malarial, so there

may have been some initial confusion. At the blood drive, they had to get a supervisor to look up Limon (I was there for an exchange) on a map.

[swimboy]

7. They just flat-out reject gay blood.

How you live your life doesn't matter. They have decided all gay people have tainted blood. :mad: :grr:

[ozarkvet]

9. Lawsuits

It's a cover-the-ass move after the problems they got into in the 1980's.

Rather a shame.

I believe most place allow you to donate in someone's name for this reason --- I do this for a friend who needs blood products of various kinds (some sort of clotting disorder), so he does not have to pay his deductible.

[LynneSin]

10. Yeah, that happened to me

Thing is, for a year I quit giving and then kinda lost interest in donating blood.

I know - that's bad, maybe I'll start again soon!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

11. Let me encourage you to resume when you can!

We need our good donors, more than ever!

If only 5% of the eligible donors nationwide gave on a regular basis, we would never have a blood shortage......

I give my platelets now and then....not often enough, though....



:hug:

[LynneSin]

12. Delaware has a weird blood bank system I haven't figured out

You register and they call you when they need your blood type. By registering you get free blood whenever you require a transfusion. It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever; I liked it back in PA when our company would have the Red Cross come by every 2 months for the blood drive.

But I'll start doing it again, I promise!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

13. That is a weird system.....

But it's nice to have the free transfusion option....The Red Cross used to do that, but it got too expensive to maintain....

How about giving at a local hospital? A number of them have their own blood banks.....

Anyway thanks for the good thoughts!


:pals:

[LynneSin]

15. Everything works through the Delaware Blood Bank System

When they find themselves low on a certain type of blood they go into their databanks and get refills setup. Actually I heard it works out well.

But the hospitals are all tied into it and the DE ARC will refer you to this system.

But when there is a dire need nationwide for blood they will accept all types (like with 9/11, Katrina, etc)

I didn't make the system

[billyskank]

14. They wouldn't want my blood

they think I'm contaminated. :(

[CaliforniaPeggy]

16. I'm sorry, my dear billyskank......

I don't think you are.....even though I used to work for the Red Cross.....

Patient safety...and donor safety, are their primary concerns, you know....


Until there are BETTER tests for things like HIV and mad cow disease, they must be very careful......

Bloodborne pathogens are a genuine and terrifying risk......






:loveya: :hug: :pals:

[eyepaddle]

17. I gave blood for the first time in a few years

just last friday.
Yeah I got rejected by a trip through the tropics. The country I was in isn't regarded as Malarial...but they were a little spooked.

On edit--the rejection occured a few years ago--Friday they got their pint!

[Mr. McD]

18. I can't give

I test positive for the Hepatitis B antibody which is unusual because I was vaccinated against it. I was negative at the time of the vaccination
and the vaccination is not supposed to give you a positive test.:shrug:

[khashka]

19. Did it to me too

I got dissed on two counts - being a fag (they were kinda willing to overlook that, maybe) but my throat piercing was less than a year old.

Haven't tried since. The looks my coworkers gave me were pure unadulterared evil.

Sad Khash.

[eyepaddle]

20. Dude, I'm sorry

:hug:

[khashka]

23. The Red Cross arguments

I could not disagree with - they actually were good arguments for sustainining a healthy blood supply. Anyone can say they are AIDS and other STDs free (I am, but anyone can say it) and piercings can lead to infections. (Which is why I don't fault them at all) And they were all very polite and apologetic.

It was the treatment I got later by my coworkers that pissed me off. But how angry can you remain with lobotomized rabbits?

No harm, no foul.

Khash.

[xmas74]

26. I can't until I get my iron levels under control

I was born anemic(though mom thought the pediatrician was a quack) and I consistantly have low iron levels on my tests.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

39. you had your throat pierced?

[khashka]

40. uh, yeah

One of my 14 piercings...

Khash

[Danmel]

21. I'm kinda anemic

Fibroid the size of Ohio that we "wait and watch" with sonograms (I hate the idea of surgery unless my life depends on it). SO they turn me down too!

[Left_Winger]

22. I am constantly asked to donate because I'm O negative

But I am the world's worst needle-phobe! One glance at that needle and I run like a rabbit!

Not to mention a bad experience: When I was a jarhead the Navy Corpsman tried to hit a vein and missed. So, what did he do? He kept digging and pushing until I almost knocked the guy out with my one good arm. My left arm became very bruised and swollen as a result of this, not to mention an exacerbation of my phobia.

:scared:

[Tikki]

36. Dang, it's not so much the needle....

for me as it is the little pin they use to prick my finger for the blood drop test for iron levels.

I play guitar and have built up some gnarly finger-tip callus.... that little sharp point has to get through some pretty tough skin. Ouch!!!



Tikki

[nytemare]

24. I had a surgery last year that I got tissue from a cadaver

So, I couldn't give for a year.

I think you can't give for a while after a tattoo, either.

[xmas74]

27. I think they told me 12 months for a tat.

[nytemare]

28. That is what I heard, as well.

And a year is what they gave for the surgery.

[xmas74]

37. I believe that it's the same for piercings.

[Graf Orlok]

29. I won't reject your blood.

:evilgrin: :evilgrin: :evilgrin:

[Jamastiene]

30. I can identify with your blood. I get rejected all the time too.

I actually had a nurse milk my arm before gall bladder surgery. My blood was seeping out instead of coming out as fast as she wanted it to come out. So she milked my arm and MADE the blood shoot out like she wanted. Damn vampire. Too bad it couldn't go to help someone. After that experience, I was happy to see the older nurse later. Apparently, the vampire nurse did it wrong and wasted my blood on top of that, so the older nurse took some more. I didn't even feel the needle go in and it came out better. I liked her.

[sakabatou]

31. I got rejected: for taking aspirin

[northzax]

33. I'm a reject as well

the orgy with jigilos while on heroin was a problem, I guess.

actually, it's for living in England, but the first is a better story.

[WindRavenX]

38. I got a new tattoo, so I have to wait a year

Bummer.

[mwooldri]

42. Does this also mean my ORGANS would get rejected?

I'm English, and I can't donate (afraid of a few cows here). Does that mean that if I were to meet a fatal death early on and my organs which could be usable (and I want to donate in the case of my death) are to be discarded on the possibility my blood was tainted with nvCJD? Could my organs be sent to the UK in a real hurry where they're not too worried about 'em?

[NNadir]

43. These rules are not risk cognizant.

I had the same thing when I went to India.

They make noise as well about the amount of time you've spent in the UK. I'm a fucking vegetarian, it's very unlikely I'll get mad cow.

The risk of not having a blood supply at all it seems to me is lower than the risk of an accidental infection from a known donor.

It pisses me off, to be frank, and the wondering about the waste of time makes me a less regular donor than I would be otherwise.

I'm a healthy, monogamous, heterosexual, vegetarian, and drug free, for chris sakes, and I've been giving blood for years and I give blood to help people, not to hurt them. It's not like I'm selling my blood, I'm donating it. The process is kind of crazy.

[skoppa]

44. The first time I ever donated blood...

..i filled the bag in 2.5-3.0 min. and got real sick. Worst part being that I wen't at the end and they were all out of food.

[strategery blunder]

46. I can relate

I can fill the bag in about eight minutes just by laying there, level, without squeezing the thing.

I have to lie down on a level surface or I'll faint because my blood is so desperate to leave me:evilgrin:

The RN in my family says I shouldn't do it more often than about semianually, because if you do it every 56 days, your body alledgedly is constantly trying to replace lost blood, which will eventually get extremely taxing. I fess up...haven't donated in a while. Must be afraid of fainting again...

[KitchenWitch]

45. Don't feel bad, I am banned for life

I had lymphoma when I was in my 20s, which is an effective ban for life.

[marzipanni]

47. I'm banned, too

I used to give blood in the 70s until shortly after 1982. When AIDS was discovered in 1982, there was no test for it, so to be safe blood banks stopped taking any blood which tested positive for the hepatitis antibody. My blood did test positive, though I never knew I had had hepatitis. Everyone in my family received gamma globulin in 1975 to protect against contracting hepatitis from my brother when he returned from India where he served in the Peace Corps.