# blood **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 7, 2003, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood/173628 "2003-05-07T10:40:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![KoshkaDevotchka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/85e7bf/32.png) [@KoshkaDevotchka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KoshkaDevotchka)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2003, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood/173628/1 "2003-05-07T10:40:38Z")
**How little blood can a human survive on? I’ve gotten many different guesses, but none seem right. Someone please point me in the right direction!!!** ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2003, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood/173628/2 "2003-05-07T11:15:57Z")
Acording to [this site](http://canoeman.com/SWPaddler/blood.html), a loss of 2 pints will lead to shock, while 5-6 pints lost usually results in death. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2003, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood/173628/3 "2003-05-07T12:51:23Z")
Depends on how much and how fast its lost. If rapidly, then **Ice Wolf** ’s answer is correct. If slowly, one can survive with extreme anemia. The lowest hemoglobin level I had in a patient was 2.5! He lost it slowly as red cells died off and weren’t replaced by the bone marrow. Yet if a person’s hemoglobin level dropped from 14 to 10 rapidly because of acute blood loss, they could easily die. QtM, MD ---
**Author:** ![KoshkaDevotchka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/85e7bf/32.png) [@KoshkaDevotchka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KoshkaDevotchka)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2003, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood/173628/4 "2003-05-07T18:13:14Z")
thanks for the info guys! ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2003, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood/173628/5 "2003-05-07T18:17:55Z")
I never saw any exact figures, but some reports said that Jessie Arbogast “lost almost all his blood” when he was attacked by a shark. He survived, but sustained severe brain damage. ---
**Author:** ![KoshkaDevotchka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/85e7bf/32.png) [@KoshkaDevotchka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KoshkaDevotchka)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2003, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood/173628/6 "2003-05-07T19:39:08Z")
who’s Jessie Arbogast? ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2003, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood/173628/7 "2003-05-07T19:41:51Z")
Jessie was a kid who got his arm ripped off in a shark attack in Florida a couple of summers ago. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2003, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood/173628/8 "2003-05-07T20:05:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ice Wolf \* > Acording to [this site](http://canoeman.com/SWPaddler/blood.html), a loss of 2 pints will lead to shock, while 5-6 pints lost usually results in death. \*\* So…I take it that other methods of controlling bleeding like trying to do your own stitches or cauterizing the wound with a hot knife are not encouraged? Since the topic of this thread is just “blood” let me throw out another blood question. How come people are so disturbed by the sight of blood but not by other red liquids like catsup or paint? Even if it’s just in a jar, it still looks really gross. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2003, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood/173628/9 "2003-05-07T23:48:59Z")
Purely psychological. Most people have no reastion at all to fake blood in ajar, which is indistinguishable form the real thing. Similarly someone who didn’t know the liquid was blood wouldn’t have any reaction at all to the jar. It’s imagaination and cultural training that produces the reaction, nothing more.