Plasmapheresis

In animal studies, it's been found that by exchanging blood plasma between older and younger animals, the older animals will become visibly & performatively younger with infusions of plasma from the younger animals. Likewise, the younger animals will become visibly & performatively aged with infusions of plasma from the older animals. 

The fact that these younger animals appear to be basically "poisoned" by receiving the plasma from these older animals, and that older animals can be rejuvenated by simply replacing their blood plasma with albumin or saline, researchers have concluded that damaging components, like degraded proteins, build up in these older animals and contribute to their aging process.

Plasmapheresis (also called therapeutic plasma exchange, or TPE) is a medical procedure in which a person's plasma (the liquid portion of blood) is removed, filtered or treated, and then replaced with a substitute such as saline, albumin, or donor plasma. It is a way of offloading those older, damaged proteins that accumulate.  Wealthy people pay anywhere between $8k - $10k to receive a plasmapheresis treatment, but you can accomplish the exact same thing via regular plasma donations, for which they will pay you.

Think of it like changing the oil in your car.  Do you need to regularly change the oil in your car? Not really -- not if you don't care about how long your engine will last. 

As engine oil ages (over time or with milage), it accumulates a variety of contaminants and degradation byproducts that reduce its lubricating efficiency and can damage engine components if not replaced.  The components include combustion byproducts, unburned fuel, oxidation products, sludge & varnish, polymeric compounds, worn metals (iron, copper, aluminum, chromium, lead, tin), and engine oil additives that degrade over time, and just dirt and dust.  As we age, waste products increasingly accumulate within our blood in much the same way.

I used to donate my plasma for free through the American Red Cross, and I would still much prefer that. I don't care so much about the money; I would like my plasma to go to burn victims. Plus I wouldn't have to wait 2 hours in line there just to donate.

But I have two problems:

1) My arm veins look terrific because I have very little subcutaneous fat, but this causes them to be very surfacy, shallow, and flat.

2) the Red Cross centers near me are staffed with very old, retired nurses.

Whenever I donate anywhere, I always pre-warn the clinician as to the tricky nature of my veins and let them know that they need to go in very steep and to stay close to the surface. They are my veins after all, and no one knows them as well as I do!  But in their arrogance, the old Red Cross volunteer nurses invariably tell me, "Son, I've been drawing blood for 30 years, I think I know what I'm doing!"

Every single time, they've refused to listen to me.  They'll go in way too deep and end up going straight through my vein (if they even hit it to begin with), which then causes a hematoma. When they miss completely, they'll often begin moving the needle around under my skin, which can be quite painful! As a result, my donations with them always leave me battered and bruised, are extremely uncomfortable, and are nearly always unsuccessful.

It got so bad after a while that whenever I would come in, they'd recognize me from previous visits and would simply refuse to draw from me! They would send me away without even trying, telling me that my veins were too problematic!

So now I donate plasma through commercial plasma donation centers, like BioLife Plasma Services and CSL Plasma, because they mostly listen to me. When they do, my donations go smoothly.  With multiple locations in each of 37 states (US), chances are good that there's a donation center near you.  

I primarily donate now through CSL Plasma. If you donate there, you'll get 500 bonus iGive points on your second donation, using code KILSKV7JRF.

You are permitted to donate plasma up to two times per week.  I go through rounds of donations about once every quarter, donating twice-weekly for 4-5 weeks.

The average 70 kg adult (154 lbs) has about 3.5 liters of plasma, or 50–55 mL/kg.  I weigh 75.75 kg (167 lbs), so my body contains between 3787.5 - 4166.25 mL of plasma.  

They typically draw only about 835 mL from me each time I donate (based on my weight).

3787.5 mL / 835 mL = 4.535 donations

4166.25 mL / 835 mL = 4.989 donations

So this means that my entire blood volume of plasma is filtered in just under 5 donations, or in 2.5 weeks of donating. 

I like to go for 5 weeks to cycle through my entire blood volume nearly twice. I say "nearly" only because occasionally a donation attempt is unsuccessful, due to the challenging nature of my veins.

I am also amused by the thought that two months of plasma donations will completely pay for my next ten HBOT treatments.

For anyone wishing to look, perform, be, and stay young, I highly recommend doing regular plasmapheresis if you can afford to, or regular plasma donations if you can't.