Self Phlebotomy - Blood Letting

[Dale338]

I've been on TRT for about 9 months now and my last labs show hematocrit has crept to 50.5. Time to drop some blood. I answered the questions to the blood bank honestly and was rejected, due to needle use for my hormones. I can't get a script to dump either as at 50, they won't prescribe and I'm self prescribed anyhow. Been scouring the web on ways to take care of this myself and found a method I think would work with the aid of my trusted friend.

100 10ml vacutainer tubes can be purchased for like $15 and a 21 gauge needle for them. Another guy in my situation described sitting down with his girlfriend, turning on their favorite show, relaxing, following proper protocol, slides in the 21 gauge and then fills 20 tubes, equaling just under half a pint. Next day he does the other arm for a total of 40, or just below a pint. Claims he's done this for years with no issues. Am I overlooking something. He said if the needle is placed properly, his GF fills the 20 tubes in about 15-20 minutes.

I know most are going to object to this idea for obvious reason, but I'm in a pickle here and refuse to run around with thick blood.

 

[ickyrica]

know most are going to object to this idea for obvious reason, but I'm in a pickle here and refuse to run around with thick blood

you have kindred spirits here. A handful of people bloodlet, there's a few threads about it

 

[Perrin Aybara]

That's gonna very time consuming. For one 21g is too small and filling up a bunch of little tubes is gonna take forever. I just pull the plunger out of a 1ml or 3ml barrel, attach an 18g tip and dump the whole pint into a measuring cup or red solo cup. 10-20 minutes and be done with it without all the steps and extra supplies.

 

[Dale338]

That's gonna very time consuming. For one 21g is too small and filling up a bunch of little tubes is gonna take forever. I just pull the plunger out of a 1ml or 3ml barrel, attach an 18g tip and dump the whole pint into a measuring cup or red solo cup. 10-20 minutes and be done with it without all the steps and extra supplies.

Thank you, but what creates the suction? You just literally let it run right out the syringe, no tube attached? I thought the tubes creates the vacuum?

 

[Perrin Aybara]

Thank you, but what creates the suction? You just literally let it run right out the syringe, no tube attached? I thought the tubes creates the vacuum?

You don't need suction, you have a pump (your heart).

 

[Dale338]

You don't need suction, you have a pump (your heart).

I think I'll at least get a hose to attach and let it run into the cup away from me, I would not do well with watching blood just run on the back of a syringe lol. I wish they made like a huge tube, 30ml or so.

 

[Dale338]

Would these work? Not sure what syringe type they lock onto? I guess the second piece shown in the photo and I just let the blood drain out from there into my cup.

Kendall Monoject Hypodermic Needle Only - 18 g x 1" Green - Allegro Medical Supplies

 

[Perrin Aybara]

Any 18g should do. Oxygen hose can be made to fit on it if you want. I've done it like that before and used a water bottle. You just have to make it fit.

 

[Perrin Aybara]

There's a YouTube video I learned it from. Give me a minute and I'll find it.

 

[Perrin Aybara]

 

[Dale338]

Most grateful brother!!! Thank you!

 

[Sk8man101]

That's gonna very time consuming. For one 21g is too small and filling up a bunch of little tubes is gonna take forever. I just pull the plunger out of a 1ml or 3ml barrel, attach an 18g tip and dump the whole pint into a measuring cup or red solo cup. 10-20 minutes and be done with it without all the steps and extra supplies.

Haha I was gunna tag you but you already beat me.

 

[Dale338]

Well I did it myself, without too much issue. Not quite as fast as the guy in the video above. Biggest issue was getting relaxed. Broke into a cold sweat and felt nauseous about 1/4 of the way in. 18 gauge needle was a bitch having to watching yourself push that in, but I got it there. Took about 3-4 minutes to fill a pint. I almost pussied out 1/2 way through as I was turning green, but rode it out. Had to lay down for a few minutes until the squeezing feeling left and then I was fine. Feel a little weak today, will skip workouts for next two days and then I should be fine. What a relief. I'll wait a few days and then take a new CBC, hopefully this brought my crit down from 50.8 to like 47 or so.

 

[Perrin Aybara]

Well I did it myself, without too much issue. Not quite as fast as the guy in the video above. Biggest issue was getting relaxed. Broke into a cold sweat and felt nauseous about 1/4 of the way in. 18 gauge needle was a bitch having to watching yourself push that in, but I got it there. Took about 3-4 minutes to fill a pint. I almost pussied out 1/2 way through as I was turning green, but rode it out. Had to lay down for a few minutes until the squeezing feeling left and then I was fine. Feel a little weak today, will skip workouts for next two days and then I should be fine. What a relief. I'll wait a few days and then take a new CBC, hopefully this brought my crit down from 50.8 to like 47 or so.

Once I'd done it a few times the nausea went away completely. Just mild cold sweats now. 3-4 minutes is pretty fast, by the way. Usually takes me 10+ minutes.

 

[Dale338]

Once I'd done it a few times the nausea went away completely. Just mild cold sweats now. 3-4 minutes is pretty fast, by the way. Usually takes me 10+ minutes.

Well it could have been a little longer, I wasn't actually timing it. Maybe 5-6 minutes. I think it drained faster as I had one of those old fashioned style hand pump BP cuffs. I wasn't sure how tight to make it, so I just pumped it until there is a moderate grip on my upper arm. It flowed really quick. I had my girl at the end of the bed, just in case. I would not advise doing this alone, as I suppose if you passed out, anything is possible if that needle remained in your arm. She refused to watch, but she was there just in case.

 

[Perrin Aybara]

Well it could have been a little longer, I wasn't actually timing it. Maybe 5-6 minutes. I think it drained faster as I had one of those old fashioned style hand pump BP cuffs. I wasn't sure how tight to make it, so I just pumped it until there is a moderate grip on my upper arm. It flowed really quick. I had my girl at the end of the bed, just in case. I would not advise doing this alone, as I suppose if you passed out, anything is possible if that needle remained in your arm. She refused to watch, but she was there just in case.

A "spotter" is a must for sure.

 

[movingiron88]

Yea mine doesn't flow that quick at all. @Dale338 did you end up . Using the oxygen tubing?

 

[Dale338]

Yeah, attached the tube to the back side of the syringe / needle, right into a water bottle. Again, I was not timing it, as I was more focused on fighting off the cold sweat nausea feeling, and trying not to pass out. All mental, as needles and watching my blood flow from my body are too of the most squeamish things to me. I know this is a needed thing, but when you've been conditioned your entire life to recognizing the importance of keeping your blood in your body, there just seems to be something mentally wrong with watching a water bottle fill up with it, that fucks with your head. LOL

 

[Michael Scally MD]

Brennan R, Wells J, Van Hout MC. "Blood letting"-Self-phlebotomy in injecting anabolic-androgenic steroids within performance and image enhancing drug (PIED) culture. The International journal on drug policy 2018;55:47-50. http://www.ijdp.org/article/S0955-3959(18)30046-X/abstrac

BACKGROUND: New evidence with regard to a previously undocumented practice - self phlebotomy, known as 'bloodletting' - incontemporary injecting performance and image enhancing drug (PIED) culture is the subject of this paper. While self phlebotomy has been evidenced in psychiatric patients previously, it was performed here in people who inject AAS as a self directed health care procedure.

METHODS: Data was collected from five publicly accessible internet discussion forums and coded using NVivo software. For the purposes of this study, posts in relation to bloodletting were extracted from the final set of records for analysis

RESULTS: Motivation to perform bloodletting or to 'self - bleed' was largely grounded in experiencing symptoms of high blood pressure or a high red blood cell count (RBC). Instructions on how to perform bloodletting were found within discussion threads.

CONCLUSION: This study is intended to provide the first snapshot of online communal activity around practice of self-phlebotomy or bloodletting amongst people who inject AAS. Further research in this area is warranted, and will be of benefit to healthcare workers, treatment providers and policy makers particularly as this relates to evidence informed and targeted harm reduction policies and effective public health interventions.

 

[Sworder]

Seems like people are making a living off of reading our threads. Very interesting..