I used to donate blood religiously every 56 days, but since I kind of got a *ahem* rise out of it, I would get excited and my pulse would be too high to give. Also, for the times when I made it through all the pre-donating stuff, my veins were very uncooperative.....so I don't even bother anymore. It's to the point where I can only give about 1 out of 10 attempts, so I'm just wasting their time and equipment if I go.

when i can, usually around 5 times per year.

I used to, but I also have very uncooperative veins, and that led me to stop. Now I can't because of meds I take.

I am a repeat donor. I donate probably 4-5 times a year.

I used to do so regularly, but ended up anemic. Now I do it once or twice a year.

For a long time I didn't weigh enough, and had too many recent tattoos or piercings. The one time I said "oh hell, my tattoo is plainly healed and I haven't had any complications" I went in, and could only fill half the bag which sucked because it took me half an hour, and they couldn't even use it. Since then, I haven't tried again.

For years I either didn't weigh enough or had was within a year of childbirth or a miscarriage or a surgery, so I couldn't give. I would work blood drives as an alternative, they always need volunteers who have no fear of blood and are willing to help! (Most volunteers will never start the IV, or things like that. You participate in patient care, keep an eye on people giving blood, to make sure they're OK and the bag is filling properly, carry the units to the storage refrigerator, hand out cookies and juice, learn to know when someone is going to pass out and get into there with the ice packs and dropping the head of their cot and raising the feet etc.

I just found out I'm anemic (which is a fairly new one for me) so I can't give, still.

i donated blood once. it was one of the opportunities we had for a class i was in to get volunteer/donation credit that we had to earn. i figured it would be a good idea since i'm o- & all. however, i don't think i'll be able to do it agian. i nearly passed out twice (i weighed 142 & had eaten lunch about an hr before, too).