# Rejected by the blood bank **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 4, 2014, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rejected-by-the-blood-bank/703621 "2014-11-04T14:37:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2014, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rejected-by-the-blood-bank/703621/21 "2014-11-05T13:00:17Z")
I was stationed in Germany in the 80s so I also have Mad Cow. ---
**Author:** ![hotflungwok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/edb3f5/32.png) [@hotflungwok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hotflungwok)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2014, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rejected-by-the-blood-bank/703621/22 "2014-11-05T14:58:59Z")
I’ve given blood a few times, and I was rejected once because I coughed during the questions part. The nurse said they were rejecting people who had cold symptoms. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2014, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rejected-by-the-blood-bank/703621/23 "2014-11-05T17:00:21Z")
I almost got rejected once because I was getting bored sitting in the waiting area so I started poking at the needle site just to see if I could feel my vein. Being that I am a pocky pale white person, the area became red and when it was my turn to get stuck the lady was like “why is this red? I can’t stick you today!” I got mad and gave her a staredown and she was mad but I had been waiting for a long time and it was the end of the drive so she was tired and I think she just walked away and left me for someone else to deal with me. I was able to donate. ---
**Author:** ![Found\_In\_Translation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ebca7d/32.png) [@Found\_In\_Translation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Found_In_Translation)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2014, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rejected-by-the-blood-bank/703621/24 "2014-11-05T17:25:44Z")
> [@PaulParkhead](#): > > The US and some other countries exclude British donors because they can do so without leaving themselves short. Exactly. It works in reverse, as well. In Germany you can’t donate for 4 weeks if you spent some time between June 1 and November 30 in the US because they fear the West Nile virus. If the US had the same fears, blood donations would grind to a halt in the summer/fall. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2014, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rejected-by-the-blood-bank/703621/25 "2014-11-05T17:40:53Z")
> [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](#): > > I can’t donate. I’m English and we all have that Mad Cow thing going on. I lived in England for a couple of years in the early 90s. I can’t donate due to mad cow. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2014, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rejected-by-the-blood-bank/703621/26 "2014-11-05T20:03:12Z")
I got turned away once because I had been chewing gum just before I went in, and it apparently raised my temperature enough that they wouldn’t take me. At least that’s what they told me. Another time I got turned away because I was one day shy of the eight weeks required between donations. “You can come back tomorrow!” they told me, except the next day there was about a two hour wait. ---
**Author:** ![DeptfordX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DeptfordX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeptfordX)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2014, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rejected-by-the-blood-bank/703621/27 "2014-11-05T21:51:52Z")
I don’t think it’s just Britain. Isn’t pretty much living anywhere in Europe a disqualification? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2014, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rejected-by-the-blood-bank/703621/28 "2014-11-05T22:52:57Z")
> [@GrumpyBunny](#): > > I lived in England for a couple of years in the early 90s. I can’t donate due to mad cow. Same here, mid 90s. Looks like two disqualifications I fall under are listed [here](http://www.carterbloodcare.org/you-can-help/donor-guidelines): > [@](#): > > More than three months spent (cumulative) in the United Kingdom between 1980 and 1996. > > More than five years spent (cumulative) in Europe from 1980 to the present. ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2014, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rejected-by-the-blood-bank/703621/29 "2014-11-05T23:58:49Z")
I have lived in a few developing countries and am no longer eligible to donate blood in the US. ---
**Author:** ![Silvorange](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Silvorange](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silvorange)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rejected-by-the-blood-bank/703621/30 "2014-11-06T01:49:58Z")
> [@Desert\_Nomad](#): > > I have lived in a few developing countries and am no longer eligible to donate blood in the US. If this is related to living in certain countries in Africa, that rule has changed. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rejected-by-the-blood-bank/703621/31 "2014-11-06T01:52:41Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Same here, mid 90s. Looks like two disqualifications I fall under are listed [here](http://www.carterbloodcare.org/you-can-help/donor-guidelines): Hey, were you at that club in Manchester in '91…? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rejected-by-the-blood-bank/703621/32 "2014-11-06T02:00:21Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > I was rejected – after donating a gallon of blood over the years – because the test for Hepatitis C was “inconclusive.” Not that I had it, but that the test they use (where false positives are common) did not give either a negative or positive. Now I can’t give blood any more. > > It’s silly: I don’t have Hep C and never did any activity where I had a chance of getting it. This is why I can’t donate blood either. ☹ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rejected-by-the-blood-bank/703621.md?page=1)