Palmyra, thanks. I live in Ontario, Canada so I’m not sure. I think it’s either 16 or 18. I’ll have to ask my mother, she’s given blood.
I’m recently 19, and I trudge down to the local Red Cross whenever possible. I can’t always make it every 56 days, but I’m closing in on my first gallon.
They give me juice boxes and little packets of oreos and graham crackers (although I think they shudder when they see my heavyweight wrestler frame stomping in).
My mom’s a nurse, and my sister has had two kidney transplants… so it’s like I feel I have a moral duty to give as often as possible.
Thanks for a good pat-yourself-on-the-back thread, Ginger. 
Palmyra, I have my period. I donated anyway. Of course, I had to have a nap and have eaten every bit of sweet stuff and have been sipping Coke all night… That would explain a lot.
Fiver, lose the cat and we’ll talk.
They let Canadians give blood? But so many of them are of British ancestry, may have met a British person, or have cranky cows! 
Not me, dropzone! I may be a cranky cow, but I am not of British ancestry.
I feel obligated to respond here as I am apparently the only A negative on the boards (and all us negatives are in demand by the blood banks). I used to donate regularly (I have the needle tracks on the inside of my left elbow to prove it :D), but then I got an anxiety disorder that requires medication, and that was that, baby. I used to feel like donating blood made me healthier; it seemed like I never got colds or flus when I was donating regularly. Oh, Kelvin, talk to your local Canadian Blood Services office. There are other criteria besides age that must be met to donate (weight must be over 100 pounds, sexual activity is questioned, tattoos, out of country trips, etc.) It’s a great thing to do, though. A half hour out of your day once every 2 months is worth saving lives.
I’m AB positive, so I used to give all the time. Then I started to have to lie to a lot of the questions on the little quiz they give you, so I quit.
Sigh.
Not to be dense, but what on earth does this have to do with anything?
I never even been ASKED about the presence or absence of Aunt Flow. Is it because you take pain medication?
I’m sooo confused.
Al.
(Incidentally, I give blood all the time, and I’m sure that one time MUST have been during my period, and nothing untoward has ever happend.)
Kelvin Last I checked in Canada it was 17… unless it varies from province to province. (Incidently I have not given blood yet… keep forgetting to call the clinic and keep missing when they are around)
alice Palmyra means period as in school period aka scheduled class time. She (he? I dunno, I’m bad) is supposed to be in class at that time and so is unable to go give blood for fear of missing something important.
Another O- here, and I do give blood, though not quite as often as I can, and I can’t even come up with any good excuses. The nearest blood bank is about four blocks away, and I get phone calls every few months from them to remind me. Funny thing is, I’m afraid of needles, drugs, and the medical environment generally - maybe if the hospitals handed out juice and cookies rather than bankruptcy opportunities I wouldn’t be getting a mini physical from the blood bank. Probably, though, I’d still stay away - hospitals creep me out.
They really really like me to give blood (O neg), but I haven’t been tapped in the past 4 months. This is mostly because I work nights, there’s been a bus strike, and donating blood in the morning just before a 10 km bike ride home is a very bad thing.
Haemoglobin count can sometimes be lower during your period, or that’s the general explanation. It’s never bothered me. That is unless Obsidian Flutterby was right about scheduling conflicts 
Regular donor over here, O neg; also HLA-typed as a marrow donor; also a volunteer who does some work at the local blood bank on the odd occasion.
Give blood! Feel good!
I donate once or twice a year. I’m B+. My husband donates a good deal more often. He has been a donor, albiet infrequently the entire time I’ve known him. During our younger son’s hospitalization he donated three times in three months. They advised against it and the third time he had to get a doctor’s approval (his doctor, not the baby’s doctor). Long story short is that our son needed and used 351 units in 11 weeks. Hubby is O+ and CMV negative which apparently makes him a good donor for leukemia patients. The children’s hospital routinely calls and asks him to come in and gives him a specific child’s name for whom the donation should be directed. (We’re in the states, but neither of us have ever been paid for our donation.)
We’re also registered on the National Marrow Donor Program and American Bone Marrow Donor Registry.
Abby
I used to donate every chance I got. My mom and I would go down the the blood bank together. They all knew us, we all had a good time.
Wierd thing though, I’m a 6’5", 220lb guy but I would get turned down once or twice a year for low iron count, something that usually only happens to very petit women and vegetarians. Turned out I have this wierd genetic thing which gives me this odd thing called microcytic anemia, or something like that. Anyway 
I got banned for life, sigh
But I’m just A+. Still that’s a lot of blood that I wanted to give that they lost.
I donate when ever I can. Here in Britian They send you a letter in advance telling you when they will be in oyur area. In fact they even phoned me once!
Ihave been giving regulalry since I was 17 - (not that long then really) The first time I feflt dizzy and nauseus but I’ve been fine ever since.
In Britian only 6% of those eligiable give blood. I tihkn everyone should give, after all there is a fairly high cahnce that at some point in your life you will need to recieve it . . . Perhaps only those who give should recive (only joking)
Every three months for me, and I just hit the three gallon mark. I’d normally donate every 56 days, except they’ve decided that I’m a prime candidate for double red cell apheresis, in which they take out a pint of whole blood, centrifuge it, keep the cells and return the plasma, and then take another pint of whole blood for themselves. Given that they’re taking twice as many red cells, they require you to wait three months before donating again. Fortunately, the Red Cross center here gives me a call when I’m due and I come in the same week.
The best part of it is when they return the first pint of plasma to your body. It’s been sitting at room temperature for a while, so at first a little anticoagulant enters your vein, followed by the plasma. It sends a chill down your arm, then up your arm to your heart, and then spreads throughout your body. (Out of the four times I’ve done this, only once have I had the chill last that long. The other times it was warmed up before it even left my arm.)
It gave me the image of a cheesy fantasy movie, in which the hero is slowly turning to stone, watching his left arm solidify and then the rest of his body.
Next donation August 25th…
spooje, O-, is a veteran with over 20 apherisis donations under is his belt.
I want to donate, but there’s a combination of not liking to get stuck and crappy veins - I think one is related to the other. It’s a nearly impossible task to get enough of a blood sample from me for routine stuff, and they always have to find a vein in the side of my arm. Last hospitalization, it took 5 pokes to get a good IV start. And I always get woozy - I am right now just thinking about it.
I am such a wimp…
The last two times I tried to donate, my iron was too low. I also have difficult veins. So after many years, I have given only a little over a gallon.
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I am very grateful that other people donate. I received three units of blood after the birth of my second daughter.
I have given Blood semi-regulary since 17 years and 3 days old. A+. At this point in time I am at about 8 or 9 gallons. I like giving blood.
BTW Airman Doors, good luck with your first week in basic. I was given three shots in each arm.