Hm, that’s interesting. The list of conditions linked to above doesn’t list autoimmune disease as an exclusion, and I had been under the impression that it was.
So… you’re really going to hate me when you find out that I am also not an organ donor.
That may just be the one nurse/technician/whatever. Reminds me of one time I went in for a blood test. In walks this incredibly sexy young nurse. I mean, straight out of a fantasy. She takes one poke, two, three… getting more and more flustered… she was up to seven when she finally gave up and went to get this older, matronly nurse. Tap, tap, tap, poke, done.
Sometimes newbies just can’t find it and turn you into a pincushion when someone who knows what they are doing has no problem at all.
Okay, so you’d consider trying to donate again sometime later (after a few years, say), since their stupid “red-alert reminder” policy might have been changed for a more sensible policy that allows you your peace and quiet?
If they then start up annoying you with reminders again, you could always stop donating again. But it seems rather draconian to decide to impose a lifelong ban on the whole process just because you don’t like the way one blood bank was handling it during the course of what, a few months? Couldn’t you check back at least after a decade or so and see if things have improved?
(And don’t start complaining that I’m nagging you; you came in here voluntarily to discuss blood donation, after all! 
When you decide you’re done talking about it, I promise I won’t keep posting reminders at you.)
I go in for apherisis (platelets) on a semi-regular basis. It’s at the other end of town, but lno and I trek out there bravely. We do whole blood, too.
Platelets take 2+ hours, but man, I have enough platelets to give a kick-ass amount. Nice, sticky O platelets, they say. Thing is, I coagulate like nobody’s business, so they have to be on top of things when they start to draw, otherwise I clog things right up the line, or by the end clog up the line and cause the needle to dislodge (Ow, damn it! I’ve had really nifty bruises caused by that…) The anticoagulant dose they give me is greater than it should be for my size (height and weight) and makes me nauseous, but damn it, I do it anyway.
I even have to do single-arm (draw/return in the same arm) because of my flat veins!
So - to all those who are squeamish - honestly, do it anyway. It’s not that bad, and you’ll feel GREAT when you leave. Really. Someday, you might need that couple of units of blood…
I was actually supposed to donate today at noon, but woke up feeling a bit crappy. I postponed it 'til next week.
Whoops, sorry, this wasn’t there when I started my post.
I am terribly, horribly, embarassingly squeamish with needles. I turn in to a 6’5" 192lb squirming weenie. When my brother was diagnosed with diabetes and a grad student at the university wanted my blood to compare to his, she apparently told my Mom that I was like a little baby. 
Despite all that, I used to donate perhaps once a year, until it became unfashionable to take blood from someone who’d been to the U.K. for over 6 cumulative months.
I guess I got Limey cooties or something.
Damn right. That’s why I try to avoid my formerly-British roommate.
Well, that and the fact that she’s crazy. Must have had too many Brit hamburgers before she came over.
I’m a practicing homosexual who’s never had unsafe sex but still gets tested 2x a year and it always come up negative. Sorry, I’d love to help out but my love for cock negates it.
I’ve given them several chances at it. They have used up their chances, especially since they STILL CALL.
I named my conditions. When the blood bank meets them, I’ll donate again. I last donated two years ago (donor from 17 through 26), and they called 56 days later, three to four times a day, every day, until I told them flat out that I wanted the harassment to stop. It did, for a month. Then they began calling three or four times a day for a week straight. We repeat this every month. For two years. I told 'em once that I’d donate again if I had received no phone calls from them for an entire year. They called again the next day.
What are the odds that they’ve changed their tactics?
Look I know it sucks that the people who need the blood are the ones who suffer. That suffering is a direct result of the Central Blood Bank of Pittsburgh harassing the shit out of me.
I used to donate blood regularly - hated the needle, loved the free cookies - but I no longer can due to high blood pressure. Which seems silly to me - I figure if my blood pressure’s a little high, draining off a pint’s a perfect way to bring it down. But I’ve been informed it doesn’t work that way.
I bet you could find some other donation center which would treat you better. The one I donate at only calls once. Actually I was going to donate at work the last time, missed it, and have to call them. I usually do 4 - 5 a year. When the card comes showing my very low chloresterol level I celebrate by having eggs and bacon.
Huh, looking at that eligibility list, I’m ineligible for another couple of years, unless liposarcoma is considered a low-risk cancer.
Then of course there’s that whole “accepting money for sex” thing.
I donate blood, but I have not much sympathy for the Red Cross and their unreasonable exclusion critera. I mean, sex with a man since 1977? Sex for money or drugs? Forever? Damn. Can’t we, I don’t know, use some science or something to figure out if you’re still tainted for life after a little man-love 30 years ago?
I personally was blacklisted for 10 years because one day I skipped breakfast, had a strenuous workout, then happened to see a bloodmobile and figured “hey, I’ll donate.” Little did I know that in my unnourished and overexercised state, my body was compensating by boosting an enzyme called ALT, which also happens to be one out of five markers for liver damage. Which might possibly be hepatitis. Bang. I get a letter saying I’m blacklisted for life. Then, 10 years later, I happen to read an article in the newspaper stating that this test is no longer an exclusionary criteria. 
So I call the Red Cross to be reinstated. Post-haste, 6 months later, now I’m cleared to donate again.
With the amount of healthy people they must be turning away… their pleas of short-bloodedness ring somewhat hollow. But I donate anyway, because I’m O- and everybody who is O- should donate because we’re rare restrictive recipients and we need each other’s blood.
I used to donate regularly when I was with my old company, in fact, most everybody did. I was always impressed with the turnout. The only problem I ever had with donating blood is when I get an inexperienced person trying to jam a needle into my arm. That shit hurts.
Yeah, the whole homosexuality exclusion does bother me a little bit. Well, not directly, but the idea bugs me. It seems like they test for so many things, they could just throw in an HIV test too and let everyone donate.
As someone who has donated gallons of blood, I am tweeked by your attitude OneCentStamp. You don’t own my blood. You don’t get to tell me what to do. Or anyone else. I bet you think the United Way workplace campaigns are a good idea, too.
Count me among those who’s scared of needles–I can tolerate them for short periods of time if necessary, but I still rather hate them. I remember in high school being scared of grade 12, because there were always regular blood donation clinics going on, and I always felt like I should donate, and felt guilty about not wanting to deal with the needles. Although I’d probably handle it better than one girl I know, who when she was given a routine vaccination booster apparently went into shock.
Fortunately for my nerves, one of the fringe benefits of being skinny as a rake is being ineligible for donation. But I still feel guilty because even if I could donate, I know I’d be too chicken to actually do it.
Personally, I decline to participate or cooperate with bigoted, homophobic organizations. And I encourage my friends to do so, too.
Sometimes this means I won’t help groups that are useful, and often filled with good-hearted people. Like Boy Scouts, Salvation Army, Red Cross blood groups, etc. But that’s what happens when they choose to elevate their bigotry over their charitable mission.
When they treat all people equally, they can come back to ask for my help.
P.S. I have another question about these blood donor groups, and their financing.
The blood is donated for free, the bloodmobile was donated by a local business, even the cookies they give out are given to them at a reduced price. Yet at the other end, when a sick patient receives that pint of blood, they are charged hundreds of dollars (in addition to the charge for administering the blood). Where does all that money go?
Somehow, I just have the feeling that along the way, the blood that was freely donated is lining someones pockets.