I would give blood if I could.

But I have too much Iron in my blood and I go everynow and then have a pint drawn so that it keeps the level of Iron to a safe mark.

What I do not understand is why they can not give my blood to someone that has an iron deficiency. But they do not. It gets disposed of.

I wouldn't mind donating blood, but i'm too lazy to go there to do it, stuff like this always costs time and i don't like wasting time

if i would just get $10 i would probably do it. Not that i really feel like selling my blood, but that would be like selling my time  

@Dave: Too bad you can't donate, but thumbs up anyways Iron definiciency can be corrected by eating iron tablets, so it's probably just easier to eat those rather than to receive blood from a person with too much iron in their blood.

@Ivo: I don't know how the system works in Holland, but here the system works like a charm. The blood donation tour has tons of different locations near the area where I live and they visit those places every couple of months at least. I usually check the tour dates online and go donate when it suits me best. The normal place I go to is close to my school so I usually go after school on my way home. Today I visited another location on my way home from the movies. The people working there are very efficient and all in all the whole procedure takes me around 30 minutes max.

I've never needed outside blood myself, but I have a few friends who'd probably not be alive without a blood transfusion. I think I can sacrifice 30 minutes of my life to do this. Also, I like the sandwiches they serve

Edit:
@Alex: Cool guy With the Finnish rules I'd need to live up to be around 185 years old to break his record and still I couldn't do it as the age cap here for donating is 65 years. Are you a donor yourself?

I'm AB+, which is only about 3% of the caucasian population. I donate whenever I can, even though only AB+ people can receive my blood. However, you need to realize that one donation can help up to 4 people, because it can be separated into different components: red blood cells, plasma, platelets, and cryoprecipitate. The last three all help blood to clot, so if someone has a bleeding disorder, they can receive one of those components to help out.

The place where I donate lets you draw for either a free McD's filet-o-fish or a different (better) prize. They also give you gifts when you reach a gallon in donations, or five, or whatever. Most places give out these gifts just as a little incentive to get people to donate.

AlexPenev wrote on 08/16/10 at 13:23:07:


Does his semen also prevent Rhesus disease in pregnant women?  It seems like he could kill two birds with one stone.

US laws allow you to make donations every three days and 24 times a year.  I donated 15 times back in 2007 before my arm swelled up for a month from an experienced nurse attepting to extract blood outside the vein.  I couldnt do any physical activity with that arm.  I wish you didnt have to make appointments as the hours coincide with work, so I only end up donating 5 times per year now.  Whole blood takes about 10 minutes with the needle.  Platelets take 1 hour for a single unit and 2 hours for a double:

I donated once, when I was 18, but haven't returned there since then. After reading this thread I feel like going back there though!

I'm sure the cost for synthetic blood will come down in time.

Would be really nice to avoid those conversations with people who demand your blood.

Just got home after donating some blood.... Only bad thing is you can't bend your arm for 30 minutes...  

I donated blood today for the first time.  It was very routine, no problems or anything.  Two of my friends fainted however, which was quite funny.  

I got dizzy the first time, so now I stay in the chair for a while after donating, take some time, and I have no more problems...