Effects of repeated, long-term blood donation

[banespawn]

I'm writing a fantasy novel in which a character has a curse that makes his blood the source of all magic. This curse only afflicts one person at a time. When that person dies, someone else inherits the curse. This has been going on for a thousand years and the current cursed individual has been held prisoner for 15 years, during which time his

Comments

[mutive]

One of my brothers gives blood every few months. (We have a semi-rare blood type, so the blood banks LOVE him. Me less so. I'm not sure why

[marycatelli]

There was a recent study on heart patients that found that taking blood for tests had caused a good number of the patients to become anemic. (Which was Not Good for them.) True, they were not well, but anyone who loses too much blood will be anemic.

[naamah_darling]

You might try googling "pernicious anemia" or "pernicious blood loss anemia," if you have not already.

I had anemia due to constant blood loss when I was a teenager, for about a year and a half, before I finally asked for help, and it was not fun at all. Even when I had enough red blood cells by number, which wasn't usually, my body had been fighting so hard to make enough that they were small and thus not as capable of doing their jobs.

I was often cold, so very cold, and often I craved food, especially meat and bone marrow and I chewed on ice all the time, but I wasn't often hungry, if you can see the difference. And I was tired. Oh, God, I was so tired. When I was awake I was alert enough, but once in a while I would just wilt suddenly and fall asleep in class, like I'd just run out of gas. I slept for ten hours a night. I slept for two hours after coming home from school. I napped in math class every day, before lunch, when my energy was at its lowest. I was weaker than I should've been. I was a strong girl, and in

[naamah_darling]

And I should say, it does depend on how much they take, and how often, but even a deficit of only a little, if it is constant, will result in a decrease in quality of the blood cells.

And that someone who was tired, had no endurance, slept a lot, and was depressed would sure as hell be a lot more manageable than someone who wasn't. So, depending on your scenario, keeping him slightly anemic might suit their ends pretty well.

[smillaraaq]

Seconding all of this. I had a pretty bad runin with anemia due to chronic heavy bleeding a couple years ago and those were my symptoms to a tee. I didn't *hurt* anywhere, outside of the occasional menstrual cramps, but I was horribly fatigued and weak all the time, no matter how much rest I got. I was used to taking long walks every day, but when the anemia was at its worst even just walking on level paved ground to the mailbox on the corner of my block felt like struggling uphill through deep snow, it took that much effort and left me so wrung out; I'd have to stop periodically to stand still and rest for a few breaths, just to try to muster up enough strength and willpower to walk a little further. Have you ever had a bout of the flu that was so severe that just getting out of bed to walk to the bathroom or kitchen felt like an exhausting effort? It was a lot like that, just without the deep body aches that you get with the flu. Weak, chilled, occasionally dizzy or light-headed, weird cravings and pica but almost no appetite, and

[naamah_darling]

So much sympathy, here.

[oroburos69]

The idea sounds really interesting in a morbid kind of way.

Anyway, it occurs to me that losing blood probably wouldn't put him in much pain, except for the whole extraction via enormous needle, but being stabbed repeatedly by a giant needle can be really bad for his health if it isn't sanitized or if it's re-used. You might want to look into injection infections (I'm getting this from a half-remembered movie with a spectacular sound track--someone lost their arm to an infection?). Also, re-used needles get dull really fast, according to a PSA I saw once. Bigger injuries over time?

Anyway, infections are pretty painful.

[willowcabin]

This movie is probably 'Requiem For A Dream' - horrifying but amazing, and right, spectacular soundtrack :)

op, I don't have much to add to what other commenters have said - probably a bonecrunching exhaustion and confusion because of it would be the main symptom.

[sollersuk]

Oh, absolutely. Even with ordinary blood donations, after a while it started to be tricky to find a suitable vein - they had to switch from my left arm to my right arm.

As well as being tired all the time, another likely symptom is becoming irritable and short-tempered (mostly as a result of being tired).

[lolmac]

Former regular blood donor in the US here

[marycatelli]

I got the first three things only once when donating blood -- I hadn't eaten beforehand.

They will want to feed him before and after they take the blood.

[smillaraaq]

Individual reactions to blood donation can vary really widely, too. I was a regular donor when I was in my teens and twenties, shorter and lighter than you at the time, and I never felt dizzy or faint during/after donation. Tired, well, I didn't feel noticeably fall-down tired afterwards, although I did always make sure to take it easy the rest of the day as advised: I might nap in the afternoon if I donated early in the day, or I'd donated in the afternoon I'd usually just find myself growing sleepy earlier than my usual bedtime. But once I went to bed on the evening of the donation, I'd always sleep exceptionally deeply and soundly. That was actually one of my favorite parts, actually, because I've always been a fairly restless sleeper and prone to insomnia; I'd feel absolutely incredible the day after blood donation because I'd slept so much better than I usually did!