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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

#51

Post by dundarious »

neogodless wrote: post #9

Donate your perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to those in need! Hmm: > As to the question of what happens to recipients of this blood: “Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances are ubiquitous, and no threshold has been identified that poses an increased risk to recipients of donated blood components.”

Presumably it's even odds as to who has more PFAS: the donor or the recipient. And if you need a blood transfusion (often in an emergency), the PFAS is probably a small negative on a hugely positive treatment. It's like pesticides on plants: it's probably slightly unhealthy to eat the small level of pesticides on most plant food, but it's worse to miss out on all the nutrition in plants.

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

#52

Post by Pulcinella »

1024core wrote: post #17

Could you just filter your blood externally, dialysis-style, and get rid of these chemicals that way?

Perhaps these sorts of chemicals re not particularly water soluble? Otherwise you kidneys could just filter them out into your urine.

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

#54

Post by mikeodds »

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?

You simply dump it in the street https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-berkshire-60493339

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

#56

Post by andymboyle »

EvanAnderson wrote: post #27
andymboyle wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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=3080…

Very interesting! Thanks for sharing.

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

#58

Post by adamredwoods »

We should be able to test our blood for PFAS on a regular basis and our doctors should be able to let us know if we need to filter our blood.

But PFAS testing is not the norm?

Per a Tedx talk on this subject: https://www.nrdc.org/experts/anna-reade/pfas-blood-tests-nee...

>> Unfortunately, a PFAS blood test is not a routine lab test that can be processed by your local lab and covered by your health insurance. In fact, there are only a handful of labs certified to test for PFAS in blood and the out of pocket cost for this test is out of reach for most people.

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

#59

Post by colechristensen »

np_tedious wrote: post #43
segmondy wrote: post #3

Another way to say that Bloodletting can reduce toxic forever chemicals in the bloodstream.

Brings up an interesting question. Say you couldn't donate due to tattoos, needle use from steroids or IV drugs ("have you ever injected anything not prescribed by a doctor"), gay or paid sex, etc Are there services for bloodletting?

It’s not bloodletting but some things do come out in sweat, I remember reading a paper that demonstrated heavy metals come out in sweat in significant amounts. Perhaps other things do as well.

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

#60

Post by jfengel »

EvanAnderson wrote: post #27
andymboyle wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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=3080…

I didn't realize that. I was briefly thought to have hemochromatosis, and had been "self-treating" via the Red Cross for years.

It turns out I didn't have hemochromatosis. It was merely a bit high, but knowing that I donated so often (both whole blood and platelets, which you can do more often), there was concern that the "self-treatment" was covering up a real problem.

I had not heard at the time that they wouldn't have wanted my blood. It was over a decade ago, and it's possible that the policy didn't exist then.

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