Blood Donation

[milly143]

I gave another blood donation last night and it got me thinking about what they do with the blood. Of course I know that it's intended use is for transfusions or to be used in medical testing, etc but do they ever have too much? I am A+ which (I think) is the most common type, so do they ever get too many donations of a certain type and have no use for it? Does it have a 'sell-by' date when it's sitting in a container? If so, what do they do with it?

[anneasquith]

good for you giving blood, i thought o+ was the most common blood type. google blood transfusion service and you should get all the info you reguire there numerous ways just one pint of blood can be used, very often life saving.

[milly143]

Hi Scalpy,

I think I was bored at work one day and decided to register as a donar when then led to me making an appointment to give blood. I have now given 4 donations. It should be 6 but they couldn't find a vein twice. Personally I have never had a single problem after donation. Never felt faint or ill, not even a bruise on the needle site. In fact last night I didn't even feel them put the needle in. When you are done (which was about 5 minutes for me last night) they sit you down and make you a lovely cuppa and give you a pack of biscuits. If you can do it you really should, you get this lovely smug feeling afterwards. I think you can donate around every 4 months (they gave me my next app. in Jan) so I think by then your body has restocked itself.

Headwreck - would love to take someone else along to do it but they are all wimps saying they are scared of needles - even though most of them have tatoos.... can't work that one out.

[Fitzer]

Good for you, the more the merrier, pretty sure they never have too much blood and in the holiday season they're always desperate for donors. A+ is just pipped by O+ as most common with 35% of the population as opposed to O+ at 37%. Information as to how blood is used etc. can be found on http://www.blood.co.u...od/how-blood-is-used/ plus everything else about blood and its donation. Please become a regular donor as it's through knowing how many regulars they have that the service can plan blood distribution, they do give you a nice little badge when you get to certain levels, I'm on silver and heading towards gold :-)

[milly143]

Thanks for your answers, and apologies on getting the common blood type wrong. It's nice to know it all seems to get used up.

[paddywak]

Well done milly, I've experienced that feel good feeling many times and I too never had any after effects, unfortunately due to health reasons I can not donate now. I remember when I first started donating being told that your body makes up the blood within 24 hours and that donations are NEVER wasted they are all used either in actual transfusions being made into plasma or for research and also that they NEVER have enough. A young man I met at a session became a donor after a serious RTA and he told me that by the time he was out of danger he'd had over 30 pints of blood which is why the service can never have to many donations. Keep up the good work Milly and keep on at your mates to go, I've always been a great believer in that if you want something out of the system you should be prepared to put something in

[carmalee]

wish I could continue to donate blood as I'm a universal donor (O Rh neg) and I know this type is often used to treat jaundiced new born babies - a chatty nurse told me at one donation session - regretably no can do anymore as have had chemo and radiotherapy. Great thing to do though as is being an organ donor

[beattie819]

I had to have several blood transfusions last year.I cant thank blood donors enough. I kept saying a silent thank you all the time I was receiving the blood. Thank you, thank you a million times, wherever you are .

[LazyGun]

Congratulations MIlly on being a blood donor - such an integral part of modern medical treatment, so reliant on the kindness of volunteers from within the community - and only around 3-4% of the population are registered blood donors. You can justifiably feel very proud of yourself. :)

You have probably received all the answers you need anyway, but just to add my take;
1. Does blood have a "sell-by date" - Yes, it does.The blood you donate is collected into plastic bags containing an anticoagulant / preservative.
The plasma from your donation is then removed, using a process of centrifugation, and that plasma is frozen and stored, ready for processing, to produce either a plasma substitute, or for further fractionation, to provide specialist plasma protein products. Actually, it is slightly more complicated than that nowadays, but it serves as a good basic model of what happens.

The remaining red cells from your donation, once screened, grouped, and processed, then have a life-span of approximately 35 days upon reaching the hospitals/clinics. 99.9% of all donated red cells are used up in transfusing needy patients during that period.

In the UK., the frequencies of O+ and A+ are very similar, O+ being slightly more common. (37% vs 35%)

You can donate for red cells every 16 weeks or so, if memory serves. Finally, frizzer has given you a very good link, I can offer one more from Wiki, which is a very good overview of blood donation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_donation

Its a fantastic gift.

[4getmenot]

3 to 4 % is that all?

[campbellking]

I work in a hospital, so get to see blood used daily. I think the most I've seen used on a patient who survived was 37 units over a very short period.
On a personal note, I've recently given my 48th donation, so am looking forward to a little gold badge next year. Incidentally, the only time I've ever felt faint was somewhat bizarrely after my 47th donation (boiling hot day, had rushed around and not drunk enough pre donation). Keep going with it, doesn't cost you anything other than time, and you do get the biccies afterwards...

[LazyGun]

there are 1.4 million registered blood donors in the UK - around 200,000 a year give up for various reasons,so you can see that why it is so important to continually request help from the community.

[LazyGun]

Incidentally, Campbell - congratulations on reaching (nearly) the 50 donations milestone :)

[campbellking]

Thank-you Lazygun. Actually most heart warming thing I saw at blood donors was an 18th birthday celebration, where the birthday girl had asked her friends to give blood instead of a present to her. Loads of teenagers all taking it in turns to hold hands for their first donations, and a big chocolate cake at the tea table.

[4getmenot]

wow gold badge, I only just got my bronze

[piggynose]

i wish i could give blood, i did try to some year ago, but my reaction afterwards was so bad, i had to stop. feeling extremely light headed for several days, taking ages to get up after the donation.

[f86sabrejet]

does anybody know if blood from a donor who has had jaundice will ever be used? I had jaundice at age 15 and was told to only drink water and eat small balls of yeast for two weeks