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Donating blood with a heart murmur?

I want to donate blood, the blood vans from bloodscotland are coming to our school so that 6th years can donate and i’m of the right weight for my height, no tattoos, not pregnant etc and i’m on prescription medicine that people say is fine to donate with

but when I went to my gp and he checked my pulse he found a small heart murmur and so far I’ve had an ecg for it and a 24-hour heart monitor test, i’ve not gotten the results back for it but i’m worried that if I give blood i’ll seriously affect my health

I know I can ask the nurses once they are here but I want to know from anyone on here who has given blood what restrictions there are and if you’ve tried to give blood why you were rejected and if it was for a heart murmur. I ask because I know that obviously you shouldn’t give blood if you have heart disease or diabetes and stuff but i’m not sure if heart murmurs are bad for giving blood for my health and for the one who receives it
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Kindred
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Original post by Anonymous
I want to donate blood, the blood vans from bloodscotland are coming to our school so that 6th years can donate and i’m of the right weight for my height, no tattoos, not pregnant etc and i’m on prescription medicine that people say is fine to donate with

but when I went to my gp and he checked my pulse he found a small heart murmur and so far I’ve had an ecg for it and a 24-hour heart monitor test, i’ve not gotten the results back for it but i’m worried that if I give blood i’ll seriously affect my health

I know I can ask the nurses once they are here but I want to know from anyone on here who has given blood what restrictions there are and if you’ve tried to give blood why you were rejected and if it was for a heart murmur. I ask because I know that obviously you shouldn’t give blood if you have heart disease or diabetes and stuff but i’m not sure if heart murmurs are bad for giving blood for my health and for the one who receives it


There's a list online for what you can/ can't donate blood with. I can't remember where exactly, but it's easy to find if you search something like"who can give blood".
I would personally avoid it either way at the moment where you're having investigations etc.
Hi,

Whether you can safely give blood when you have a heart murmur will depend on the type and cause of the murmur - as Kindred says above, it is best to wait until the results of your 24-hour Holter monitor is received by your GP, then see your GP and ask him/her directly whether it is safe for you to take this course of action.

It is very unlikely that you cannot donate blood in case it adversely affects the recipient simply because you have a heart murmur, except in the extremely unlikely event that your heart murmur is due to an infection (called sub-acute endocarditis); if your doctor had suspected this, (not only would you have some very severe and worrying symptoms), but your doctor would have taken immediate action.

SO PUT YOUR IDEA ON HOLD!

M (former medical student)

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