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hprotagonist

Too high isn’t good either; the solution is downright medieval.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hemochromatos...

https://www.webmd.com/men/features/too-much-iron-in-your-blo...

So don’t go gulping down the supplements all willy-nilly, either.

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> Treatment includes regularly removing blood from your body.

Just regularly donate, no problem.

yup!

Donating apparently also removes microplastics from your body...

I'm curious if the donated blood is processed in a way that removes those microplastics.

Probably not, but if you're in need of a blood transfusion you have more immediate concerns.

Any references for that? What about just drinking a lot of water so you have to pee more often?

If there are any synthetic textiles in your home, it's probably a lost cause; plastic dust everywhere. Every time you eat, drink or breath, you'll be taking more in.

I think op might have been referring to this assuming PFAS and microplastics are all disposed off https://www.independent.co.uk/independentpremium/world/blood...

Yes exactly :)

Are they just freefloating in blood? Capillaries are tiny and I thought micro plastics were closer to 1mm than 1micron, despite the name. Capillaries are 8-10microns.

They can get smaller than that: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microplastics#Nanoplastics

If you're diagnosed with hemochromatosis, you may not be permitted to donate; it seems to depend on your local blood banks. There's some amount of concern that because the donation is theraputic for the donor, they may not be forthcoming about other factors that should disqualify them, if present.

Of course, if it hasn't been diagnosed and you're a regular donor, that's a happy accident.

That kinda makes sense. If you allowed them to donate even with disqualifying factors (but flushed it down the drain), it would fix the incentives. May not give enough additional blood to be worth the bother?

If donating prior to high ferritin and onset of symptoms, that might be enough, but to handle the former, one needs much more frequent blood donations to push the level of stored iron level down than what donations allow. (at least in Sweden, where you can donate twice a year, but the initial treatment is biweekly iirc).

I'd hardly call a regular trip to give blood "medieval".

They're not giving out leeches.

right; those are for cleanly healing scars.

“your humours are imbalanced and you should be bled, you’ll feel better” is not far off from “your iron level is too high”, though…

>> those are for cleanly healing scars.

My go-to for that is Iodine.

I use those silicone scar strips. Wound healing technology is nearly magical these days.

the normal use is reduction of venous congestion at an incision site after a major surgery, which i hope you’re not doing regularly enough to have a go-to!

Think of it as helping tissue to find the correct shape and structure. Some claim this includes curing some cancers (skin cancer in particular). It is needed in some pathways to apoptosis.

> “your humours are imbalanced and you should be bled, you’ll feel better” is not far off from “your iron level is too high”, though…

The difference is that now we have both empirical evidence that it works, when it works, what the side effects are, and generally why it works. As opposed to cargo culting, poor cost/benefit analysis, and inaccurate understanding of what's actually happening.

we have a much better model now, i agree.

Medical leeches are used to encourage blood flow, particularly after reconstructive surgeries; the benefit is not from the leech sucking your blood, but from the bleeding that continues after the leach is removed. (Their saliva has anticoagulant and anti-inflammatory properties.)

Medical leeches are a thing.

https://www.uhhospitals.org/Healthy-at-UH/articles/2020/03/h...

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