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

[ylg]

I'd say constantly fatigued. I got through a particularly nasty anemia some few years (vegetarism + regular blood donations + hectic timetable + not-caring-at-all attitude, do not mix well.)

I felt tired, very tired, both physically and emotionally, prone to cry;
doing sports became impossible: I was too short of breath (I had to run to catch a bus once and almost collapsed in what looked like the worst case of hyperventilation ever, I thought I was dying of asphyxia and I never caught my buson coming back home at the end of schoolday I *needed* to take a nap, and on one memorable occasion, I woke up from the nap disorientated, looking at my watch and not knowing at all if it was 8PM and I had slept a couple of hours, or already 8AM the next day

[theguindo]

I feel like this might be useful for you. Basically there are "blood farms" where people are kept locked up and drained dry over a long period of time and their blood sold for profit.

[banespawn]

Thanks theguindo and premor. That definitely helps. I bought the book and will download it on my kindle tonight.

I think I can use the bruising of his arms and legs from the needle as the "pain" factor, particularly because the needle is larger than the norm (and yes, I do plan on them boiling the needles to sterilize them). The amount of damage this does to him isn't really important as his own blood will heal him, I just need it to be painful.

The details in the book will hopefully help me to write a convincing portrayal of his suffering.

The only thing I'm still working out is how they will feed him. If his life is that miserable, he's probably not going to eat willingly.

[cynatnite]

There are strict limits on how often a person can give blood because of the physical effects. The body can only take so much blood loss in a given period of time.

If anything, the worse effects are usually right after a donation. Usually that is fatigue and fainting. I've seen severe headaches, nausea, vomiting, and weakness as well.

[moon_custafer]

I agree with the poster above that his captors would want to keep him reasonably healthy so they can continue to get blood from him; however, if you want him to be anemic for plot reasons, consider that iron is often referred to as a counter-agent to magic - they might want to limit the iron supplements they give him so he gets enough that he doesn’t actually die, but not as much as he actually needs, because that might weaken the magical powers of his blood. Does that make any sense?

Apart from that, I’d also suggest that anyone kept captive for fifteen years would likely have psychological problems even if he was physically healthy.