Abby--

John's information was correct; I was about to tell you the same thing. For what you need, leeches are not the way to go. There aren't too many disorders for which periodic bleeding is a treatment; the only one I know of is hemochromatosis, and I think there might be a very rare form of leukemia that affects the red blood cells. But it's been a very long time since medical school, and I don't keep up with the adult medicine literature.

I don't understand what's illegal about donating blood. When I gave blood at the Red Cross yesterday, the person working there mentioned that they have people with hemochromatosis who come in regularly to be bled...they just request that their blood not be given to patients. (In Hawaii, they leave you alone for a minute while you put one of two bar-coded stickers on the form, one that tells them it's OK to use your blood and the other that tells them it isn't. The technicians can't tell from looking at the sticker which one you've picked.)

Of course, if your hematocrit is too high, they would probably disqualify you as a donor right up front. But I'd talk to somebody in charge at the Red Cross to see if you can work something out. Maybe they could use you to help the technicians practice...nah, never mind.

Feel free to PM me if you have more questions. If I can't answer them, I can direct them to a hematologist.

Aloha,
Mark