Blood doners, why not?

Question

after i had my baby i needed alot of blood[7 units] , i had never given blood before , but since having needed some i felt i wanted to donate, but found out if you have been given blood you can never donate it, im just wondering why? and also is there anything i can do to help others, like organ donation or is that now also ruled out ? ps thank you to all you blood doners out there , one of you may have saved me (",) x

Answer 1

Blood donor here - 110 units, as of last Saturday.  You're welcome.

I don't know why you can't donate - ask the Red Cross, it's their rules.  Maybe you're just deferred for a year, not for a lifetime.  It's worth checking - someone may not have explained the rule to you in detail.

You can probably still donate organs, though.  There are a lot of possible parts you can donate.  You can also volunteer at the Red Cross.  They can usually use helpers, even if only a few hours on a Saturday morning.

You can also organize blood drives in groups you belong to - work, school, clubs, etc.  The easiest is probably to get a group of people to all go down together and donate.  It only takes about an hour, it does NOT hurt, and you'll feel good about yourself afterwards.  The nation's blood supply is never in great shape, so anything you can do to help is very much worthwhile.

Answer 2

I don't actually know.

But i will hazard a guess that it's because your bloodwork will have been altered a bit having had rhesus factors from blood products from others introduced and so your bloodwork may be too complex for transfusion purposes as a result as this would introduce a risk of the recipient developing Anaemia etc, but only a risk.

[Edit - given the 12 month restriction indicated, that says to me the aforementioned is actually likely to be the reason because your own blood would naturalise fully well within 12 months and that will be about twice as long as necessary to add a buffer for individual differences in body metabolisms etc, so any rhesus  variations, positive to negative and vice verse, in your blood chemistry and would have evened out as your body replaces old blood factors according to your own RNA templates.]

Like a i say i don't know that, just a guess.

If your bloodworks indicate any illness which prevents you they would have informed you as they have a legal responsibility to do so, i don't think it's anything to do with that if you are otherwise healthy.

Answer 3

This is the info I got from Red Cross:

Blood Transfusion

Wait for 12 months after receiving a blood transfusion from another person in the United States.

You may not donate if you received a blood transfusion since 1980 in the United Kingdom (England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Channel Islands, Isle of Man, Gibraltar or Falkland Islands). This requirement is related to concerns about variant CJD, or 'mad cow' disease. Learn more about variant CJD and blood donation.

You may not donate if you received a blood transfusion in certain countries in Africa since 1977. This requirement is related to concerns about rare strains of HIV that are not consistently detected by all current test methods. Learn more about HIV Group O, and the specific African countries where it is found.

Answer 4

Organ donation is not prohibited in the case of receiving a blood transfusion.  In the case of organ donation - if you want to become a donor, sign up and let the doctors decide whether or not you are able to be a donor.  

Answer 5

Including the Red Cross page that is in the other answer, all of the other sites I've seen stated you would just need to wait 12 months after the transfusion as long as it was in the US post 1980.  I would call your local Red Cross, blood bank, or hospital to make sure. Different states may have different rules.  They could also answer your questions about organ donations.

Answer 6

I used to donate blood and plasma all of the time but cannot donate anymore.  I have Hepatitis B.I am not sure about my organs.  I pray that I can donate them to someone or even science.  sorry about your luck  

Answer 7

Not sure why you cant? i am a blood donor myself. You could enquire about becoming a bone marrow donor? but i think they still filter this from your blood so you may get the same answer unfortunately.