No. I have a few times, but it makes me very dizzy. Last time I had blood drawn, I passed out. I don't think I'll be donating blood ever again unfortunately.
I'm a regular donor, usually 3'ish times a year. I am on a one year ban though because I traveled to the Dominican Republic. I had no idea until I went in to donate that that girls weekend would stop me from donating.
The reason they have this particular restriction is because there is a strain of HIV (HIV-1 group O) in W/C Africa that isn't screened for in many countries' routine testing. So rather than go to the expense of screening all donations for that particular strain they just restrict the population (in the US) who has lived in or had sex with someone from: Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Niger, or Nigeria.
I imagine the overall population of people in the US trying to give blood who have lived in those countries or dated someone from one of those countries is quite small, and moreover many people in that population would be automatically excluded because they are either aid worker types or immigrants who routinely travel to places on that list or elsewhere in Africa where the 1 year malaria ban keeps most people who routinely need to visit Africa from ever gaining eligibility.
Basically what I'm saying is that if they're doing a cost benefit analysis, the cost of screening all blood for HIV 1 O and HIV2 strains that aren't currently identified in routine screening most likely far outweighs the benefit from the small number of eligible people who are excluded by that restriction.
As EIA and ELISA tests are further refined I expect that more countries' routine screening programs will be able to accurately diagnose HIV 1 O and HIV 2 strains, so hopefully in the long run this will not be an issue.
You can donate in Nigeria though if you visit I'm not eligible to donate in the US because of travel and most likely will never be until I'm elderly, but I have considered donating in other countries that would accept my blood.
This reminded me of a thought I've had many times: WTF do the people of the United Kingdom do for their blood? Their biggest donor pool lived there from 1980 to 1996 and ZOMG Mad Cow.
Yes I'm being deliberately obtuse, but come on. If the blood supply is safe enough for the Brits it's safe enough for me.
Yes, when I can. I couldn't when I was having sex with xh, and since then, I've gotten two tattoos. I'll be eligible again in June, and looking foward to donating.
I've tried in the past but was turned away due to a cruise I had taken that stopped in a country that has malaria (the Bahamas), and it hadn't been long enough.
So my work is doing a blood drive in May, so I'm going to give it another shot - although I hate needles, I really want to know my blood type!
I've tried in the past but was turned away due to a cruise I had taken that stopped in a country that has malaria (the Bahamas), and it hadn't been long enough.
So my work is doing a blood drive in May, so I'm going to give it another shot - although I hate needles, I really want to know my blood type!
I would check again. The Bahamas has no known malarial risk. (ETA - except, it seems for Great Exuma, which has the one year deferral as they've seen two cases of malaria. Otherwise, there is no deferral.)
I've tried in the past but was turned away due to a cruise I had taken that stopped in a country that has malaria (the Bahamas), and it hadn't been long enough.
So my work is doing a blood drive in May, so I'm going to give it another shot - although I hate needles, I really want to know my blood type!
I would check again. The Bahamas has no known malarial risk. (ETA - except, it seems for Great Exuma, which has the one year deferral as they've seen two cases of malaria. Otherwise, there is no deferral.)
Hmm maybe it was one of the other ports we stopped in... all I know is that they said no way. LOL
That was 8 years ago, so I should be in the clear now!
I have, but its been a couple of year since I did. I ended up being pregnant back to back and then just haven't since my youngest was born. I'd like to donate agin though.