I've given blood ... these days I'm taking so much stuff that they really don't want it (I think the blood thinner was the final straw).
Xander ,'Dirty Girls'
Spike's Bitches 48: I Say, We Go Out There, and Kick a Little Demon Ass.
[NAFDA] Spike-centric discussion. Lusty, lewd (only occasionally crude), risqué (and frisqué), bawdy (Oh, lawdy!), flirty ('cuz we're purty), raunchy talk inside. Caveat lector.
I just gave a couple of weeks ago! I'd tried to give blood several times in the spring and couldn't for various reasons (sick, didn't meet the iron level requirement, etc.), but I finally made it through and was able to give. It's something I can do relatively easily, so I try to do it as often as I can.
To change the subject it suddenly occurred to me - those taxidermied mice, with costumes and accessories? those are Aeslin mice!
HAIL!
The rule is an aggregate of 6 months in the UK.
The Red Cross site [link] says 3 months. It's 6 months for certain European countries.
How do they check on the iron? Or do you have to have lab slips that prove you're eligible? (Mine is always, always low.)
They do a hemoglobin test, don't they? That fingerstick thing where they check to see if a drop of your blood floats or sinks. (Although you can have a normal hemoglobin level and still have low iron.)
When I used to donate, that hemoglobin test would let me know if I needed to make an appointment with my hemotologist.
I just had my physical and while they didn't run the iron test that my hemo would run, all my other blood results came back well within limits, so I'm assuming I'm ok for the moment. My B12 is low so I'm doing weekly shots. Joy. CJ takes a bit too much pleasure sticking me with the needle.
Yeah, they do the fingerstick. The threshold for donating is a couple points above the threshold for anemia, but after several low readings in a row, I figured maybe I should start taking an iron supplement. I don't know if it's made a difference in how I feel day-to-day, but it put me above the donation threshold, so I'm happy.
I betcha anything I wouldn't have been eligible for donating before my hysterectomy.