No i don't but I wish I had the courage to. I really should too, as I have a fairly unusual blood type. I do make hesitant steps towards the blood van thingys, but I'm almost at the passing out stage just at the thought of it and always bottle out of it. :-(
Yeah, one of my problems is that whenever I have to give blood samples (pregnancy, when I broke my wrist etc) they can never find a vein, and poke and prod for ages trying to find one. Believe me after 10 minutes of them trying to do this I'm at the vomiting stage- and it's that malarky that totally puts me off.
I gave blood for several years and would love to again but I am on permanent medication now and the blood service tells me I can no longer donate. I do ask again every so often but they still say no. :-(
I used to give blood every 6 months years ago but I can't seem to find the time anymore. We have a mobile unit which parks up outside work but I'm always too busy these days. I will make time next time they come although I will need to make sure I eat and drink plenty as I have a tendancy to go light headed half way through.
i used to............but not intentionally! the last time i went to give blood,they told me i only had 4% blood in my alcohol stream! seriously though,i have'nt but im going to look into it,as if we can save lives without harming ourselves,should'nt we all be doing it as if we get into a bad accident,another donors the reason for our living.......
No you cant sara but I often wonder that if I was in a really bad accident and it was touch and go would they try save me as much if I had a donor card
I've given over 75 blood donations and only once or twice had a bad reaction (nearly passing out). I have noticed that they are now a lot stricter about what they take and what they don't and have a yearly row with them about whether a certain middle Eastern country is a malarial area or not. However, some places are stricter still - I am told that the Republic of Ireland, where 50 of my donations took place, would never take my blood again as I've lived in the UK (prevalence of BSE, apparently!).
Mr. ys and myself were regular donors (he's given over 38 pints) until they brought in the 'no donors if you've had a transfusion since 1980' rule (I had one in 1983 after my first son's birth) and then my husband was put on almost permanent steroids for an auto immune disorder. We were really upset about not giving but our younger son now gives so we feel that's some sort of replacement :0)
You won't beleive this but I can't give blood here in France as I lived in UK in the early 80s and might carry something from Mad Cow Disease in their opinion....
Have just given unit number 44, so should hit number 50 in 2 years time. Had a minor crisis at session prior to this as they had run out of TUC biscuits (the only time I ever eat these)
I wish I could give blood but I can't due to having an op as a child or something or other. Well when I go on their website and answer the questions about whether I can or not at the end it says no so I am presuming it is to do with the op I had as a child.
I gave blood regularly until about 5-6 years ago. The reason I stopped was the admin system seemed to have changed and become stupidly cumbersome - might just have been local staff not hacking it, but donors were left waiting around for hours.
It's amazing to think how much it has all changed since I first donated - a long time ago, but donors were actually given local anaesthetic injections then!