h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I noticed the entry on Donating Blood in the USA.
I haven't had time to read it yet, although I will, but it got me thinking - How about some of you nice people here on h2g2, that live in the UK giving some blood. It's easy all you have to do is contact your local blood donor centre (there's a No. in the 'phone book under Blood), and going to give some blood. It's easy, and it only takes about an hour - free Tea & Biscuits too.
The best time to give blood is Friday afternoon/evening, because when you then go out on Friday night, you have one less pint of blood to get drunk on! Call me a tight Yorkshireman, but I like a cheap night out.
This is my "Public Service Broadcast", I'm not normally this sensible, but if it means that just one of you out there decides to go and give blood, then it's my good deed for the day.
Go on, do it, as they say "you could save a life."
Hope this hasn't been too heavy.
Tim

You'll find that the Blood Donor Service visit large workplaces, universities, etc. on a regular basis. I gave blood this morning in a room in my Student's Union which is usually used as a nightclub.

Giving blood is not scary; it takes between an hour and an hour and a half to go through the system. This includes registering if you're a new donor (this took 2 seconds in my case because I've donated before and have a card with a barcode on it), answering some medical questions, pinprick test on your thumb to see if you're anaemic, and then giving about a pint of blood while lying on a bed. Then you're given a little beanie toy in the shape of a drop of blood and a cup of orange and a biscuit. The nurses are really good, and look after you well if you're feeling faint.

You might faint after giving blood for the first time, but this usually gets better. Unfortunately it didn't for me, and I'm feeling bad again. So the nurses told me not to donate again for a few years. However, by donating a pint of blood twice, I've helped six people. I think that's worth feeling faint for a couple of days.

You have to leave 6 months in between donating blood. To find out more information about donating blood in the UK, see http://www.blooddonor.org.uk

Tried to give blood this morning - only to find they were only doing a 4 day collection (rather than the 5 I had assumed) at my local donor site - next time ....

Like Veronica, I started to give blood at my Uni (many years ago) - It doesn't hurt & apart from occasionaly feeling dizzy directly afterwards, I never had any adverse effects

Tigger |/\/\/|

I gave blood once. It took two hours to take half a pint of blood
from me. The nurses said that it was because my blood flowed too
slowly. Personally, I think it was because they had put the needle
in incorrectly, and were just covering up for themselves.
But if they were right, and my blood really does flow incredibly
slowly, then surely that means that if I get stabbed it would take me
AGES to die. Crap!
But maybe that's a good thing. I mean, it would allow me more
time until I get to a hospital. Very nice.

If you've ever had blood taken, have you ever been asked if you would
like an injection so that you don't feel the needle going in?
But surely this is hypocritical. Won't the injection to
stop you feeling the needle, involve a needle itself?
  I didn't have the extra injection for the above reason, and it
didn't particularly hurt. I think this was mostly because I didn't
watch it go in. About 20 minutes later I did, and gawd did I regret
it.
Don't look at it. Just don't do it. It is so BIG. And you can
see the constant stream of blood coming out the tube. Not that I'm
particularly squeamish of blood. It's just that seeing your own
blood squirting out of your body at high speed is a little
off-putting. Or not, if you like that sort of thing. Which I don't,
just in case you were wondering.

I guess the thinking behind the 1st needle, is that it is somewhat smaller than the 2nd - however, I've not been offered one, so I'm not sure.

Regarding your 'slow' blood, I guess 1 of you must be right ! - however in my case, they say I'm a 'lovely little bleeder' - it only takes about 10mins for the donation, but luckly I stop bleeding quickly too.

Tigger |/\/\/|

The nurses on Thursday asked me if I wanted a local anaesthetic before donating blood. Apparently they give all first-timers a local anaesthtic and ask people who have donated before. I had one, because the nurse made me nervous by asking me if I wanted one. I don't think it makes much difference to the sensation of a needle entering your arm. I got nervous because every nurse who came up to me looked at my notes and said 'You fainted last time, didn't you? How are you feeling?'

Ahh, the famous excess of care - I guess it's a difficult one to call - whether to ask too often or not enough - personally if I had to choise, I'd go for the too often, but .....

So, are you going to continue ?


Tigger |\/\/\/\|

They advised me not to give any more blood until I was older and had put on some more weight. I'll probably try again in 2 years time once I've finished university.

Are you in the envious condition of being sylph-like currently then ? -

I guess I was quite fit when I was at uni, but that was a while ago

The main problem with giving blood now (that I'm working) is that the doning hours are so restricted i.e.
9:30-12:30 2:30-:5-30 ==> have to get time off work - I know that put a lot of people here off going.
It would seem obvious (to me), that to encourage people to give, they ought to run the sessions at times convenient to the provider (us!).

Oh well

Tigger |\/\/\/|

Why do they make you wait so long in between blood donations? I saw somewhere else on this page that men can donate three times a year, and women twice a year. Why the different treatment?

Is there less of a demand for blood products, so there's no need for people to donate more frequently, like they do in the U.S.? Or are hematocrit levels lower in the U.K., and they don't want to compromise the health of people by taking any more blood than at that rate?

I think the men/women bit is due to avearge body mass - i.e. women tend to weigh less than men, so donating blood has a possible greater effect on women than men.

Tigger |\/\/\|

Well, I understand that regarding total body mass, but it still doesn't explain why there is such a large difference between US and UK blood donation policies. Is there anyone working in the medical field in the UK that can explain?