People who drink human blood | Hacker News Reader

People who drink human blood

bbc.com

62 pointsd_a_robson36 comments

Have the med sangs run blinded tests? I can think of two that seem worth running. One with capsules containing either blood or not-blood, and one with blood that belongs to either themselves or someone else. If you have some kind of nutritional deficiency, then drinking your own blood shouldn't cure it.

Yes, this would provide a huge signal, very quickly, and is easy enough to do that even the journalist in question could easily have run it.

If any of the interested community ends up reading this HN discussion, this is by far the obvious next step. It can even be done on yourself, with just a bit of help from a friend to do the packing, randomization, and storage of "the answer key".

And if you haven't done it yet, do a full nutrient screening, too. Some of the described symptoms sound like normal nutrient deficiencies. Just because you're eating enough of something doesn't mean you're getting enough of it in you. I've got celiac, and prior to my knowing that, my father and I both suffered from massive iron deficiency, and lately we've noticed we've got potassium deficiencies if we don't supplement. (Alas, even after giving up wheat for years, there's both some scientific evidence and our own experiences that suggest celiacs still suffer from nutrient absorption issues.)

(Emphasis on "if". I do not and can not know. If you've done it, great. If you haven't, you really should.)

I could see that certain real nutritional deficiencies could be helped by drinking blood. Iron deficiency jumps to mind. It seems that there would be better alternatives to drinking blood which I would think presents a high risk of becoming infected with something far worse.

> I could see that certain real nutritional deficiencies could be helped by drinking blood. Iron deficiency jumps to mind.

Any come to mind, given that blood transports nutrients all the time. And that might explain why these "vampires" feel so gratified upon ingestion, they seem to suffer some slight chronic deficiency. Now IIRC we don't really know "all micronutrients in existence" yet so it might not even show up on a blood panel. Wonder whether any of them ever tried pig or snake blood on a trip to China/Taiwan/Hongkong (or cattle blood while visiting a Maasai tribe) and felt similarly "energized"..

Why is the title editorialized? There is no serious medical condition here, well unless you count delusion.

These sound like potentially pretty serious problems:

> felt weak all the time, lacking all the energy to run and play sports like his friends

> Besides relentless fatigue, other common symptoms appear to include severe headaches and stomach cramps.

> plagued with an irritable bowel

> “I would go more than a week without a bowel movement while ‘hungry’, and feel nausea if I ate anything other than my ‘cure food’,”

I don't know what's going on, but dismissing it as delusion seems unhelpful, unkind, and untrue.

People who suffer from 'electromagnetic sensitivity' also feel symptoms when they're around known wifi hotspots.

Doesn't make it any more true.

Just because some symptoms could be psychosomatic doesn't make them any less debilitating. Writing off peoples symptoms because you think they're psychosomatic seems a little cruel.

With EMS, the symptoms are real whether or not those people can actually detect wifi hotspots. Similarly, it seems like the vampires genuinely have symptoms which are cleared up by drinking blood.

Now, if someone believes "wifi hotspots give me headaches", that's untrue. They only get headaches when they believe there's a hotspot nearby. This has been demonstrated in general, and it should be easy to demonstrate to any individual sufferer. After that demonstration, if someone continues to believe that wifi hotspots give them headaches, then it may be reasonable to call them delusional. But that doesn't make their symptoms go away.

What specific belief do you think vampires have, that you think has been demonstrated untrue?

How peculiar. For the "med sangs", I wonder if the blood of other mammals would provide relief for their symptoms.

No, because they're crazy.

they have symptoms and have found a way to improve their symptoms. they are reaosnable about it. there don't appear to be stories of assault for blood drinking (at least in the article). it doesn't really fit with craziness as in strange beliefs, delusions of grandeur, psychosis, etc.

except for the ones who sleep in coffins. stay away from the ones who sleep in coffins...

They've found a pretty dangerous way of improving their symptoms, though. Depending on the underlying cause, something like an iron supplement or some psychotherapy would likely also improve symptoms in a much safer manner.

> they have symptoms and have found a way to improve their symptoms

To be fair, this is what homeopaths would also say. Without a double blind test of some sort, their conclusion is spurious.

One can be conditioned in a specific way and still be sane. There are people with really weird constraints in their daily lives due to their physiology or neurology. I'd not label them crazy without actually consulting with a psychiatrist and physician. It's likely a placebo effect, but that does not mean they can wish it away once they are strongly conditioned to the stimulus.

A really unhelpful, stigmatising, attitude that causes problems for very many people.

"Somatoform" illnesses aren't just limited to the extremes of Morgellons or vampirism-to-treat-chronic-fatigue, but includes a large number of people with chronic pain.

Since pain killers result in a large number of death (deliberate and accidental acute overdose, deliberate and accidental chronic overdose) and addiction it's really fucking unhelpful to call people "crazy" when they're seeking treatment for unexplained symptoms.

They should try pig's blood. Isn't that easily available from a butcher or similar?

That said, it would be funny if they were just low on iron or something. They should have their blood tested for deficiencies.

Its called black pudding[0] in the UK, or blood sausage[1] in some other places.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_pudding [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_sausage

Here in Portugal, besides the various types of blood sausages, we also have a recipe which is essentially seasoned blobs of coagulated pig blood: http://media.rtp.pt/cookoff/receitas/sangue-de-vinagrete/

In Thailand, Nam Tok is a rich soup made with raw cow or pig's blood:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nam_tok_%28food%29

In the Philippines, there is a similar type of blood stew called Dinuguan. Typically contains an array of organ meats. Not my personal favorite though.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinuguan

My ex-wife made me eat blood sausage once, without telling me anything about it. It's one of the reason she's my ex-wife now.

I'll assume it's like coffee, and an acquired taste. how much of this would I have to eat before it didn't make me want to throw up anymore?

I sometimes wonder if there's a fetish for bizarre, horrible and rare medical conditions on Hackernews.

Bollocks.

Don't be so quick to dismiss. It sounds odd and offensive to western sensibilities but there are reasons why it could be genuine. As mentioned earlier in the thread, there are so many micronutrients in the blood stream that some deficiencies might not show up on a panel.

What amuses me about Hacker News: someone being sceptical about 'vampires' is met with responses like you see in this thread. Don't be so dismissive! Don't call them crazy! They may have a condition that doesn't show up on tests!

But just question the long term safety of nuclear reactors built on fault lines, or suggest anyone may have got cancer from radiation exposure, ever, and its just a wall of incredulity. Rubbish! Where's your proof! All the pro-nuclear science is beyond reproach!

Call me old fashioned, but these people are probably crazy, and radiation is probably dangerous. There's no bias quite like Hacker News bias...

I'm just now seeing this. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that you weren't trying to put words in my mouth with the nuclear reactor comment. I've made no such assertions in the past and don't really have an opinion on the matter.

However, I think it's pretty easy to see how someone's prejudices/preconceptions could skew someone's opinion of the article. If the article was about cockroaches rather than human blood, I would have the same opinion.

Obligatory xkcd: https://what-if.xkcd.com/98/

The squirrel pictures bring a smile to my face every time I see this.

They might as well eat some black pudding

It must be getting close to Halloween! Oh, wait...

Pretty sure this classifies as cannibalism.

yea, really weird stuff here

For what purpose does it classify as cannibalism?

It doesn't. Cannibalism is specifically eating the flesh or organs.

Is swallowing sperm cannibalism too?

As little as I know about the anatomy of the digestive system, this must be the placebo effect.

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