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Cystic Fibrosis and Donating Blood

Blood SampleIt appears that I didn’t quite explain the process that I went through to determine if I could donate blood or not. For one, I never used to weigh enough, so I’d only entertain the idea during those times where I’d hit 118 for a day or so and then lose it again.

I called the blood bank first and asked if it was okay if a CFer gave blood and their main concern related to me having CF was whether or not I was on antibiotics. I explained that I go months without IVs and I nebulize an antibiotic every day. She didn’t care about that sort of antibiotic. I followed that up by saying that I was on Zithromax on M/W/F, but I could give blood on Sunday mornings at church. She said it’d be out of my system, so that was fine.

She did advise me to answer “no” to the question about taking antibiotics because it would lead to one of two things:

  • two or three questions that would result in them marking a “no” so the blood is accepted into the system or
  • a denial to give blood that day because the tech is overly cautious.

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