4mo ago

The 10 reasons you don’t give blood, and an unmitigated attack on each reason

Just a moment...

Actually 9 reasons, and one of the 9 is allowed to go free and just given a gentle recommendation to verify it :P But a fun article for anyone on the fence about whether to donate or not, obviously slanted towards "yes, donate."

10 comments

I'm lazy and don't like needles. I did it when the red cross come to the office but that hasn't happened since COVID.
My first experience with it was having a huge pain in my arm every time I move it from the vertical position, and this lasted for like 2-3 days, plus the pain I felt in my finger that was tested for blood eligibility every time it touched something, which lasted for a couple of days as well.
Wasn’t a fun experience, not sure if I’ll do it again :-/
- "huge" compared to the act. Wasn’t that huge, but muscle aches basically
  But in my finger it definitely felt like someone was planting something in my finger every time I put a bit of pressure on it. Annoying to temporarily lose the ability to use a finger because I donated :(
- So there definitely aren’t only 10 reasons you might not donate
Not long after my last donation, I broke my damned hand. still hasn't healed right so I keep putting my next one off, which is a real shame since I wanted to do them quite frequently
I don't give blood because we have the technology to mass-produce completely antigen-free red blood cells artificially, but we don't because there are so many donors.
- There is a blood shortage in almost every single nation on earth. What are you talking about?
- That’s not true. Cultured blood cells can’t be produced at anywhere near the volume or cost of donated blood. Synthetics are still a long way off.
  
  No one is working on it because we have so much volume. But it is very technologically feasible.

10 comments