1st Try at Self Drawing Blood

Where I am at, you can’t give blood if you use AAS or “had sex with a stranger in the last 6 months”. Doh! As my calf pumps are way too ridiculous and I know AAS use raise hematocrit to unhealthy levels, and guys here suggest we give blood to lower this, I decided to self draw blood.

So my GF took home some blood drawing kits a friend gave her. It’s a 19G needle. I thought, damn that’s big! I mean we use much smaller gages for oil, and blood is obviously thinner. She put it in me and then left. Well there’s an issue, as after 45 loooooong minutes, I had only 100ml (3.3 oz) to show for my efforts, and I know when we give blood it’s 500ml (16.9 oz).

Maybe the needle size it too small, or maybe I need to tweak something in the process as I obviously didn’t draw enough. BTW it was easier than anticipated besides that isue. Anyone has done this and might have some tips to share?

Bushido Bad Boy had a thread about his self-phlebotomy once upon a time. You may be able to find that with some searching.

Last time I went and gave blood I asked them what size gauge the needle was. I don’t remember waht they said, but I thought it was a large diameter than 19 gauge though. That could be your problem.

I assume you tied your arm off and squeezed the balls (not your own!) and all that mumbo jumbo?

Squeezed the balls? No way, man, I don’t play that way :slight_smile:

I didn’t tie my arm. They do that to help find the veins on normal folks but I’m all veiny and buff with the gear and training, bro, ha ha.

Maybe my mistake is I let the blood flow to a 2 cup container, and because the tip was in the blood it clogged the thing. When I tried to position myself differently the needle came out and that was that. I do feel a tad a weak anyway. I just hope 100ml will at least do something and I’ll draw some more in a week or two.

Bigger than 19G? Ouch. It might be true. Maybe the kit I got is only to fill small test tubes for blood tests, and the ones for donating blood are different.

I’ve just read through BBB’s 6 page self-phlebotomy thread.

He used a pump of some sort to make it faster. At first he used a 30G needle (!) than switched to 23G. With his pump, it took him 15 minutes to fill a 450ml bottle.

Prisoner has stated that a 16G needle is used for blood donations, and they use gravity… not pumps which can cause some damage. Another guy stated that he tried with a 23G needle but didn’t work so then he tried an 18G which still didn’t work and then a 16 which worked like a charm.

I’m stuck with the 19G. I mean I don’t know where to go to buy those blood drawing kits! So that’s what I’ll use but I can see now why it would take such a long time.

Apparently you can get a vacuum canister setup.Allows smaller pins.Be completely hydrated.

Just lie and say you havent particpated in any of those activities.

[quote]optheta wrote:
Just lie and say you havent particpated in any of those activities.[/quote]
I do think about it. My guess is they link AAS use to a chance of shared needles. Are there people doing that in this day and age? Junkies maybe, but AAS users? I highly doubt it!

I wonder though that for our RBC reducing purpose, if we need to draw as much as much blood as a donation, or if a much smaller amount would do the trick yet keep us performing better. I mean sports that use blood doping ADD blood to perform better.

[quote]optheta wrote:
Just lie and say you havent particpated in any of those activities.[/quote]

You are a chode

[quote]SwD wrote:

[quote]optheta wrote:
Just lie and say you havent particpated in any of those activities.[/quote]
I do think about it. My guess is they link AAS use to a chance of shared needles. Are there people doing that in this day and age? Junkies maybe, but AAS users? I highly doubt it!

I wonder though that for our RBC reducing purpose, if we need to draw as much as much blood as a donation, or if a much smaller amount would do the trick yet keep us performing better. I mean sports that use blood doping ADD blood to perform better.[/quote]

I think smaller withdrawals would make sense,the pin size has been a problem.Cyclists have added blood volume…but have been quite careful with the EPO dosage,I think they have some other drug now as well.Back in the 90’s the pros had daily tests…IIRC,adding blood volume is a temporary measure,the body adjusts.

Well I tried to run today and after a mere 2 minutes the calf pumps were unbearable. And I did take 10g of Taurine about 20 minutes before. In fact, I then trained upper body and the pumps were way too much as well! Sorry Arnold, but I didn’t feel these pumps were “like cumming”. More like PAIN and I couldn’t train fully. So obviously drawing 100ml wasn’t near enough…

I’m on a cycle of low dose Test + medium dose Tren. Those humongous pumps are a problem! The biggest I’ve ever had. For the first time, I did 7 weeks of TRT (only 50mg Test+ 50mg Masteron per week) as a cruise after my last cycle before beginning this one. I used to come off completely. Seems the RBC volume doesn’t reduce enough in the TRT phase.

I’ll draw some more blood, but 100ml at a time, it might not be too effective, and I’ll have the arms of a junkie if I do it too often. But I guess it’s still a lot better than doing nothing like before.

[quote]SwD wrote:
Well I tried to run today and after a mere 2 minutes the calf pumps were unbearable. And I did take 10g of Taurine about 20 minutes before. In fact, I then trained upper body and the pumps were way too much as well! Sorry Arnold, but I didn’t feel these pumps were “like cumming”. More like PAIN and I couldn’t train fully. So obviously drawing 100ml wasn’t near enough…

I’m on a cycle of low dose Test + medium dose Tren. Those humongous pumps are a problem! The biggest I’ve ever had. For the first time, I did 7 weeks of TRT (only 50mg Test+ 50mg Masteron per week) as a cruise after my last cycle before beginning this one. I used to come off completely. Seems the RBC volume doesn’t reduce enough in the TRT phase.

I’ll draw some more blood, but 100ml at a time, it might not be too effective, and I’ll have the arms of a junkie if I do it too often. But I guess it’s still a lot better than doing nothing like before.

[/quote]

Just ask at a hospital how they do it.

Well I went for a 2nd round today. Same 19G and all. But this time, I knew it would take a long time so I did it watching MNF, had some food, etc. My setup was better - I used gravity more and the end of the tube was above the blood. Result is one full cup (250ml) in 40 minutes. Even though I still saw blood coming out, I do think the last 10 minutes didn’t amount to much. Probably some clogging happens over time in the needle and/or tube that reduces the blood flow.

Still, pretty satisfied that I could draw a full cup. And very easy and painless process too BTW. I do cringe at sticking a needle in my vein but both times were painless. And the 19G leaves a very small mark. It’s certainly not something I plan to do often (doh!) but it’s nice to see I can do it on my own.

n my area healthcare is “free” (taxpayers money that is) but access to it is so damn limited that we have to find ways to do it our own. Doctors are notoriously non-cooperative know-it-alls, so even if I did have access to one, I’m not sure I get any of the service I want, especially as I’m not inclined to talk openly about AAS. Anyhow, it works… but don’t try it at home because of me!