a question to those who are of the opinion that as vampires our biology and physiology differ from the rest of the human race, if i where to cut you open what differences would i find between you and a 'normal' human being?

since i didn't have my coffee today or i just don't feel like answering this right now take my word for this..... they just are

"the just are"... hmm

well i don't know too much about physically different but there are some theories about the brain and why vampires act so different... (and i'm NOT saying vampirism is a mental condition, not at all)


In a human's brain there are chemicals(serotonin) which make us... less aggressive and theoretically those chemicals are a lot lower in the brain of a vampire

the neurotransmitter, dopamine induces feelings of well-being. In vampires, it is released during feeding and is supposed to have narcotic-like effect. Neural pathways activated in vampires during feeding theoretically are much like those found in addicts when using drugs.

circadian rhythms are chemical changes in the brain that help humans "rise and shine" with the morning light these are reversed in vampires causing them to be mostly nocturnal

Powerful sense organs gave vampires an advantage.


sight: in vampires, the iris in each eye is supposed to become hyper-dilated, giving them what appear to be black eyes. While this iris dilation gives vampires excellent night vision.

I'm not of that opinion and there would be no difference.

What are some theories?



Actually both dopamine and serotonin are neurotransmitters. I think you are referring to endorphines and not dopamine. Dopamine regulates the nervous system and if you were "low" on it you would probably exhibit symptoms close to parkinson's.

Endorphins on the other hand are an opiate receptor site. Also when experiencing pain the body reacts by releasing endorphins.

Serotonin is the neurotransmitter responsible for this (IIRC). The circadian rhythm is the biological term used to describe the 24 hour cycles of a human body. And if IIRC the human body is actually designed for 25 hours, but I can't remember where I read that, so take it with a grain of salt.



I think you mean the pupil. The iris is the colored part around the eye, the pupil is what actually dilates.

Physiologically, vampires are no different tham humans. I could go on and make this a longer post, but that's quite it. There are no physiological differences.

creature_feature :-

How would you know , you arent a vamp....


Elemental Vamp :-

Dont take this the wrong way but SHHHHHHH!!!

Creature_feature said
Dead^soul said




I think it's safe to assume that creature_feature is correct until scientifically proven otherwise.

dead soul how would you know either...ur not a vamp...and the only physiological difference that i know of ..is the digestive system

How is the digestive system different?

the digestive system is different because it has the ability to digest blood, i am not sure whether this comes from an extra organ or just extra enzymes but vampires are able to digest blood humans (for want of a better word) cannot

I think, but I am not certain that Crash is talking about how the human body cannot process blood well when you drink it. I believe -most- humans that drink it in large quantities will get sick...

I am -not- the expert on sang's by all means though, and there is the argument that if you can tolerate large amount of blooddrinking, then you -are- a vampire....

So I suppose we will have to wait and see what a real vamp has to say on this one.

:)

You say this like u r a vamp, could you prove it? (not saying i don't believe in vamps)
would you want 2 prove it?



I believe there is no physical differences from a human in a vampire, only mental.

If this is what Crash means then that clears things up a bit. I thought he was referring to something that could not come about from natural means. IIRC the body can adapt to multiple things, even poisons and respond in appropriate ways. I'm fairly certain that if someone wanted to they could overcome the nausia that usually accompanies drinking large quantities of blood. FTR, I'm not entirely sure that it's nausia inducing or if it's more a mental effect (drinking blood=nausia).

][system][crash :-

That is your option and like i said , if i wasnt a vamp , why would i risk meeting someone from the channel... The fact that i meet her should be enough to prove that i am vamp...

SkItZoFrEnIx_PYRO :-



You want me to prove it after you called us a bunch of mental nut cases.. If i was to prove it, how would you expect us too do that ?

Dead, I met someone from the internet once, am I a vampire?

Dead, do you realize that you posess a mental capacity of some sort, and as such, they could be referring to it? In a nutshell, anytime the word "mental" is used, it does not automatically connotate psychological disfunction. Please stop this, it's getting annoying.

If I or anyone else here state "There are no physical differences between vampire and human, only mental", it's not an attack of any form. If I state "All vampires are mental nutcases!", that is. Please learn the differences in the meaning behind both these sentences... in the Real Vampires topic, you are going to hear these two phrases and their varieties a lot.

creature_feature:

You are not a vamp , for a start , if you were you would it is more then just Mental.

Like what? What traits do vampires possess that could not be psychosomatically induced?

perhaps they could overcome it, but wouldn't that relate them then to a sanguinarian, a "blooddrinker"? Which in fact would put them in the vampire "family"...


I could be completely off the wall here, but it's just a way to think of it....

:)

have to agre wide creature_feature

I think I was a little confused on the terms Crash used. I thought he was saying something to the effect of what Prince had said here:



Which wouldn't be true. There are no "extra" organs, or enzymes.

One of the main reason's that I'm a little doubtful of the claim that drinking a lot of blood makes you nausious is because african tribe members do it all the time. In a class I had I watched a video on different international customs and it featured an african tribe. They collect blood from a cow (it could be an oxen), a pint or two (IIRC) and mix it with milk. Maybe the difference is the "milk", perhaps it settles the stomach, or perhaps blood isn't the reason for the nausia.

If that were true, then the need for blood is purely a psychological factor. Physically, they would need none... Their bodies can sustain themselves with normal human food.

that is animal blood though, not human blood....

perhaps therein lies the difference

ther is noting specal a bout consuming blood and digesting it.
but ther are dangers to it if its overdon you can plase your body in a inbalans.

the craving fore blood is normaly a mental condison that can result in fysical symptoms like many other desises.

a normanl person can drink one cup of blood widout geting sik but like most things the tolerans is posibel to bild up.

I'm sorry but, Myth, your post is a little hard to understand.

As to the above, how would you "overdose" on blood? Also what do you mean by "place your body in an inbalance"?

the blood you comsume can if you are doing it over a long time begin to cange your one blood type. and in so doing you get a strange blood desise that can and will be fatal over time.

so some vamps out ther are difrent from the norms but they are going to destroi dem self in time. the is noting good abut having 2 to 5 difrent blood types in your system (ABO Rh+ Rh-).

What? How does consumption change your *blood* type? Why would it? Do you have any cites for this?

Here's one from How Blood Works




First thing: When blood transfusions were first discovered (is that the right word?) the scientist (IIRC) noticed that a percentage of his victims died. It was later discovered that this was because they had different blood types.

Second here are the blood types (in the US anyway):
A+ A-
B+ B-
AB+ AB-
O+ O-

Here's the begining of the article for How Blood Works

Orally consuming blood destroys it. In laymans terms, when you drink blood, the acids in the stomach destroy the blood. As such, it does not change your blood type; it doesn't even enter your bloodstream as blood.

There's also no blood disease caused by consuming blood, for the same reasons as stated above.

Mismatches in blood type when injected can cause either a fatal reaction or a poisonous reaction, depending on the dosage. There is no disease, however, caused by injecting blood (other than diseases carried by the blood. Injecting blood in itself does not have any disease).

Sometimes, I laugh to myself and say "man, are they making it up as they go along?". Then I stop and realize that yes, many of them are.

~smiles at everyone~ Well, this is interesting. And I am gonna have to agree with Creature and Meatros here. Consuming blood .... regardless of type ... does not effect the blood of the person consuming it.

Unless vampires are now hooking themselves up to IV systems ... and introducing a non-compatable blood types directly into their veins ... blood type plays no part. Only when introduced into the vascular system does typing matter. Ingesting blood ... no matter the type, has absolutely no effect on the blood of the vampire.

And it is impossible ..... to change one's blood type through the consumption of blood. It just in not possible. As Creature said ... the acid in the stomach beaks down the stomach contents. Once blood enters the stomach it begins to break down ... as do most things a vampire comsumes. There is no possible way that this process could effect blood type ...none.

As for whether or not the body of a vampire differs from a non-vampire .... I am gonna have to go along with those who have stated there are no physical difference. Only the nature of what a vampire is ... differs from that of a non-vampire.

if all elements of the blood was destroid in the stomac then ther wode be no danger i agre but then agen they are not.
the acid of the body is ment to breike down food to basi components in the forme of enzyms and the body picks them upp.

and yes ther is the chanse of poising if you shoot up blood. but ther is also the posebilety of evry oter blood desise.

ther are ppl in the world that have to have complit dialasys fore praktisin blood drinking over an ekstensiv period of time.

A little clarification: All the elements are not destroyed. They are broken down in order to pass nutrients on to the blood stream.



What exactly are you saying?

I... yeah.

Myth, in the future, please check your spelling and/or typing before posting. Most of us are having one hell of a hard time trying to figure out what you are saying.

And yes, the "blood" is destroyed in the stomach. All of it. It is, as meatros said, broken down into the nutrients that make up the blood.

I would express my own opinion, but I'd be just as well copying and pasting what Olivia just said, as through extensive lessons in higher tier biology, it has become blindingly obvious that the consumption of blood does not require any change in human biology to occur. Personally, I find that vampirism is more a state of thought than a physical change. Everyone seems to know the term 'Your mind can play tricks on you', and that the brain is the most essential part of the body, as it controls other parts of the body, so it's bound to be; more than anything, the cause of changes in nature which lead to vampirism, and the change of thought and awareness.

ok i still need coffee but..... it's all in the DNA just like the damn chimps and humans but vampires have just a more "strands" of dna i would guess as for changing and the blood drinking hell if i know

Sorry to disappoint you HNB but vampyres dont have more strands of DNA they do have however different genes which is consistant with other vampyres. However every one does not have the same genes it may be basically the same in all humans compared to monkeys with monkeys, but is vastly different in detail meaning i might not have the same identical genes as you but i look human

i dont think i conveyed what i meant well, but i tried

What genes, and who did the survey?

oh well.... i'm proven wrong.... so i will go with the genes but then saying ur a vampire is like saying ur black or white isn't and if that's so vampires are just a ethenic group

Vampires have absolutely no genetic difference than any other peoples.

Vampirism is a mental state, not a physical one. Having a particular thought pattern or lifestyle does not a new genetic state make.

Let me challenge you with something: Since there are no ordained conditions to make one a vampire other than simply stating that you are one, if I were to state in here that "Yeah, I'm a vampire too", would my genetics suddenly change? I ask this under the relevance that you did not say so when you were a child. Nobody ever stated that you had differing genetics when you were a child, but now that you are... what, 17(?), you suddenly have differing genetics? How did spoken word and typed word change your genetics?

Get real, guys. The genetic discussion has been proved false about thirty times so far on this board. Stop talking about it already, I'm sure I, Meatros, and the others are getting tired of repeating ourselves.

ok ill go with that (damn i'm passive today)

addiction is far more complicated than that. Ecstacy produces more dopamine than any other drug, further than that it stops the brain counteracting advanced dopamine levels. yet it impossible to become pysically addicted to ecstacy. It is the culture and experience that consistant users can become addicted to.

If anything, I've always known it to be a mental thing, because the only way I find myself remotely different from the general way most humans are, is in the way I think, and the way I perceive things, vampirism depends entirely on a persons way of thought, and not on a genetic trait.

Clever boy.......and that's all im saying ;)

As for differences they are slight and not many. The main one is of course the digestive system, we actually have an extra organ, its kinda like the Human appendix (which may support Prince's theory on who came first lol)

The jaw structure is different, not neccessarily fangs, there are plenty of humans out there that have big canines, but it tends to be the trait of certain noble families in our society- havent a clue why..?

Females suffer teribbly when they mensturate apparantly, and they bleed for longer but not every month, kind of like a dog (no offence is meant here for those that are reading this and think im being a arsehole).

Scientists say we have faster responses, greater intelligence, better hearing and sight- but i mean, I dunno whether that is accurate or accounts for anything.

I think those are the main differences, there may be subtle ones that I havent noticed.

Vampirism itself does not mean you are a vampire- it is the name for the belief in vampires. Just thinking differently from people does not make you a different species- everyone thinks different- its what makes the world go around. I believe they invented a term for it- Opinion.

Do you have documentation supporting this "extra organ"? Why would an extra organ be necessary? What would it's purpose be?



Sounds like general variations.

What scientist?



Are you claiming that vampires are a different species of man?

Ok, forgive me for using the word vampirism in the wrong place, but let me continue anyway. Upir, of course I didn't mean just any different in opinion, but a select way of thinking, that tends to be rare as far as people go, as personally, I don't think there are any physical differences between humans and vampires, otherwise the existence of vampires would be well within public knowledge, so if not physical, what else is there?

Okay, I'll admit like having read almost nothing of this but the first page, but there's a little something I'd like to ask about.

Some people mentioned that the insides (I have absolutaly no skills in medical terms) of a vampire would be no diffirent then that of a human's.
Well wouldn't they be diffirent?

We have to first consider what kind of vampire we're talking about. I mean they have humanoid form, but original vampires, considering possesions or original creation were never humans. They're dead, therefore most of their organs won't work. So why should they even be there?
As for a human turned into a vampire, after some years of living, the anatomy is bound to change, right? I mean, undead means you're dead but alive, but the organs don't work anymore. So they might slowly change in appearence.
I'm not saying right away the organs are no longer functional, I just don't think they would be, ecxept the brain. But even the brain of a vampire, going back once again to tradition, must be more devveloped then a human's. Maybe it looks diffirent too. I dunno..

As for a digestive system, I would assume that the blood a vampire consumes dosen't limit itself to being in the stomach, but flows through the entire vampire's body at once, wich is supposed to explain the exhalaration (spelling??) they feel, kind of like when an imortal goes through a quikening!

Just some things to consider, but I'm pretty sure the anatomy of both vampires and humans would be quite diffirent, as both are two diffirent things and function in many diffirent ways.

For a true undead classical, certainly some organs would atrophy, that seems natural enough. But for a living human vampire, it's not necessarily the case. If the vampire in question needs food and water in addition to whatever other needs they have, they will need stomach, intestines, liver, and kidneys.
Don't know why a vampire would have additional organs, though. Upir, would you kindly elaborate on this phenomenon? Is it part of a parallel digestive system, designed to metabolize blood without it passing through the conventional digestive tract? Just curious.
*K*

This looks very much like dyslexia to me...if I'm right, no amount of spellchecking from his/her side will make any difference...unfortunately.

Yeah, as far as this topic is going, we're in reference to non-classical vampires, the kind that people such as many of those in this forum (myself included) believe themselves to be. With classicals, there is bound to be a difference, and most people are willing to accept that, but with non-classical vampires, there may not necessarily be a difference, in fact, I personally very much doubt that there is a physcial difference between humans and non-classical vampires.

Perhaps. I suppose it depends on whether the classical needs them or not. A classical is supposed to be immortal, regenerative, etc, so I'm now not all together sure that their organs would degenerate. I do think that if the classical was dead for any time period over a few hours that certainly the internal organs would be damaged, some beyond repair.
This would be an interesting avenue to look into...



This is also what I don't get. What purpose would an additional organ serve? The body can already process blood.

In addition I find it highly unlikely that an additional organ would grow in someone. This smacks of Lamarkianism and hasn't happened in the history of any creature I've ever studied. BTW, I know that the liver regenerates, body parts in some creatures regenerate, etc, that's not what I'm saying, I'm talking about an *entirely* new organ required for adaptation to some sort of new digestive process.

Oh... you could be right, I had not considered that possibility. If that is the case, and Clear's not usually wrong, my apologies. Or, to accomodate Myth better, seigolopa yM.

(Dyslexia is where they read backwards, right? Cause, that was not an attempt to mock him/her, that was a real attempt to accomodate to him/her.)