Giving Blood to the American Red Cross

[Joby Graham]

I'm a fainter, too. It seems to be the volume taken, rather than any issue with my blood. Two vials for a blood test is no problem, but the third vial causes me to "gray out". I don't drink because it takes very little alcohol to affect me. Maybe I'm just naturally a quart low.

 

[Pequenita]

I gave blood a very long time ago, but they didn't take much blood when I passed out. Shortly after that I was diagnosed with hypoglycemia, so I was rejected after that and it was suggested that I am not a good donor.
I wasn't sure if it was because they don't want hypoglycemic blood or if they were concerned about my health, but it sounds like its more of a concern for me, not my blood.

I think your blood is fine. It's that you are likely to pass out that's the issue. They give regular blood donors a bunch of cookies and other snacks afterwards to help them deal - if someone is already about to bonk, it seems like they wouldn't want to take blood from you.

 

[Rainbow Jenny]

I'll eventually post more detail in the Covid-19 thread. As part of the trail we will be tested for both the virus and antibodies, but will not receive the results. And the trial could end early if another vaccine makes it to wide-spread distribution first.

I would hate to see your trial experience lost in the COVID-19 thread...guess I'll have to manually search for your posts.

I was a regular blood donor for years until a decade ago. Think I had been turned away a total of 3 times: for being slightly underweight, borderline anemic, and travel history. I was always fascinated by the ever changing questionnaires to assess risks of having unsafe blood. Then my veins developed scarring and I became a harder stick, less favored by phlebotomists. I felt oddly embarrassed for a while as if I were some IV drug abuser who ruined her veins!

I was also on bone marrow donor registry since college but removed myself off the list last year. Not so sure I can recover as well with age and the hospitalization. There are still endless ways to help people in the community.

 

[Ski&ride]

Think I had been turned away a total of 3 times: for being slightly underweight

How much do you need to weigh?

 

[cantunamunch]

PSA: The FDA has revised the vCJD deferrals. Deferred donors previously considered at risk for BSE transmission may now be reviewed for eligibility again

Red Cross to Implement FDA Eligibility Changes

On June 8, the American Red Cross will implement changes to donor eligibility criteria announced earlier this spring by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

www.redcross.org

https://www.fda.gov/media/124156/download

Summary:
The donors previously excluded for spending time in Europe since 1980 can be re-evaluated. The list of travellers at overt risk is now specifically reduced to 3months spent in UK, Ireland, France and on certain Army bases that had gotten UK beef. The relevant section is as follows:


1.Donor Deferral for Geographic Risk of BSE Exposure

FDA developed a quantitative risk assessment based on a global geographic risk-ranking model (Ref. 32) that estimated the contributions of donors potentially exposed to BSE in various countries. The model evaluated both risk reduction and donor loss resulting from the current geographic donor deferral policy compared with alternative deferral options. The model also evaluated the potential additional risk reduction afforded by leukocyte reduction of RBC. The model indicated that U.K., Ireland, and France, the three countries with the most attributed vCJD cases and BSE-related risk, contributed 95% of the total risk exposure in the U.S. Estimating that about 95% of RBC currently transfused in the U.S. are leukocyte reduced, the model predicted that deferring donors only for time spent in the U.K., Ireland, and France would maintain a predicted level of blood safety similar to that achieved with the current policy (Ref. 32). Based on these results, we recommend indefinite deferral only of donors who spent time in the U.K., Ireland, and France.We maintain the recommendation in the 2016 guidance to defer prospective donors who report receiving a blood transfusion in France or the U.K. We also recommend deferral for transfusion in Ireland from 1980-present to align the deferrals for blood transfusion with the geographic deferrals for time spent in the U.K ., France, and Ireland (Ref. 32). We recommend that donors previously deferred for geographic risk for time spent in other European countries can be assessed for requalification using the revised recommendations for vCJD geographic deferrals and may be eligible for reentry.
2.Donor Deferral for Potential Exposure to U.K.-Sourced Beef on U.S. Military Bases

In the 2016 guidance, we recommended that prospective donors should be deferred based on cumulative time spent on U.S. military bases in Europe from 1980-1996. The deferrals were first recommended in 2001 because some U.S. military bases in Northern Europe sourced beef from the U.K. between 1980 and 1990 and military bases elsewhere in Europe between 1980 to 1996 (Ref. 3 3). During this time, over 4.4 million military personnel and civilians might have ingested beef obtained from the U.K. on military bases in Europe; however, there have been no reported cases of vCJD in the intervening 20 years. This observation supports that the risk associated with time spent on U.S. military bases in Europe is different from the country-based risk calculations for time spent in the U.K., France, and Ireland that was based on the number of BSE-related vCJD cases in those countries. Therefore, we no longer recommenddeferral of individuals for time spent on U.S. military bases in Europe. We recommend that donors previously deferred for time spent on military bases in Europe can be assessed for requalification and may be eligible for reentry.

 

[cantunamunch]

Notice also that anti-HIV restrictions, specifically questions about sexual practices and tattoos, have been relaxed:

Blood donor restrictions relax, thousands now eligible to save lives

LANDSTUHL REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER - The Armed Services Blood Program is scheduled to implement sweeping changes to blood donor eligibility July 13 that...

www.army.mil

 

[scott43]

Yeah the questions are fairly numerous..I like that, up here at least, you can go through the whole process and at the end, you can choose to simply have your blood disposed of by placing an anonymous sticker on the bag that says, via barcode, either use or don't use. So if you happen to get dragged into it with your buddies or your work crew, and you know you can't donate for whatever reason, you're not That Guy...

 

[cantunamunch]

Yeah the questions are fairly numerous..I like that, up here at least, you can go through the whole process and at the end, you can choose to simply have your blood disposed of by placing an anonymous sticker on the bag that says, via barcode, either use or don't use. So if you happen to get dragged into it with your buddies or your work crew, and you know you can't donate for whatever reason, you're not That Guy...

US Red Cross does that too. And, don't get me wrong, the restrictions really needed to be revised.

The fact that it was done all at once and blanket "NO!" was reduced to "yeah, OK, maybe" on the strength of in-house proprietary modelling with completely unknown ground truthing - smells of desperation a bit.

 

[Bad Bob]

The questioning has always been interesting. With the diseases if you don't know what it is you probably have not had it. After 25 years of reading the sex questions are a bit repetitive.
Always surprised that they won't take blood from somebody with hemochromitosis (SP?), noncontagious and basically excess iron. Those folks get bleed every month or so, the blood is thrown away, and pay for it; what a waist.

 

[scott43]

We don't get paid. It's volunteer only. And one of our last questions is would you give this blood to your family member? I suppose the catch all question.

 

[Bad Bob]

We don't get paid. It's volunteer only. And one of our last questions is would you give this blood to your family member? I suppose the catch all question.

My statement was poorly written. Hemochromatosis victims have to pay to be bled by their doctors and the blood is disposed of. This could be millions of pints a month into the supply.

 

[cantunamunch]

My statement was poorly written. Hemochromatosis victims have to pay to be bled by their doctors and the blood is disposed of. This could be millions of pints a month into the supply.

The NIH are doing a pilot program for that too, witness:

Hemochromatosis Donor Program | Clinical Center Home Page

clinicalcenter.nih.gov

It might just be a question of donating to a blood bank that isn't Red Cross:

Donating Blood Questions and Answers

Suitability to donate blood depends on the donation not being injurious to the donor and the donated blood not being unnecessarily hazardous to the recipient. Questions and answers for individuals interested in donating blood.

www.fda.gov

 

[Bad Bob]

The NIH are doing a pilot program for that too, witness:

Hemochromatosis Donor Program | Clinical Center Home Page

clinicalcenter.nih.gov

It might just be a question of donating to a blood bank that isn't Red Cross:

Donating Blood Questions and Answers

Suitability to donate blood depends on the donation not being injurious to the donor and the donated blood not being unnecessarily hazardous to the recipient. Questions and answers for individuals interested in donating blood.

www.fda.gov

Know that in the past Red Cross wouldn't take it either. Hope it has or is changing. A number of my wife's relatives suffer with it (it is genetic) and to the person Red Cross said, 'NO'. What a waste.

 

[In2h2o]

Reading this thread this took me down the google research rabbit hole....
Must be 110 lbs for majority of donations at Red Cross. Knew that the "universal red cell donor" has Type O negative blood.
Knew O negative used for trauma situations, didn't know also used for premature infants and babies who need blood transfusions.

Did not know that the "universal plasma donor" has Type AB blood.
Covid convalescent plasma is needed, however further googling evidenced that the use of citrate for anticoagulation can cause problems in some people, including causing heart irregularities which would appear to be contraindicated for those with post covid-19 heart issues. Also googling more on plasma donations or "plassing" reveals the dark reality that the US allows cash for blood products more so than other countries and it is a source of income for many at the expense of their health.

 

[Eleeski]

At about 12 gallons lifetime, being afraid of donation is for wussies. Know how it affects you and plan accordingly but don't shy away. It matters a lot to those who need it.

With a high hematocrit, donating blood is probably very good for my health. It certainly does not make me feel bad after donating. Men and post menopausal women are statistical good candidates to donate blood for their own health (as well as the obvious benefits to the medical system).

I was surprised that the San Diego blood bank wasn't accepting donations in the spring - oversupply due to the covid shutdown of hospitals. Soon after that when things started to reopen, the blood shortage became critical again and they were happy to take my donation.

There is nothing nefarious about donating blood. It is one of the true good things you personally can do to make a difference. This thread is reminding me to donate again when I'm eligible.

Eric

 

[scott43]

Yeah I've personally never noticed any side effects. Bit of a pinch but done in a jiff. Free cookies and apple juice. Win-win!

 

[Bad Bob]

Had one experience in 4+ gallons of donating. One vampire 'nicked' a vein putting in the fire hose. A bruise instantly appeared that grew out to the size of a plum. Scared the crap out of the staff on the blood mobile. It was gone in a few weeks, no harm no foul. I did get a pass on donating for that 6 week cycle, and cookies and juice.

 

[scott43]

I mean..it's a big needle.. However..nothing people can't handle...

 

[RiderRay]

In the 50 years that I have been donating, I have never seen a question about hemochromatosis, nor have I been asked. They do check that you are not iron deficient.

 

[coskigirl]

Also googling more on plasma donations or "plassing" reveals the dark reality that the US allows cash for blood products more so than other countries and it is a source of income for many at the expense of their health.

My first year of college I donated on campus and nearly passed out on my way back to my dorm. A couple years later I attempted to donate plasma to earn some money (I was extremely poor) and again nearly passed out. They had to give me saline to get me stabilized enough to go home. I didn't donate again until a few years ago but since then I've been fine. I'm not good about remembering to go but once I'm through my curent pre-campus arrival quarantine I'll get myself scheduled again and try to make it more regular. My best friend's son had a major surgery for kidney cancer yesterday and lost more blood than his body normally hold through the surgery. Thankfully they had enough blood to give him. It's a stark reminder of how important it is.