Well today I tried to donate blood for the second time in my life. Last January I tried but during the procedure I started feeling faint and they stopped the donation. Now I was embarrassed and mortified but mostly ashamed. I knew it had to do with my anxiety issues and I went back and forth on whether or not to try again after so many months. So I drank lots of water and ate a good lunch and today I tried. Well apparently my last experience was dwelling on my mind too much because during the screening process my pulse was too high today and I was rejected. This is not good for my self esteem and I'm really angry and sad with myself. I just want to help someone by donating, why can't I calm down about it? My anxiety is tied up in appearances and capability and right now I feel weak and small. Sorry for the long post but I just needed to get this off my chest.
Donating blood is not a natural process. It is not something that everyone will be capable of doing for both mental or biological reasons. It is certainly not something that anyone should feel obligated to do. My number one justification for not donating blood is because I would both have to lie on the paperwork, being a homosexual male, and I have naturally low blood pressure and, therefore, could faint relatively quickly. Although those are solid reasons by themselves, even if they weren't issues I would most likely never donate blood. There are only a number of things in this world that bring me great anxiety: needles/IVs are one of those things. However, everyone is afraid of something. Everyone has irrational fears. Everyone gets anxiety from something. Fears don't make us weak. Fears make us human. There is absolutely nothing wrong with working towards overcoming those fears, but you should never feel ashamed of them. Getting punctured with a needle and watching body fluids trickle out of your body is as valid of a reason to have anxiety as you will ever find. There are many ways that you can give back and be of service to the community. Never feel obligated to do things that you are uncomfortable with doing because others might be.
there are a lot of ways to help other people. for example if you cant donate blood, you can donate few bucks of your money to hospital charity. Yes blood is important, mostly due to its high demand notoriously for trauma/surgical purposes, Postpartum(OB/GYN) and pediatric (three department with highest blood demand in my country for.like.ever). Your money will also put to good use for further medical researches to help even more lives because most of the times it took more than 3 pack of blood to save 1 live. i tried to donate blood 9 times all of them got rejected during preliminary screening due to high viscosity and EXTREMELY HIGH Hemoglobin level and it makes me do a general check up and found out i have testosterone level 3x above adult normal level so i probably cant donate for the rest of my life not because of my sexuality. @Gen in my country all people are "assumed STRAIGHT" unless they have too feminine demeanor so they won't ask the homosexual part, and yeah if they ask me about it then it's going to be awkward moment of silence
Thanks I needed to be reminded that I'm not alone in my anxiety and that if one path doesn't work then find other options. In Canada you are questioned in the screening process if you have ever had sex with a male. If you answer yes then you are rejected. Which is so hurtful on so many levels. In my case I didn't lie because I have never been with anyone.
anyway you should not be anxious nor embarrassed in the 1st place. that's the magic of our body, when they sense any damage/potential damage in any way they adapt REALLY fast by any means necessary (elevated or lower BP, elevated pulses, breath frequencies, urine output, sweats, pupil size, trembling/shaking/shivering) they are all essential to our survival as a human being, and those indicators are essential for us (medical profession) to recognize when your safety is being compromised during any procedure and when to continue or stop. YOU ARE NOT WEAK FOR WANTING TO HELP OTHER PEOPLE BUT YOU CANT YOU ARE NEVER WEAK TO BEGIN WITH IT TOOK A HUGE DEAL AMOUNT OF COURAGE JUST BY WALKING TO THAT BLOOD DONOR ROOM BECAUSE MOST PEOPLE CANT EVEN TOOK A SINGLE STEP TO GO INSIDE then YOU SHOULD BE PROUD OF YOURSELF good day for you arfff
As an above poster said in Canada you are not allowed to donate blood if you've engaged in sexual activity with another male, so my blood will remain my own for the rest of my life. I'd like to donate blood, but they won't let me. Oh well, no loss for me. I have signed up for organ donation. If they want 'em, especially after I die, they can do whatever they want with them. Otherwise, their loss.
