What Reason Can You Not Give Blood
You should not give blood if you have AIDS or have ever had a positive HIV test, or if you have done something that puts you at risk for becoming infected with HIV. You are at risk for getting infected if you: have used needles to take any drugs, steroids, or anything not prescribed by your doctor in the last 3 months.
You Also Cant Donate If You Have Any Piercings That Are Less Than 3 Months Old
You often cant donate blood for 3 months after getting a piercing, either.
Like tattoos, piercings can introduce foreign material and pathogens into your body. Hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and HIV can be contracted through blood contaminated by a piercing.
Theres a catch to this rule, too.
Though many states regulate facilities that provide piercing services, there are specific rules regarding eligibility based on the equipment used.
If your piercing was performed with a single-use gun or needle at a state-regulated facility, you should be able to donate blood.
If the gun was reusable or youre not absolutely sure that it was single-use you shouldnt give any blood until 3 months have passed.
Conditions that affect your blood in some way may make you ineligible to donate blood.
What Is The Current Federal Policy On Gay And Bisexual Men Donating Blood
On April 2, 2020, the Food and Drug Administration announced that it was updating its policy regarding blood donations from men who have sex with men , reducing the deferral period from 12 months to three months. Blood centers nationwide screen potential donors by asking a set of questions written to determine risk factors that could indicate possible infection with a transmissible disease, such as HIV or hepatitis. According to the Food and Drug Administration, this pre-screening eliminates up to 90 percent of donors who may be carrying a blood-borne disease.
On June 8, the American Red Cross implemented the changes to donor eligibility criteria announced earlier this spring by the FDA. They encourage individuals who believe they may now be eligible to give under the new guidelines to visit RedCrossBlood.org to learn more about donor eligibility requirements that help ensure the safety of both blood donors and blood recipients.
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What Happens During And After Donating Blood
The actual donation part of giving blood usually takes about 10 minutes, and is a lot like getting a blood test.
- You will either be seated or lying down.
- A technician will find a vein in your arm by tying a rubber tube around your upper arm, and clean the skin over the vein with rubbing alcohol.
- The tech will insert a needle into your vein. You may feel a small prick, kind of like getting a shot.
- Your blood will flow into a tube connected to the needle and into a bag, where it’s kept until it’s needed.
You should tell the technician helping you if:
- The sight of needles bothers you.
- The sight of blood bothers you.
- You feel nauseated or lightheaded.
This will help prevent a fainting spell, and keep you safe while you give blood.
After you donate, you may feel a little lightheaded or dizzy. These side effects usually go away after a few minutes. Be sure to drink extra fluids during the 24 hours after you donate. If you still feel unwell after that, call your doctor or have someone else take you to the nearest emergency room.
All donated blood is checked for viruses and bacteria. Any blood with viruses or bacteria is destroyed. If your donated blood has any of these germs, the blood bank will notify you.
Things To Know On Your Donation Day
When donating blood, take these steps to make sure you stay safe and healthy:
- Drink an extra 16 ounces of water or other nonalcoholic beverage before your appointment.
- Eat a healthy meal, avoiding fatty foods like hamburgers, fries, or ice cream.
- Wear a shirt with sleeves that you can roll up above your elbows.
- Have somebody else drive you to and from the blood bank.
- Have something to eat and drink after donating. Most blood banks will have snacks for you when you’ve finished giving blood.
When you get to the blood bank, you’ll answer a few questions about your medical history. You’ll also be asked about any recent travel, infections you may have, and medicines you take. Your answers help the blood bank staff know if you are healthy enough to give blood. Then they’ll check your temperature, pulse, blood pressure, and blood count.
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What Fees Are Associated With Blood
While donated blood is free, there are significant costs associated with collecting, testing, preparing components, labeling, storing and shipping blood recruiting and educating donors and quality assurance. As a result, processing fees are charged to recover costs. Processing fees for individual blood components vary considerably. Processing fees for one specific component also may vary in different geographic regions. Hospitals charge for any additional testing that may be required, such as the crossmatch, as well as for the administration of the blood.
Requirements For Donating Blood
Before donating, there are some basic requirements that all donors must meet. Eligible donors will need to:
- If you have received the COVID vaccine, please wait 3 days before attempting to donate
- Be at least 17 years old*
- Weigh at least 110 pounds
- Be in good health generally and feel well on the day of donation
- Bring a current photo ID on the day of donation
May be eligible if 16 years old, if weight is at least 135 pounds and have signed Parental Consent Form.
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Why Are There Often Blood Shortages
Most blood centers strive to maintain an optimum inventory level of a three-day supply. Due to unpredictable demands, the inventory often fluctuates hourly. When the blood supply drops below a three-day level, blood centers begin alerting local donors to increase the inventory to a safe operating level.
Cant Donate Blood There Are Other Ways To Give Back
Moda Healths Min Shepherd was born in Seoul, South Korea. As a child, her family moved a lot. To Arizona, Germany and Italy, then back to the states where they settled down in rural Pennsylvania. As someone who likes to give back to others, it was the time she spent in Europe as a child that still affects her to this day.
One of the ways Min would like to give back is by donating blood. However, the FDA has a restriction that disqualifies her from doing so. To protect the nations blood supply from a mad cow disease outbreak in Europe in the 1980s, anyone who lived in Europe for at least six months since 1980 is not eligible to give blood. While the ban has only been around since 2001, it prohibits her from donating to the U.S. blood supply.
While Im healthy and would like to donate, that one restriction makes me ineligible to give blood, she says. As a result, Ive had to find other ways I can give back, such as volunteering and donating money. Ive also gone to blood drives to support friends who are anxious about donating for the first time and shared messages about donation needs through social media.
The mad cow restriction which also includes anyone who has lived in the U.K. for at least three months or longer since 1980 is one of several limitations that prohibit people from giving blood. Other things that can prevent you from donating blood include:
Moda Health Months: Our personal health stories
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Can I Donate If I Feel Ill Or Have A Cold Sore
If you are feeling under the weather, please wait until you feel better before you give blood.
It is important you do not have any infection at the time of donating.
You must be healed and recovered from any infection for at least 14 days before you give blood.
Use our health & eligibility section to find out more.
Can I Donate Blood Blood Donor Eligibility Requirements
Key takeaways:
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To donate blood, you should be in good health, at least 17 years old, and not have an active blood infection.
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You will be asked questions about your health and travel history before you donate blood. Your blood will also be tested to make sure it’s safe for donation.
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Donor blood is used to save the lives of countless people. Trauma victims, mothers in childbirth, surgical patients, and people with cancer are just some of many people who may need donor blood.
Have you ever considered donating blood? Maybe you have, but youre worried you won’t be eligible. After all, a quick online search seems to yield pages of reasons why you may not be able to donate. Should you just assume you wont qualify to donate and throw in the towel?
Such rigid regulations around blood donation may seem like a hassle, but its key to making sure that donated blood is safe for those receiving it. And, if you are eligible to donate blood which 38 percent of Americans are youll be able to make a life-saving gift to a fellow human in need.
Most people donate whole blood but you can also donate specific parts of your blood, like platelets or plasma . In this article, well focus on whole blood donation and give you a breakdown of who can and cant donate and what to expect if you choose to donate blood.
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Im Afraid Of Being Turned Down
There are many reasons why you might be deferred from donating blood. Some of these deferrals are permanent, while many of them are only temporary. The deferral criteria for blood donors is constantly changing, which means that if you were turned down for donation in the past, you may now be eligible to donate! Click here for our general eligibility guidelines.
Language Skills And Use Of An Interpreter
The safety of the blood donor and blood products is very important and therefore it is necessary that the donor understands what the Blood Service staff is communicating and vice versa.
An interpreter can only be used in the case of a hearing disability or symptoms of the autism spectrum. A person with a hearing disability and a person with symptoms of the autism spectrum may be assisted by an authorised interpreter in an interview with the nurse .
Even if a person with a hearing disability or with symptoms of the autism spectrum does not need an interpreter in the interview with the nurse, he or she may be supported, if necessary, by an authorised interpreter, assistant or escort during the donation session.
A visually impaired person may be accompanied by a personal assistant, but the donor and the Blood Service nurse fill in the health status form together.
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How Much Blood Do You Need To Donate
Body Size. In order to donate blood you must have at least 3400 mL of blood volume. Blood volume is determined by body weight and height, and individuals with low blood volumes may not tolerate losing so much blood. This means that generally, males must be at least 410 tall and weigh at least 111 pounds.
My Blood Isnt Rich Enough
The minimum hematocrit level to donate blood is 12.5 for females and 13.0 for males. If you are deferred for low hemoglobin, your collections specialist can review ways in which to increase your iron level. In many cases, your iron level can be increased significantly by some simple changes to your diet.
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If I Was Deferred Once Before Am I Still Ineligible To Donate
Your blood donor center will inform you if you are permanently deferred or temporarily deferred. The deferral time depends upon the reason for deferral. Prior to each donation, you will be given a mini-physical and medical interview. At that time, it will be determined if you are eligible to donate blood on that day.
What Happens After Blood Donation
Your blood donation will be taken to a laboratory and will be tested for several things the first is blood type. The different blood types are: A, B, AB, and O. All blood types are eligible for blood donation.
Your blood will also be tested for any potential infections such as:
If your blood is positive to any of the above diseases, you will be notified by the donation center, and your blood will not be able to be used for donation.
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Life Circumstances That Mean You Cant Donate Blood
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History of injection drug use, or using needles to take any drugs that were not prescribed by your healthcare provider
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Incarceration for more than 72 consecutive hours during the previous 12 months
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Having had sex with another male in the last 3 months, if youre a male
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Taken or given money or other payment for sex in the last three 3 months
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Sexual contact with anyone who uses drug intravenously
Other Infectious Diseases Parasitic And Bacterial
It varies depending on the type of disease or recovery period of the individual:
- Chagas Disease Not eligible, past or current infection
- Leishmaniasis Not eligible, past or current infection
- Babesiosis Only eligible once the infection has passed, at least 2 years after the last positive test.
- Malaria Only eligible 3 years after the treatment is done. If youve traveled within the past 3 years to countries where malaria is prevalent, you are not allowed to proceed. You have to wait 3-6 years before you can give again.
- Tuberculosis Individuals with active tuberculosis or are undergoing treatment for it cannot donate. Once treatment is done and successful and you do not have active TB, you can apply again for donor eligibility.
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You Have The Cold Flu Or Other Acute Illnesses That Cause Fever
If you have the cold or flu at the time you wish to donate, you will want to reschedule your appointment for a full 7 days after your symptoms have disappeared. Having a cold or the flu doesnt affect the blood youre donating, but blood donation centers turn away sick individuals from donating in an effort to reduce the spread of the flu. If you are running a fever, you will not be permitted to donate blood.
Blood donation rates often go down during the flu season. If you want to help combat this issue, take a moment to read our article on Staying Healthy During the Flu Season.
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
Chronic bronchitis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are not an obstacle to donating blood, as long as they are symptom-free. These diseases are progressive by nature, so if therapeutic medication for the lungs are needed, blood donation is no longer possible.
Would you like more information? Please call the free information number for blood donors on +358 800 0 5801 .
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Know More About Eligibility
Frequently asked questions
Contact us
Couldnt find what you were looking for in our FAQs? Thats OK our team can help. Just get in touch.
Why we ask questions
You might wonder why we ask a lot of questions when it comes to donating blood. It’s about safety: for you and the person receiving your donation.
General And Local Anaesthesia
Depending on the scope of the procedure, type of surgery and your recovery speed, procedures performed under general anaesthesia or epidural anaesthesia prevent you from donating blood for one to six months.
Minor procedures performed under local anaesthesia prevent blood donation for one to four weeks.
Would you like more information? Please call the free information number for blood donors on +358 800 0 5801 .
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What Is Creutzfeldt
Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease is an infectious brain disease that can pass from animals to humans. The equivalent illness in cows is called Mad Cow Disease. vCJD can rarely be passed through blood transfusions. Since there is no test for vCJD, there are certain restrictions around who can donate blood in order to prevent possible transmission.
These include:
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If you were in the UK for three months or more between January 1, 1980 through December 31, 1996
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If you spent 5 years or more in France or Ireland from January 1, 1980 through December 31, 2001
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If you had blood transfusion in the UK, France, or Ireland from January 1, 1980 to present
You can find full details about vCJD and blood donation here.
What Is Apheresis
Apheresis, an increasingly common procedure, is the process of removing a specific component of the blood, such as platelets, red blood cells, plasma or granulocytes and returning the remaining components to the donor. This process allows more of one particular part of the blood to be collected than could be separated from a unit of whole blood.
The apheresis donation procedure takes longer than that of a whole blood donation. A whole blood donation takes about 20 minutes to collect the blood as compared to an apheresis donation which may take about one to two hours, depending on the blood component that is being donated.
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Can I Give Blood
Have an appointment booked? It is important to check you are able to donate before coming to give blood.
Sometimes it is not possible to give blood, or we may ask you to wait before donating again. Use this page to find answers to common questions you might have before your appointment.
You can also take our quick quiz to check you can give.
If you’re looking to donate for the first time, find out more about who can give blood.
Important: If you need to cancel your appointment please give us 3 days’ notice so that we can offer the space to another donor. You can reschedule or cancel your appointment in your online account.