# Giving blood **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 20, 2017, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-blood/789415 "2017-06-20T02:50:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2017, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-blood/789415/21 "2017-06-22T00:06:16Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Do they still pay platelet and WBC donors? I had a friend in college who did platelet donations a few times, and my sister donated white blood cells too. It took several hours and required needles in both arms, and they got about $30 to $50 for each donation. 🆒 I understand it doesn’t take anywhere near as long now as it did in the early 1990s. Getting paid isn’t a donation. 🙂 But yes, our blood donor room does whole blood or platelets (pheresis). It’s one needle for the draw and return now. But I fail at it – the return always has trouble. I hear it’s expensive for each set of tubing so I just do whole blood now. I asked the last time I went and I’ve done 84 pints over the years. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Claude\_Remains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@Claude\_Remains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claude_Remains)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2017, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-blood/789415/22 "2017-06-22T22:20:31Z")
My local donation center is less than one mile from home. They have buses canvasing and still can’t get enough people to donate without offering gift cards to Walmart, etc. I’m set up know to donate platelets every seven days and Whole blood every 56 days. Feels good to just do the right thing. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2017, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-blood/789415/23 "2017-06-22T22:43:24Z")
I have terrible veins - the poor phlebotomists have a real challenge filling 2 or 3 test tubes, so donating any amount is pretty much never going to happen. Much as I hate needles, I’d still donate if I could. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-blood/789415/24 "2017-06-23T03:12:59Z")
Some kind of peripheral neuropathy, and they won’t accept me anymore. Apparently they are afraid to stick a needle into me. I don’t really understand it, and it made me sad. My dad was given a lot of blood, and I would have liked to have repaid the debt. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-blood/789415/25 "2017-06-23T03:28:02Z")
> [@Gus\_Gusterson](#): > > I used to donate whole blood every 8 weeks. A few years ago I started flunking the hemoglobin test so I slowed down to only a couple of donations per year. I donated platelets for the first time this January and received a letter a few weeks later which said that they had done a ferritin test on my blood. The threshold is 26 ng/mL. My ferritin level was 6. I haven’t donated blood or platelets since and don’t expect to be able to donate ever again. > > It’s a shame since I was a champion donor. I have huge, easy-to-stick veins and I could fill a pint in 5 minutes. I have more platelets than most people according to a test performed by the Red Cross. It also made me feel like I was doing something good for someone else, which I don’t do often enough. I hope they were able to use those platelets. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-blood/789415/26 "2017-06-23T04:22:07Z")
Can’t. Had Hepatitis A. ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-blood/789415/27 "2017-06-23T04:49:50Z")
Can’t donate, I’ve never met the minimum weight requirement. Maybe that’ll change as I age. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-blood/789415/28 "2017-06-23T10:32:54Z")
I give whole blood. I’ve tried donating platelets but my veins don’t want to cooperate. Try reading about this guy in Australia and his donations. They call him the man with the golden arm. > **[This man's blood has saved the lives of two million babies | CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2015/06/09/health/james-harrison-golden-arm-blood-rhesus/index.html)** > > Australian James Harrison has donated blood plasma every week for 60 years. His blood is used an injection that saves babies from deadly rhesus disease. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-blood/789415/29 "2017-06-23T15:46:52Z")
Tried to donate twice. Both times they turned me away because my iron levels were too low. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-blood/789415.md?page=1)