So I had a weird thought…

[Loria Chaddon]

Ok, I know this is going to sound a little weird, and I got the idea from one of Robin William's stand-up comedy shows.  He was saying how Keith Richards goes to Switzerland and has his blood changed out.

So I was hypothesizing whether this would help in Rheumatic diseases.  By replacing the blood with non-rheumatic blood you would remove those huge build-ups of autoimmune antibodies.  Theoretically, it would take a while for them to build back up.  Say you have this done 2-4 times a year.  Would this halt the progression of damage to the body?  Would this change the anti-body make-up of the patient's blood?  I do not know enough about hematology at this time to know.  It seems that it would be a lot less dangerous than all those drugs they keep trying to shove down people's throats.

Just wondering what other people might think about this or if anyone else has ever asked the question.

Loria

[Joe M]

Sounds like the Prosorba Column, a blood treatment for RA that was around in the 90's.  They filter your blood through this filter that is supposed to remove the RF, or something like that.  I don't think they make it anymore. 

[Loria Chaddon]

No, I do not mean filtering the blood.  I mean a complete replacement with donor blood.  They use it in Sickle cell anemia and when someone has severe lead poisoning.  They remove 20-50 cc of the patient blood at a time and filter in the new blood.  While it would not get rid of all the anti-bodies, it would dilute them a lot, especially if there were, say two flushes.

[Joe M]

I understand.  I've always wondered about the blood transfusion my wife had to get after a rough childbirth.  RA symptoms started shortly thereafter.  They say it can't be contracted from a blood transfusion, but I'm not so sure….

[Maz]

Hi Loria and Joe,

There was a thread going on the topic of blood transfusions on the old BB. Joe, like your wife, I had to have a blood transfusion, too, after my first child was born…and a few others mentioned they'd also had blood transfusions. Trouble is, I don't think donated blood can be tested for everything….including mycos or other stealth pathogens. There have been cases of people getting Lyme via blood transfusions. I found a study recently where a kidney transplant patient wound up with babesia from transfused blood during her surgery, for instance.

I once had a religious “missionary” on my doorstep quoting from the bible, “You mustn't take another man's blood,” and referring to this as meaning that you shouldn't have a blood transfusion – he was basically telling me that I'd committed a sin for having a blood transfusion. At the time, I sort of giggled to myself thinking…they didn't even have blood transfusions during biblical times…the passage he's referring to means you mustn't take another man's life, as in “Thou shalt not kill.” Later, when I was contemplating this, I thought….hey…you know, maybe these folk actually have a point in a weird kind of way, although I know I wouldn't have survived had I not had the transfusion…so what alternative was there, anyway? 

Peace, Maz

 

 

[Author]

Posts