Random Horrifying Consequences That Come With Drinking Human Blood (12 items)

(#1) It Might Make You An Accidental Villain

In the movies, vampires often feed on their victims until they expire. Real-life vampirism is quite different, and most sanguinarians take proactive measures to prevent themselves from terminating someone. This isn't usually an issue because people can lose up to 30% of their blood supply before needing a transfusion. A blood loss of 40%, however, is typically fatal, but real-life vampires only feed on a couple of ounces of blood at a time.

Problems can arise if someone isn't careful about how they obtain blood from a willing donor, though. For instance, if a vampire bites or cuts someone in the wrong spot, they could open an artery. Depending on how deep the cut is, it's possible to bleed to your end in just a few minutes.
(#5) It Can Cause Liver Disease

Liver disease is also linked to clinical vampirism and hemochromatosis. Over time, this serious medical condition can progress to liver failure. At this stage, the patient will be in critical condition and may perish from the damage that drinking blood has done to their liver. Even if you catch liver disease early on and start an aggressive treatment program, you may still need a liver transplant to survive.

Real-life vampires who begin to experience symptoms of jaundice, chronic fatigue, itchy skin, swelling in the legs, ankles, and abdomen, nausea, and easy bruising should immediately schedule an appointment with their doctor.
(#9) It Could Mean You're Breaking The Law

Drinking someone's blood, even if you have a willing donor, is prohibited in some places. For example, Louisiana takes a strict stance against all forms of human hematophagy. The law against consuming human blood is most likely linked to the state's history of voodoo, but this doesn't mean that a vampire would be given a legal exception.

Instead, if a vampire is found guilty of drinking another person's blood, they could be sentenced to time in prison or face a fine.
(#6) It Might Brand You As A Psychopath

Drinking human blood is not an automatic indicator that someone is a psychopath. In fact, most people who are part of the vampire lifestyle are never convicted of an aggravated offense, nor do they have issues with addiction or abuse. However, this doesn't stop the social stigma associated with drinking blood from influencing the viewpoint of people and even some medical professionals.

In the 1880s, German neurologist Richard von Krafft-Ebing published a book entitled Psychopathia Sexulais. The neurologist's work included taking a look at the brutish sexual nature that he attributed to what we now call clinical vampires. As a result, the viewpoint that real-life vampires are psychopathic is still adhered to in some circles.
(#7) It Could Lead To Unintended Loss Of Life

Self-vampirism is common, especially during the early stages of the transition into a vampire lifestyle. Cutting a blood donor too deeply is always a concern, but vampires also need to be careful not to cause themselves to bleed out. A paper published in the Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law provided details about a 28-year-old man who commonly took part in self-vampirism while pleasuring himself.

This man actually learned how to direct blood squirting from a neck artery into his mouth, and this became a regular practice. Although he didn't cut himself too deeply, a single mistake could have easily ended him.
(#10) It Could Mean Spending The Rest Of Your Life In Jail

If you happen to be unlucky enough to get caught drinking human blood in Louisiana, you're probably not going to end up with a long prison sentence. However, there are numerous possibilities related to vampirism that could easily lead to a life in prison. A prime example is a case of the unstable behavior that is sometimes associated with clinical vampirism. In 1978, France was terrorized by a man's two-day spree, which involved deeply biting a preadolescent victim, terminating three people, drinking blood from the deceased, and eating part of a corpse's leg.

The culprit may or may not have been a clinical vampire, but his actions fall under the psychiatric definition of this condition. Someone who commits egregious offenses of this nature is almost certainly going to be locked up for life.