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Regular blood donations can reduce “forever chemicals” in the bloodstream: study

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Re: Regular blood donations can reduce “forever chemicals” in the bloodstream: study

#21

Post by andymboyle »

treeman79 wrote: post #15
MiddleEndian wrote: post #4

I shall have my servant bring me my leeches at once!

You say this in jest. But how would one actually get rid of blood if you can’t donate?

Some folks on certain medications (or just because) can have an increase in red blood cell production, sometimes called "blood thickening," I believe, and they can sometimes just get a prescription from a doctor to go to a donation facility. Or some facilities will still just allow you to do this if you tell them you need to get rid of excess blood for the reasons above, and then they dispose of it. (Not everyone requires a doctor's prescription for it.)

That's just one use case, obviously, so there is a system for some to get rid of excess blood, at least, in a similar manner as you would donate.

Re: Regular blood donations can reduce “forever chemicals” in the bloodstream: study

#22

Post by at_a_remove »

xwdv wrote: post #19

What if the blood collectors just find a way to filter out PFAs so they don’t get into your donation and they collect a pure sample, and overtime you just keep saturating your blood with PFAs through constant donations? No thanks.

That would be more like plasma donation, where it is filtered and sent back to you. Blood donation doesn't work like that. No filtration.

Re: Regular blood donations can reduce “forever chemicals” in the bloodstream: study

#24

Post by wrycoder »

toast0 wrote: post #18
d4mi3n wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there any reason why one couldn’t simply have blood as a kind of treatment? I’d certainly be happy to have blood drawn if it meant lowering blood toxicity I had no other way of treating.

Therapeutic phlebotomy, basically bloodletting, is a common treatment for hemochromatosis, iron overload. It would make sense as a treatment if you've got too much of a substance in your system, that substance accumulates in your blood, and you're otherwise healthy enough to tolerate the loss of blood periodically. Depending on the substance, there may be other means that are more effective, or less invasive, of cour…

Or you could take small dose aspirin and just bleed internally. Same result, fewer heart attacks.

Re: Regular blood donations can reduce “forever chemicals” in the bloodstream: study

#27

Post by EvanAnderson »

andymboyle wrote: post #21
treeman79 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You say this in jest. But how would one actually get rid of blood if you can’t donate?

Some folks on certain medications (or just because) can have an increase in red blood cell production, sometimes called "blood thickening," I believe, and they can sometimes just get a prescription from a doctor to go to a donation facility. Or some facilities will still just allow you to do this if you tell them you need to get rid of excess blood for the reasons above, and then they dispose of it. (Not everyone req…

There was some discussion[0] on HN a few weeks ago organizations (like the Red Cross[1]) not accepting donations from patients who require therapeutic phlebotomy (hemochromatosis patients, for example) because their donation provides the donor a benefit (and therefore isn't strictly altruistic). That sent me down an interesting rabbit hole of reading (link in discussion).

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30808856

[1] https://www.redcrossblood.org/donate-blood/blood-donation-pr...

Re: Regular blood donations can reduce “forever chemicals” in the bloodstream: study

#29

Post by deluxeroyale »

andymboyle wrote: post #21
treeman79 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You say this in jest. But how would one actually get rid of blood if you can’t donate?

Some folks on certain medications (or just because) can have an increase in red blood cell production, sometimes called "blood thickening," I believe, and they can sometimes just get a prescription from a doctor to go to a donation facility. Or some facilities will still just allow you to do this if you tell them you need to get rid of excess blood for the reasons above, and then they dispose of it. (Not everyone req…

People on steroids/that have been on need to do this regularly
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