(no subject)

[pez]

If I'm a character in Loveless, my pair name would be VEINLESS.

<--- went to give blood today, but veins on both arms are so small the nurses could hardly see it, let alone poke that great big needle into it, so no blood was given in the end

They did give me tea and biscuits though XD

Comments

[sharona1x2.livejournal.com]

To be honest, when you first said you were going to give blood, I wondered if you even weighed enough. I have this impression that you don't weigh very much, and they don't usually like to take blood from people who weigh below a certain amount.

It was very nice of you to try.

[yuki-scorpio.livejournal.com]

XD! Coworker was there too and he asked me if I even passed the haemogoblin test! I don't look small in RL and weigh more than I look as well, really ^^

Another coworker tried giving bone marrow a few years back and she was deemed too light for it, though! XD

^____^

[ex-semishade366.livejournal.com]

I'm most definitely *not* too light to give blood but the medical profession still find it difficult to locate a vein. As it happens, my blood is a banned substance anyway because I received transfusions when I was in hospital 2 years ago and am, therefore, officially deemed to be a CJD risk!

[yuki-scorpio.livejournal.com]

Which is what I don't understand though, because the blood you'd received must've been tested, so how does it make you CJD risk, or is it something particular with CJD that I don't understand?

The other thing is that men who have ever had oral or anal sex with other men are not allowed to give blood... which I also don't understand. I thought HIV and STD are now as common in heterosexuals as in homosexuals... >_>

[ex-semishade366.livejournal.com]

It's one of those little pieces of official logic. Tests have shown a tiny risk that CJD may have passed through blood transfusions so everyone who's had a transfusion since 1980 is banned from giving blood as a precautionary measure. But we're not supposed to worry that we might have been given CJD if we've had a transfusion! I'm such a cynic that as I watched the blood coming down the tube I was actually saying to myself, here it comes, AIDs, hepatitis, CJD...all the things I knew up to then I definitely didn't have!

At least half of the people living with HIV globally are women and children, don't know what the split is for the UK specifically.

[ex-semishade366.livejournal.com]

Terence Higgins Trust info (http://www.tht.org.uk/home/informationresources/factsandstatistics/uk/)

[yuki-scorpio.livejournal.com]

Trying to find the % of gay men infected with HIV, because otherwise, just because they're the highest risk group, if the % is small enough, it doesn't mean they should be ruled out. -_- It's all mind boggling.

[ex-semishade366.livejournal.com]

Mind boggling until you're the one receiving the blood, at which point no % can possibly be too small!

[yuki-scorpio.livejournal.com]

But I mean, they do test all the blood they get anyway... anybody could be HIV positive, so is the % of gay men who are HIV+ large enough to make them say they'd rather not have any blood from them at all because it's just a waste of time and resource, is what I'd like to know...

[ex-semishade366.livejournal.com]

Well - the blood service themselves point out that the blood screening isn't 100% guaranteed (always a comforting thought) so there is a certain logic in ruling out high risk groups from the outset.

There are an estimated 53,000 people living with HIV in the UK against a population of around 60 million - so that's less than 0.01% (?) and the % with CJD must be much smaller. In one study of 1-2,000 gay men in the London area, 10% were found to had HIV, one third of those having previously been undiagnosed.

[yuki-scorpio.livejournal.com]

10% in London? *EEPS*

[ex-semishade366.livejournal.com]

London's probably a bit of a hotspot.

[mushrooms.livejournal.com]

I'm too light to give blood. I would like to, though...

Tea and biscuits is guud~

[yuki-scorpio.livejournal.com]

*feeds you ducks!*

[mushrooms.livejournal.com]

DUUUUUUUUUCKS

I love how I have this 'in-joke' with so many of the people on my f-list ♥ It's so cool.