Does anyone know for certain if being on an anti-seizure med can disqualify one from donating blood? There are no clear answers that I could find on this. There is an upcoming blood drive on Aug. 14 at Citizens Bank Park in Philly. Donating blood is a good cause and I would love to do this, but don’t want to drive out there if they are going to turn me away. Any information would be helpful. Thank you all.
I used to give blood here in UK but could not once I started on epilepsy meds.
I was just looking into it yesterday and found this info from the red cross. It doesn’t really say anything about anti seizure meds, but you can search for a chapter near you and ask them if you can or can’t. However I did a search for just lamictal and donating blood and from what I found I can not donate.
http://www.redcrossblood.org/donating-blood/eligibility-requirements
Heidi, Before my AVM kicked in I used to donate every time I could.
After I started to have seizures this is what the Red Cross told me:
Epilepsy/Convulsions/Seizures: Blood donation restrictions, only if the person has
had any episodes within the last 3 months of blood donation.
I was told the medication was not the issue it was the last time a seizure happened.
I just came accross this, the info that was given to me is different:
Here is the link to the article:
http://www.epilepsyfoundation.org/epilepsyusa/beam.cfm
Man With Epilepsy Donates 200 Units of Blood Platelets
By Sylvia Blair
Special to EpilepsyUSA
Posted: May 1, 2001
When Dick Beam first tried to donate blood about ten years ago, he was rejected as a donor because he had epilepsy. But that didn’t stop this determined 66-year old Fort Wayne, Ind., man. Thanks to a change in Red Cross policy during the early 1990’s, Beam proudly celebrated his 200th platelet donation this summer and has befriended a child whose life he helped save in the process.
For decades, the Red Cross did not allow people with epilepsy to donate blood for fear of adverse reactions. However, about twelve years ago, Allan Krumholz, M.D., a member of the Epilepsy Foundation’s Professional Advisory Board, and his colleagues decided to find out whether donating blood really did increase the risk of seizures in people with epilepsy
Thank you for your responses everyone. I probably will still try to donate. It gets me out of the house, which is good in itself. I can’t drive and my husband works so it will be nice anyway. I will let you know how it goes. Thanks!