To not know my blood type?

[myexisanasshole]

So a thread yesterday reminded me that I should update my iPhone with my emergency contacts and the meds I'm on (quite a lot) and it asked my blood type?! I have no idea, asked my mum and she doesn't know either (thanks mum!) am I the only one? If I'm honest o do t know what my children are either 🙄 please tell me I'm not alone!

@sashh I've since had a look at the link someone posted further up, and interestingly it looks like he has about 6% chance of being O. My DM has O+ blood (DF is A+) so I must have an O+ gene. Not a clue what MIL and FIL's blood types are/were although DH thinks one of them was rh-. I'm quite intrigued now, and tempted to get one of those blood-testing kits, except that DS would run a mile if I tried coming at him with a finger-jabber!

I'm O- and my mother is O-. What does that make my Dad?

He must be O. No way to tell from that if he's + or -.

No, that's not right. He could be AO or BO (which just shows up as blood type A or B) and passed along his O marker to the pp. The only blood type you cal rule out is AB. True that there's no way to tell if he's + or -. Your dad could be A+, A-, B+ or B- for you to end up as O- from an O- mother.

No, that's not right. He could be AO or BO (which just shows up as blood type A or B) and passed along his O marker to the pp

You're right, of course.

I don't know how I arrived at that. Maybe had the generations back to front in my head?

I really shouldn't try to do anything logical late at night 😏

Here’s the UK breakdown of the simple blood types (there are others but this is the quick version). Crudely, you can’t receive a donation of any element you don’t have in your own blood, but “O” and “negative” should be seen as null values not elements.

Hence O neg can be given to 100% of the population and is the choice for absolute emergencies when you have no time to type. O positive can go to anyone positive, (75%), so is quite an efficient use of fridge space, which is why O+ people get chased hard for donations even though they’re really common, and A negative can go to A+, A-, AB+ and AB-, which is 41% and still very useful, and A positive can go to 32% (A+ and AB+). Beyond that you might be less of a high priority for donations, especially since modern surgery means they’re using less and less whole blood.

Nor me.

I know mine as I give blood but had no idea before that. Good job I found out as I'm O- Rhesus Neg so I can't have the bog standard universal Donor O- if I ever needed a transfusion.

The reason why you can’t give if you’ve had a transfusion btw is because of risk of CJD (or any other unknown blood-borne disease we can’t screen for). They don’t know for certain how prevalent it is in the population and how long the incubation period is, but the one thing that we do know is that a person with two (or more) people’s blood in their veins has twice (at least) the risk of a person who has never had a transfusion. So even if that risk is absolutely minute, if you can get all the blood you need from people who’ve never had donations then that’s what you should do, because it halves that tiny risk at zero cost.

Don't know mine or my kids 😳

The only situation I can think of when it would be really useful to know your blood types would be if you were hiking round Mozambique (or some other high HIV prevalence area) with your DC and wanted to know whether you could safely donate to each other in the event of a car crash.

FindPrimaLorca

In Alberta, where I live, people who lived in the UK at the time of the BSE crisis aren't allowed to donate blood at all.

Don’t know. I had plenty of blood tests when I was pregnant so must have been in my notes somewhere. It wasn’t one of the ones they get excited about so it didn’t register.

I’m assuming That in any situation I need blood then they wouldn’t take my word for it anyway.

No, l didn't know mine until three years ago when l had major surgery. l asked the anaesthetist out of curiosity when he was doing my pre-op checks. l'd always assumed l'd be O because my mam was, but l'm A. l've checked on the calculator that babyfloof posted (thank you!) and A, which l assume my dad was, is dominant, which figures.

As l had to have a transfusion after major surgery, l was full of good intentions to donate blood afterwards. l was quite surprised to find out that if you've had a transfusion, you can't donate!

I donate blood and I've got the card in my purse. I never remember what my blood type is.

Thank you FindPrimeLorca - cross post, l hadn't read your post before l posted! You explained it beautifully.

I’m AB- which only about 1% of the population have. I only know that from being pregnant.

Your blood group is not something routinely tested. Only on a need to know basis, such as pregnancy or donating or receiving blood for example. And they wouldn’t just take your word for it, your blood would be cross matched, unless it was an emergency situation and there wasn’t time. You’d receive O- in that case.

I've always known mine as its written on your childhood vaccine records in Italy.

DS is 0+ and I'm 0- so I will have to have the anti D jab if I get pregnant again.

I feel a bit guilty as I'm universal donor but can't give blood (too skinny and have low blood pressure)

I will try to donate breast milk instead next baby!

Camomila

That's a wonderful idea! I am very much in support of donor milk and milk banks. My niece was fed by one as her mum didn't have enough milk.

I've known since I was 12 when I asked. I can't understand why people have never found out.

In some communities that have sickle cell anaemia its imperative that people know so that they don't have children with that disease. That being said anyone can carry the sickle cell trait so everyone should know their blood type.

TimeIhadaNameChange They don’t just cross match across A/B/O rh +/-, but also against other factors as well. I have antibodies unrelated to the Rhesus D factor (I’m A+) that would need to be cross matched to avoid a reaction. I learned a lot about how much more complex blood typing is than I ever thought when I was flagged for antibodies even though I was rhD positive (you usually only hear about it in relation to being rhD - in pregnancy). There are actually loads of other antigens that make up blood type and the cross matching will check to see if there are any problematic incompatibilities with those as well.

In some communities that have sickle cell anaemia its imperative that people know so that they don't have children with that disease.

Sickle cell trait is genetic, no relation to blood group.

There's basically no reason to routinely know your blood type in the UK, as it's only one part of the things they check if you ever need a transfusion.

The only exception to that might be if the UK became a warzone, or if access to healthcare became third-world standard and then you might go on 'type' alone rather than crossmatching.

I'm O+, as was my Mum. My Dad was AB+.
I used to work in a children's hospital, and we had a list of staff willing to give small quantities of blood on-site. Sometimes with small babies they couldn't use ordinary blood supplies because of the preservatives.

I'm 33 and have no idea, and my parents don't know either...