Posted by 10derHeart on July 27, 2010, at 5:52:47
In reply to Re: no :-), posted by manic666 on July 27, 2010, at 2:53:34
Hey manic,
That's not correct - not in the U.S. anyway. Don't know anything about European rules or those in the U.K in particular.
Most meds are completely fine here. Google the American Red Cross (Canadian about the same, I think, but harder to find specific instructions) and/or criteria for blood donation, etc. and you can find details easily. A very few specific meds fall into that category of a complete deferral while you are on them, but definitely not ADs, and I don't think anything else Deneb currently takes bars her either. They will check BP, pulse, weight, and iron level in blood. I had to do BP 3 times once as was a little anxious, I guess. But it came down and they were okay with me donating then. I can't recall the lower limit for BP and can't find it online, but low BP *could* disqualify you.
This applies strictly to the ARC. Any other agency might have something slightly different. For example, I also used to donate to the Armed Services Blood Program (ASBP) and they were a bit stricter about some things. Mainly more stringent about time spent in Europe and even more specifically the U.K. because of CJD (often called "mad cow" disease). ARC does have the restriction also (and also to countries with malaria problems, if I recall) but you could donate sooner after having left the country. After I spent 3 years in Germany about 10 years back, I couldn't give blood for a while to the ASBP but the Red Cross was okay with it. Different philosophies about the extremely rare chance of infection with CJD from eating tainted beef. Probably way overdoing the abundance of caution, but I could understand....
It is a wonderful thing to do and so needed in the summer months, at least where I live. If you have type O you are a goldmine. Wish I did.
I can post some more about this later, but it's 3:30 am here and I have to go to frickin' sleep...why AM i up checking these boards????????
poster:10derHeart
thread:956055
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20100716/msgs/956083.html