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Asked by anon-384257 to stephaniebayne, Samantha, Rachel P, Katy B, David B, Clara Ferreira, Abbie Y on 18 Jun 2024. This question was also asked by anon-384263.
Question: What happens if you have too many red blood cells?
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David Bremner answered on 18 Jun 2024:
I think having too many red blood cells is called Erythrocytosis and makes your blood thick and sluggish.
Most common way of alleviating this is periodically getting blood removed although i think there are medicines you can get for it too.
Comments
grantmaclean commented on :
I was going to comment on the fact that several professional cyclists used this to cheat not that long ago. They’d draw their blood, store it, then re-inject it ready for the race. This allowed their body to push more oxygen around and help with muscle recovery. It doesn’t last long as the body naturally recovers the blood.
It’s a natural process to recycle blood and produce more as needed, when there’s an excess normally your body will just produce less to bring it back to a normal level.
At least, that’s my simplistic understanding.