You never know where your career as a phlebotomist might take you, and not so long ago the founder of Phlebotomy Training Services, Alison, got to take part in a little project with the BBC.
Michael Mosley decided to do a few experiments on himself to see if there was any truth to the claims that human blood can be a miracle elixir. Blood has been used in medicine for thousands of years. In the Roman Empire people used to drink blood as a cure for diseases, and there is nearly 2000 years’ worth of records of medicinal bloodletting.
More recently experiments carried out in mice have found that when older mice were injected with blood from younger mice, their memory improved significantly. And people have started to use their own blood to heal and rejuvenate themselves. Infusions of PRP (platelet rich plasma) has been used by some of the world’s leading athletes to help recover from injuries, and we all know about Kim Kardashian having a facial treatment which involved injecting her own blood back into her face.
So, as part of the experiment Michael undertook the same procedure, and found that while the results weren’t as dramatic as he hoped, there was a noticeable difference in his skin quality in the weeks afterwards.
But he also wanted to ingest his blood, to see if its healing properties worked from the inside out, like so many ancient cultures claimed. And this is where Alison came in. Michael wanted to eat a black pudding made with his own blood, and Alison was the phlebotomist that extracted the blood for him to use.
The resulting blood pudding was rich in iron, vitamin C and protein. And is actually very calorie dense and nourishing. Apparently it went down a treat.
All our trainers are fully qualified phlebotomists here at Phlebotomy Training Services, and we love the work that we do in this quirky little industry. To find out how you can become a phlebotomist, and where it might take you, just call us on 01609 751 610.