Ok to donate blood while on SSRI?

[w3stfa11]

a

[Jimiam]

Only to depressed blood recipients.



* just kidding. I don't think you can since you are on ssri's.. but I'm not positive about that.

[UltraShy]

Just ask them. I know one can donate blood plasma while on an SSRI, as my brother used to do that (he likes money & it pays). I don't know if the same hold true for whole blood, but if you were to exculde everyone on an SSRI that's a lot of potential donors to turn away.

[Speak Easy]

you can, but you need to make sure your ssri blood levels are all ok. but yea like ultrashy said, just call and ask.

[ColdFury]

It doesn't matter. They don't ask and they don't care. If there's a medication you can't be on, they'll specifically ask you if you're on it.

[korey]

Accutane is probably the only medication they'll specifically ask you if you're on or if you've been on in the past few months. It causes serious birth defects in babies, so if a pregnant woman were to get a blood transfusion from some blood with Accutane in it, then her baby could possibly develop to be...defective.

Also, any medication that requires a constant blood-serum level (lithium, valproates, some other anti-convulsants, etc.) might throw some rocks in your plans to donate blood.

Being as most SSRIs are metabolized and excreted within a day or so, they probably don't matter. However, as everyone else said, be sure to check first.

[UltraShy]

Here's a list of what you can't be taking copied from the Blood Center of Wisconsin:

Medication Deferral List
Please tell us if you are now taking or if you have EVER taken any of these medications:
�� Proscar (finasteride)—Usually prescribed for prostate gland enlargement.
�� Avodart (dutasteride)—Usually prescribed for prostate enlargement.
�� Propecia (finasteride)—Usually prescribed for baldness.
�� Accutane, Amnesteem, Claravis, Sotret (isotretinoin)—Usually prescribed for severe acne.
�� Soriatane (acitretin)—Usually prescribed for severe psoriasis.
�� Tegison (etretinate)—Usually prescribed for severe psoriasis.
�� Growth Hormone from Human Pituitary Glands—Used only until 1985, usually prescribed for children with
delayed or impaired growth.
�� Insulin from Cows (Bovine, or Beef, Insulin)—Used to treat diabetes.
�� Hepatitis B Immune Globulin—Prescribed following an exposure to hepatitis B. Note: This is different from the
hepatitis B vaccine which is a series of 3 injections administered over a 6 month period to prevent future infection
from exposures to hepatitis B.
�� Coumadin (warfarin)—Usually prescribed to treat patients with blood clots.
�� Unlicensed Vaccine—Usually associated with a research protocol.

[korey]

My state's blood donation services don't even list the specific medications:

Reasons you cannot give blood include:
Do you weigh less than 110 pounds?
Are you under seventeen years old?
Have you donated blood in the last eight weeks?
Have you been pregnant in the last six weeks?
Have you had a tooth pulled in the last three days?
Are you taking antibiotics? (You many donate 24 hours after taking the medication if you feel better.)
Have you had any shots or vaccinations in the last month?
Have you had mono in the last six months?
Do you have any allergic symptoms at the present time?
Have you had major surgery in the last six months or minor surgery in the last two months?
Have you had tattoos or acupuncture in the last twelve months?
Have you had close contact (family member or roommate) in the last six months with any one who presently has hepatitis?
Have you had malaria in the past three years?
Are you taking insulin shots for diabetes?
Hepatitis after your 11th birthday, serious heart disease and recent heart surgery will result in permanent deferral from donating blood.
If you’re taking high blood pressure medication, you are eligible to donate if your blood pressure is within normal limits at the time of donation.
You need to eat four hours preceding a blood donation.

My old high school's human A&P classes have held a blood drive each year for the past three or four years. I've never donated blood because I was either on the antibiotics merry-go-round (for acne) or I was sick. Eh well.

[D.B. Cooper]

􀂙 Growth Hormone from Human Pituitary Glands—Used only until 1985, usually prescribed for children with
delayed or impaired growth.

What the hell?