Giving Blood & Donating Organs

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Have A Heart

I was watching a programme on organ donation and it prompted something in me, to sign up to the organ donation register in England, and enquire about blood donations. I've always had an interest in doing these sort of donations but I never really had the drive to do it, not to mention that young people's donation rates aren't exactly high in the first place.

But yeah, I decided to sign up for it. I'm still waiting for a letter back for my blood donation number so I can actually go to the centres to draw my blood. As for the organ donation, well, I'll get a confirmation letter, but besides that, that can be forgotten about until, you know, I die.

So have any of you guys signed up to whatever country's donation register? What made you want to donate? What made you not?

I'm too bloody chicken trout to do so. Props to those who do it and please grab an extra cookie for me.

yea you sign something when getting your drivers license here
i've had people tell me that i'll be targeted for 'an accident' because of it in case someone rich is a match and needs my organs :roll2

I don't think I've ever given blood. I have started suspecting in the last few years that I am anemic, though, so I need all the blood I can get. So you all should just give me your blood instead.

I checked the mark on my driver's license to have my organs donated if needed.

i've never given blood despite being a proponent of it because i'm just a big hypocrite

also not an organ donor because hypocrite

I have given blood a number of times. And I'm an O- so I'll be saving everyone's lives with my universally accepted blood.
I get special letters encouraging me to donate more because I'm such a special snowflake. Reminding me that my blood will be saving thousands of premature babies, etc. Emotional blackmail. ._.

I ticked the organ donor box on my driving license thing.

I also want to look into platelet donations. I hear that's something people want too.

I'm on the organ donors register. It appears that the Welsh Government is planning on making it an opt-out thing for its people rather than opt-in, which is outrageous, but whenever I try to argue against it I just get called an immoral smurftard. Don't care anymore.

I donate blood, but less regularly than I should, and I'm an organ donor as well.

I don't really care about donating blood, but donating some organs when I die would be fine, I guess. Assuming they are still usable.

Like Shorty, I'm anemic. I don't do well with having my blood taken, let alone donating it.

I am, however, an organ donor. I'm not sure what, if any, they could use from me, considering my CF. But, they're still free to take what they can when I pass.

I haven't taken a stance concerning my organs yet, for some reason. I'd like to give blood, though, but I'm not allowed since I've had sex with other guys.

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Originally Posted by Breine

I'd like to give blood, though, but I'm not allowed since I've had sex with other guys.

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I really, really, don't understand the whole "please wait 12 months if you've had sex with other men". The only possible reason would be HIV, but we no longer live in 1980. HIV can be transmitted from any gender. The whole thing doesn't make sense. It's stupid really, and makes homosexuals not want to donate.

I've heard someone say theyre not an organ donor because if one day theyre in the hospital with 70% chance of survival and theres a dying child who needs his organs, he's worried the doctors might not try as hard to save him.

Yeah I'm a registered organ donor. Not like I'll be using them.

Keeping my blood though, thanks.

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Originally Posted by Formalhaut

I really, really, don't understand the whole "please wait 12 months if you've had sex with other men". The only possible reason would be HIV, but we no longer live in 1980. HIV can be transmitted from any gender. The whole thing doesn't make sense. It's stupid really, and makes homosexuals not want to donate.

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It takes a few months for HIV to present itself in a blood test, and gay men are more likely to have HIV by a very wide margin. The 12 months is just a big contingency measure. You don't mess around when it comes to HIV, sensibilities of the situation or not.

I am an organ donor. The FDA prevents me from giving blood because I lived in Norway for 5 years in the early 1990s.

Really? :O_O: What's wrong with Norway?

probably just because he lived outside the US, not Norway specifically /hypothesis

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Originally Posted by Formalhaut

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Originally Posted by Breine

I'd like to give blood, though, but I'm not allowed since I've had sex with other guys.

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I really, really, don't understand the whole "please wait 12 months if you've had sex with other men". The only possible reason would be HIV, but we no longer live in 1980. HIV can be transmitted from any gender. The whole thing doesn't make sense. It's stupid really, and makes homosexuals not want to donate.

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Originally Posted by Old Manus

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Originally Posted by Formalhaut

I really, really, don't understand the whole "please wait 12 months if you've had sex with other men". The only possible reason would be HIV, but we no longer live in 1980. HIV can be transmitted from any gender. The whole thing doesn't make sense. It's stupid really, and makes homosexuals not want to donate.

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It takes a few months for HIV to present itself in a blood test, and gay men are more likely to have HIV by a very wide margin. The 12 months is just a big contingency measure. You don't mess around when it comes to HIV, sensibilities of the situation or not.

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Forewarning: This issue is something that really bothers me, so I may be a bit overly reactional but I will try to not let it show.

@Formy: You are lucky, in most countries it is an indefinite ban from donation blood is you are a man who has sex with another man (MSM). Though they are looking to reform those policies in the USA and Canada, it is still like that.

@Old Manus: It takes 3 months after exposure before you can test for it. Moreover, now-a-days there are tests that are super reliable (I think it is something like 99.x% accurate) that take 10 minutes to check your status and requires only a few drops of blood. If it comes up positive then they test more thoroughly to make sure that it wasn't a false-positive. Moreover, the testing that is used for blood donations, in Canada at least, is rather rigorous.

Now, I do realize that MSM accounts for the majority of new HIV cases and that is something that not only the LGBT communities but also communities at large need to take responsibility for and work harder to decrease that. Some people's mentality regarding sex and HIV are rather ridiculous. To elaborate, there are those that believe that because they are gay, they will get it eventually so might as well have fun, or that in developed countries it is a mostly livable, etc...Anyways, such thoughts really need to be closely examined and done away with. Now do I think that MSM should be able to donate blood? Yes. Do I think there should be a complete lift? No. I do think that the indefinite prohibition is, ultimately, homophobic (I will get to that later). Something like Formy mentioned (12 months) is much more reasonable. I think there can be a solution that while it will not please everyone, might be something both sides can accept.

I had written a big long post regarding this, but then read this article and basically sums up with much more proficiency what I have to say. Reconsidering the lifetime deferral of blood donation by men who have sex with men

Please note that this article is Canadian, so the statistics and policies differ from the USA.

TL;DR - Indefinite deferrals for MSM is ridiculous given the current state of affairs (both technological and policy-wise). Something between 1-5 years for deferral is much more reasonable.

EDIT: I am an organ donor, but I no longer donate blood because I am gay. I am O+ and did donate before being "MSM" (lol) as it were.

I've given blood quite a few times before, I don't think I'm an organ donor though. I should find out.

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Originally Posted by blackmage_nuke

I've heard someone say theyre not an organ donor because if one day theyre in the hospital with 70% chance of survival and theres a dying child who needs his organs, he's worried the doctors might not try as hard to save him.

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I dunno. Over here, you're not even allowed to check if a person is an organ donor while he or she is still alive.

Well it's written on our drivers lisences and our lisences might be checked to identify us.

I dun want no faggut blood savin' mah life.

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Originally Posted by blackmage_nuke

Well it's written on our drivers lisences and our lisences might be checked to identify us.

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Not ours.

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Originally Posted by Shorty

Really? :O_O: What's wrong with Norway?

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If you lived just about anywhere in western Europe in the early to mid 1990s for a period of a few years (I want to say the minimum is two?), the FDA disallows blood donation because of Mad Cow Disease. Because apparently that's been dormant in my system for over a decade.

oh to live in glorious le athiest scandinavia ~

I started giving blood as soon as I could, I knew a few people that did it and it seemed like a great idea ^_^ It doesn't hurt and you're doing a good thing, everyone who can do it, should do it :)

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Originally Posted by Shauna

I also want to look into platelet donations. I hear that's something people want too.

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I asked about that the last time I went and it's better suited for men. You need large veins as they pump the blood out of you, remove the platelets and then pump it back in. Also, it takes hours as opposed to minutes so you need to donate more time. Pretty sure you can only do one or the other as well, so it's either platelets or blood. May be worth asking one of the nurses though :)

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Originally Posted by louby_4eva

I started giving blood as soon as I could, I knew a few people that did it and it seemed like a great idea ^_^ It doesn't hurt and you're doing a good thing, everyone who can do it, should do it :)

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Originally Posted by Shauna

I also want to look into platelet donations. I hear that's something people want too.

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I asked about that the last time I went and it's better suited for men. You need large veins as they pump the blood out of you, remove the platelets and then pump it back in. Also, it takes hours as opposed to minutes so you need to donate more time. Pretty sure you can only do one or the other as well, so it's either platelets or blood. May be worth asking one of the nurses though :)

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Here in the US, they pay you for plasma/platelets. :D

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Originally Posted by Ouch!

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Originally Posted by Shorty

Really? :O_O: What's wrong with Norway?

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If you lived just about anywhere in western Europe in the early to mid 1990s for a period of a few years (I want to say the minimum is two?), the FDA disallows blood donation because of Mad Cow Disease. Because apparently that's been dormant in my system for over a decade.

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In fairness you don't smurf around with CJD. When it broke here we slaughtered ten million cattle and then burned the bodies to ashes. The FDA needs to revise the policies for obvious reasons but the principle of "Holy trout we can't let this get into our medical infrastructure" is a sound one.

This is incidentally why the horsemeat scandal is such a big deal. We're supposed to be able to trace any meal back to at least the farm if not the herd or individual animal, so that if something like CJD crops up again we can get on top of it as fast as humanly possible. Horse meat can carry its own unpleasant diseases, and obviously there are many issues with halal/kosher and stuff, as well as the basic notion of being able to trust the label on what you're buying, but if people are being so fundamentally careless there are bigger risks around.

Oh, I'm aware of what a big deal it was. I lived in Indonesia for two years after Norway, and it made perfect sense that I was not allowed to donate blood for five years. I just find it a bit ridiculous that there isn't a similar time period after which I'm considered clean. So far as I'm aware, CJD does not remain dormant with no symptoms for long periods of time. Incidentally, it was only after I finally finished my five years of ineligibility from living in Indonesia that the FDA instituted the rules about living in Europe.

Also I looked up the exact requirements. When it was put in place in 2002, the policy was if you had spent six months in Europe (or three in the UK) from 1980 to 1996 you were ineligible for donation. It has since been relaxed to a cumulative five-year time period in Europe (although still only three months in the UK). Either way, I am permanently banned from ever giving blood in the United States.

"Giving Blood & Donating Organs"
last post by Ouch!

I lol'd.

I barely met the minimum iron requirement the one time they let me give blood. They don't let me anymore. My drivers' license lists me as an organ donor though, so at least I'll be useful when I'm dead. Assuming they harvest me before my organs die, at least.

I donated blood once because I thought I was just getting a blood test to check my vitamin D levels and a few other things (because my blood has a tendency to clot and try to kill me so I need to keep an eye on those things). They were doing blood work at the health center sans appointment so I said, sure, I'll go. They asked for my medical history and my doctors office was downstairs so I got it for them. Turns out it was a donation thing. I didn't realize that was the case until after my blood was hijacked. I am not an organ donor.

I have donated blood a few times but I should really make it more regular. I have benefited from other people's blood in the past so it's only fair.

I'm not an organ donor but I have donated my organ to plenty a young lady.

Ba dum tsshh!

I give blood 2-4 times a year, on average. I'm listed as an organ donor, but in this country it's up to the family to decide (mine probably would allow it, though).

I see no reason not to give blood - hell, I don't like the needle business any more than the next guy (who's not a BDSM freak), it hurts and it's an unpleasant experience overall. There's no payment here, either - you do it entirely out of good will. You get absolutely nothing in return. But hey, people rely on each other and my conscience won't let me be an insufferable douche 100% of the time...

I misread this as 'Donating Orgasms'. Were this the case I would donate all the time.

I am an organ donor yes. I like to think of it this way - if I needed an organ, I wouldn't turn one down, I'd take it. So yeah, of course I'm a donor.

Have never given blood though, never even had a blood test.

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Originally Posted by Unbreakable Will

I misread this as 'Donating Orgasms'. Were this the case I would donate all the time.

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Well there's always a certain organ you could donate that goes along the same lines. :erm:

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Originally Posted by NorthernChaosGod

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Originally Posted by Unbreakable Will

I misread this as 'Donating Orgasms'. Were this the case I would donate all the time.

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Well there's always a certain organ you could donate that goes along the same lines. :erm:

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Now I'm scared some old guy is going to get my junk if I die young D:

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Originally Posted by Happy Noodle Boy

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Originally Posted by NorthernChaosGod

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Originally Posted by Unbreakable Will

I misread this as 'Donating Orgasms'. Were this the case I would donate all the time.

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Well there's always a certain organ you could donate that goes along the same lines. :erm:

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Now I'm scared some old guy is going to get my junk if I die young D:

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Maybe he's rich and can use it on his young girlfriend.

One time I went to the doctors and they took so much blood out of me that I nearly passed out

seriously they filled up like twelve smurfing vials

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Originally Posted by Pike

One time I went to the doctors and they took so much blood out of me that I nearly passed out

seriously they filled up like twelve smurfing vials

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But robots don't need blood...

:shifty: