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
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![]()