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

I've just been reading some fairly weird responses to an article on the government bringing in opt-out organ donation. Far from being "this means the state will harvest the poor to make collagen their bones to sustain the youthfulness of their ageing overlords", I think it's a great idea.

Then I thought, why not just register anyway? Surely in this day and age, there's a website or something?

www.uktransplant.org.uk

Took me less than a minute to sign up once I'd read the blurb.

Now if only I could give blood online...

USB Syringe.

I take it the blood is then stored on a massive NHS server until such a time as it's downloaded into a recipient?

If only!

We have an opt-in system here, rather than an opt-out. Makes no sense to me, either. Surely a majority of people realize that a corpse has no use at all for its internal organs?

Then again, maybe not. A majority of people seem not to realize a whole lot of things.

That's because people are morons. One person might be clever, but you put them in a group (such as "the majority") and IQ's drop dramatically.

True indeed.

I've been on the donor registry since I was old enough to do so on my own (18). Since I'd have no problem accepting someone else's organ(s) if the need arose, it seems reasonable to be willing to share as well. Especially as I wouldn't be needing them if I were to croak. Especially as I'm type O- and could be useful to anyone. It'd be about time.

Until just recently, blood banks used to pay people to come in and donate. A number of my friends, when we were young, broke students back in the late '80s and early '90s, used to give blood for spending money. They're not allowed to pay for it any more.

That's a shame. As far as I know, they don't pay for blood donations over here.

Yeah, but homeless people were donating blood so that they'd have money for food and stuff, which meant that poor homeless people were a) not dying out as nature intended and b)giving lots of blood which may have resulted in a rich person being given icky poor person blood.

That's just not gonna be acceptable in a country like the USofA.

Just found out there's a blood donation place in town between the place I get off the tram and the place I get on the bus. Might nip in tomorrow and give them a pint or two after work. Although I did have two fillings done last night and have been on paracetamol since. Reckon that'll have any bearing on matters?

The reasons they stopped compensating monetarily for blood donations are because people were returning to donate too often, and people were lying about their health in order to do so. Less to do with low income and more to do with poor health. But always glad to be insulted for being from the US.

I don't know what's in paracemtamol, we don't have it here, but I've given blood while on pain meds before. The fillings would likely have some bearing, though. They might ask you to come back in a couple of weeks when risk of infection's likely to have passed?

I'll give it a month then...

Paracetamol is what we tend to use in the UK instead of aspirin...mostly because it only damages your liver, which will heal over time, rather than damaging your kidneys, which won't.

I never knew that was the reasoning behind it.

Aspirin's being used a lot less often as a pain killer these days. Other than Vicodin (aspirin and codeine) when I had oral surgery, I haven't had aspirin since I was around four. Though most adults over a certain age are advised to take low-dose aspirin to prevent heart attacks.

Apparently, paracetamol is called acetaminophen the in the US, usually as the name brand Tylenol. And according to the FDA and my pharmacy, it's just as likely to cause kidney damage as aspirin. I usually take Tylenol when I need an OTC pain killer (which is rarely- I don't like popping pills for every little ache or pain) because it doesn't aggravate my ulcer like aspirin does.

Where do you two find all these studies?

I called my pharmacist and she faxed me some info. Though I could dig for something I can link to later, if need be. Should be a quiet morning at the office today.

Oooh, NSAIDs, e.g. aspirin and ibuprofen, also aggravate asthma. I tend to stick to Dihydrocodeine. It's addictive, it's closely related to morphine and diamorphine, but I can take much higher equivalent doses of it than I can paracetamol and normal doses of aspirin or ibuprofen could cause me to develop acute kidney failure because of other meds I take

Yeah, mixing meds can be bad news- even the most harmless things can interact so badly. For example, I can't get the flu and pneumonia vaccines recommended for most asthmatics, because I take prednisone for my asthma.

I've heard that ibuprofen aggravates asthma so I don't use it- never noticed Tylenol having that effect. On the rare occasions I've needed serious pain drugs, I've taken Tylenol 3, which is acetaminophen/ paracetamol plus codeine. Good stuff.

Prednisone? Is that a steroid? If so is it the same as prednisolone?