Blood Donation

I got my results from my 21 weeks test the other day it was an EIA and it was non-reactive.  There is a local blood drive tomorrow and I was wondering if it was safe for me to give blood at the blood drive or should I wait until my 26 wk (6 mo) hopefully negative result before I decide if I can to donate? If some of you guys dont remember I had given a bj to a male for maybe 2 min with no ejaculation but probably pre-***. i may have had small cuts in my cheek where i had been biting at my gums as a nervous habit but nothing bleeding or hurting. I also couldve had a sore where my wisdom tooth scraped my gum but nothing bleeding or gaping sore.  i did experience symptoms neck pain, headaches behind eyes, joint pain, a fever of 100.9 (on 5th wk but didn't feel feverish at all) and a swollen cervical lymph node (more occipital) that still is there.  All of these symptoms seemed to have crept up around the six wk mark when I started thinking about hiv and searching on the net. so do you guys think i am safe to donate blood? any opinions are appreciated! thanks!

[cholny29]

thank you! I appreciate your reply and thoughts and sincerely hope you are correct! I did give blood today and on the pamphlet it was readng how they test for west nile, hiv, and hepatitis, and I am sure much more that is just what i remember. i never knew they checked for west nile but it definitely makes sense! thanks again!

[Rob73!]

yep. It's safe as houses. Search the archives for time to postive HIV test. Uou've test out to 21 weeks. Even the most conservitive bodies only recommend testing out to 3 months. So It's fair to say you DON'T have HIV. Happy days indeed!

[PlateletGal]

Its too late now... but if there are any doubts, you should not donate blood. And especially if you have swollen lymph nodes !

If you still had the swollen lymph node... please call the place where you donated blood and let them know. They will more than likely discard the unit.

Also, blood donation is not a place to go to for HIV testing. I know... I worked in the business.

[cholny29]

see this was exactly what i was worried about. one person says it is ok to donate blood that at 5 mo I am truly negative and then another person makes me feel like I should still be doubting my test results. I dont get it? What am I suppose to do try and live and tell myself I am negative or freak about the possibility of not being negative?

[glad2bamom]

When you worked in the business, what part of it did you work in?  I'm just curious, because your answers are always so informative and accurate.

[PlateletGal]

cholny29,

What concerned me was that you had a swollen lymph node... you already had a negative HIV result and that isn't what concerns me. But a swollen lymph node usually indicates an infection. It sounds like you are still clearing that virus, if that is what it is, out of your system and haven't fully recovered. If there is any doubt about whether or not to donate blood, then you shouldn't donate. You can call the blood center where you donated and ask to speak with the Medical Director and find out whether or not your unit of blood has been transfused yet.


glad2beamom,

Thank you for your compliment. I worked in a hospital for many years and spent my first couple of years inspecting and issuing blood... also doing quality control. I've also screened many blood donors and worked with many patients'... all of them who came to us for therapeutic procedures.