Bloodletting as purging behavior

The effect of therapeutic phlebotomy for hemochromatosis on non-suicidal self-injury: A case report

BACKGROUND

Self-phlebotomy has been described as a form of non-suicidal self-injury. However, a relationship between non-suicidal self-injury and therapeutic phlebotomy for hemochromatosis has not previously been described. Case presentation: We present a case of a 52-year-old man in whom the frequency of his therapeutic phlebotomy and non-suicidal self-injury were inversely linked, leading to adverse outcomes when his phlebotomy was suspended.

CONCLUSIONS

This is the first report describing the relationship between non-suicidal self-injury and therapeutic phlebotomy. This case highlights the need for risk assessment and monitoring of self-harm in patients who are undergoing therapeutic phlebotomy in order to prevent adverse outcomes.

Self-bloodletting: an unusual form of self-mutilation in adolescence

In this paper, we introduce an adolescent suffering from a rare form of self-mutilation, "self-bloodletting", and discuss dynamics of this maladaptive behavior. Deliberate bloodletting is a rare, but not unheard of, form of self-mutilation associated with eating and personality disorders. Although there are already several case reports in the adult psychiatry literature regarding the clinical features of Lasthenie de Ferjol Syndrome or factitious anemia, this is the first reported adolescent case of self-bloodletting.

Self-phlebotomy in eating disorders

We present the case of a health-care professional with anorexia nervosa who used self-phlebotomy as a form of purge. Self-phlebotomy is most prevalent in young females employed in medical or paramedical professions. The occurrence in eating disorders of severe, unexplained, or rapidly appearing anemia; unexplained needle tracks, or past or present employment as a health-care worker should raise suspicion of self-phlebotomy.