excelforward
Member
From my point of view, giving blood JUST to find out if you have HIV is certainly unethical. This is coming from the guy who even though I have a committed partner and have had HIV tests recently to confirm I am clean, cannot give blood because I'm gay and the Red Cross wants nothing to do with my blood.
Don't be a dick, don't fuck it up. Giving blood is something useful, and there are much better ways to find out. See if your local government has an STI (sexually transmitted infection, the new PC term >.< ) screening clinic, there is one here in Indiana called the Bellflower Clinic. It's $10 for the screening and any meds that you may need afterwards, insurance or no insurance.
Man up and go to a real clinic, because that way you can also find out if there are any issues with the more curable diseases that will still wreak havoc upon your body and reproductive system.
Edit:
Also, for the record, the blood centers are controlled by the America Red Cross, and with every batch of blood they receive, they do three separate HIV tests, the ELISA, Western Blot, and HIV-Nat test. They test for the nucleic acids present within the virus, the antibodies present when you have the virus, and the virus itself. Coming from the Red Cross (I'm Red Cross certified to teach entry-level HIV education, 101, 102, and 110) the organization pretty much states that there's no chance of receiving HIV through transmission anymore. Regardless, just go to a local clinic to get the rest of you checked out, because a lot of STIs can remain asymptomatic (no symptoms) even though you have it.
Don't be a dick, don't fuck it up. Giving blood is something useful, and there are much better ways to find out. See if your local government has an STI (sexually transmitted infection, the new PC term >.< ) screening clinic, there is one here in Indiana called the Bellflower Clinic. It's $10 for the screening and any meds that you may need afterwards, insurance or no insurance.
Man up and go to a real clinic, because that way you can also find out if there are any issues with the more curable diseases that will still wreak havoc upon your body and reproductive system.
Edit:
Also, for the record, the blood centers are controlled by the America Red Cross, and with every batch of blood they receive, they do three separate HIV tests, the ELISA, Western Blot, and HIV-Nat test. They test for the nucleic acids present within the virus, the antibodies present when you have the virus, and the virus itself. Coming from the Red Cross (I'm Red Cross certified to teach entry-level HIV education, 101, 102, and 110) the organization pretty much states that there's no chance of receiving HIV through transmission anymore. Regardless, just go to a local clinic to get the rest of you checked out, because a lot of STIs can remain asymptomatic (no symptoms) even though you have it.