Thread: Donating Blood & Blood Type

Have you donated blood? Why or why not?

Do you know your blood type? Do you believe in any of the myths surrounding blood type, that your type affects your personality or what you should eat?

If you give blood, the vampires win.

I used to want to give blood and plasma for the extra money, but I was always too thin back then.
Now I'm against it for religious and health reasons.

I'm O- and RH-
I only know from being pregnant lol (not currently, but in the past )

Originally Posted by Zhaylin

Now I'm against it for religious and health reasons.

I'm O- and RH-

Can't recall any religion that was against giving blood... I know that all religions are pro organ donation because you're giving someone new life... or something like that

And what the hell is RH-?! I have never heard of that blood type before because all there are is A B AB and O. WTF? There's also D, K, Le^a, Le^b, M, and N?!

Anyway, I have no idea what blood type I am. I think O or something

I don't donate because I'm a wuss when it comes to needles and will pass out, then wake up and throw up, lol. That's what happened when I had to have bloodwork done for school. I get woozy even from getting a shot (I used to be fine with them when I was younger, but now hate them)

And the personalities are more for Asian societies because it's a big thing over there. However, that stuff is just about as true as horoscopes or your Chinese birth year horoscope. No evidence to support it

Originally Posted by Zhaylin

I'm O- and RH-
I only know from being pregnant lol (not currently, but in the past )

You might know and have mistyped, but the "-" in "O-" implies you're Rh-. O+ means O with Rh+, O- means O with Rh-. Only 6% of the population is O- and O-s can only receive blood from other O-s. O-s can give blood to any other blood type as well (universal donor). So your blood, if you gave it, would be more useful than 94% of people's.

Originally Posted by Zhaylin

Are you not allowed to donate because of your sexual preference? I thought it was a primitive practice that went away once blood screening became more widely practiced?

They don't care about your mental sexual preference, only whether you've been through sexual acts with other men if you're a man. On my province's, some of the surprising questions were (paraphrasing):
1) Have you been to the UK in the last [6 months or something]?
2) If you're a woman, have you hever had sex with a man who has had sex with another man?
3) Have you ever handled monkeys or their bodily excrements?
Also, in the brochure, within a list of things which give you the risk of having HIV, was: being in prison for a continuous period of at leat 48 hours.

Originally Posted by Dianeva

1) Have you been to the UK in the last [6 months or something]?

If you've been in the UK for over 6mos (I think), you can no longer give blood in the US because of Mad Cow Disease. I don't think it harms you, but they don't want it spreading over here

Originally Posted by Armistice

If you've been in the UK for over 6mos (I think), you can no longer give blood in the US because of Mad Cow Disease. I don't think it harms you, but they don't want it spreading over here

It's because of a similar disease also caused by prions (I'm not exactly sure if it's the exact same agent as Mad Cow infecting humans or different one) that seems to be more common (although still very rare) in the UK. It can't be detected in blood tests and is always fatal so they just don't take any chances.

I've donated once and got very sick...on my birthday. I don't believe it's possible to change your blood type, at least I've never heard anything about it.

I'm also O-

Originally Posted by Dianeva

Have you donated blood? Why or why not?

I'm bisexual.

Do you know your blood type? Do you believe in any of the myths surrounding blood type, that your type affects your personality or what you should eat?

I know my blood type. I've never heard of these myths.

I read about it once LONG, long ago. I can't recall much about it, other than it seemed pretty accurate in my case. It said I'm more prone to sore throats than anything else. I'll be darned if that's all I can recall. I'll google it and see if I can find anything.

**EDIT**
Marvo,
Are you not allowed to donate because of your sexual preference? I thought it was a primitive practice that went away once blood screening became more widely practiced?

Originally Posted by Zhaylin

**EDIT**
Marvo,
Are you not allowed to donate because of your sexual preference? I thought it was a primitive practice that went away once blood screening became more widely practiced?

Apparently not

I wouldn't mind giving blood, but now I have a legitimate excuse I guess.

Jehovah's Witnesses neither accept blood nor donate it.
Here's a video that explains it: Transfusion-Alternative Strategies--Simple, Safe, Effective - Jehovah's Witnesses Official Web Site
Here's some text if you'd rather read: Bloodless Medicine and Surgery: Pioneers in Medicine - Jehovah's Witnesses Official Web Site

Here's info about the RH factor: What Is the Rhesus Factor?
I just skimmed it, but I didn't realize it was the RH that makes up whether a person has a positive or negative blood type. Instead of telling people I'm O RH-, saying I'm O- gives more than enough info lol

Now I'm going to look up the other info and I'll just edit this post if I find anything...

**EDIT**
Here's a great site about health and personalities according to blood types:
http://www.dadamo.com/bloodtype_O.htm

Sorry about this double post...


There might be something to it. The last link I gave mentions how the O type has problems with "fight or flight" responses, adrenaline and noradrenaline. If anyone has followed any of my threads, you'll know that I have problems with "anxiety" or rather, when not medicated, I have almost constant adrenaline surges for no apparent reason.
I'm going to have to look into this some more now lol

Everyone has a fight or flight response. Put everyone in the same room. Light that room on fire. People will claw and trample each other for the fact of self preservation which is instinct (just like animals because hey, we're animals too!). People who KNOW what to do will be more calm about it. Anxiety isn't fight or flight: Anxiety - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I'm not trying to get into an arguement, it just makes no sense to me

Since I'm pretty sure I'm an O, here's what I get "Type O's are outgoing, and very social. They are initiators, although they don't always finish what they start. Creative and popular, they love to be the center of attention and appear very self confident."

I'm only social(maybe because I'm bored), creative, and confident. 3 out of 7 isn't that great

Here's the site. Now prove me wrong

Personality Traits By Blood Type - A Japanese Concept - Japanese Culture

hahaa, I read that site first Armistice. I disregarded it I'm not in the least bit social.

And yeah, my anxiety isn't in the least bit "typical", which is why an overactive adrenal gland makes MUCH more sense (it's been a theory of mine pretty much since the "anxiety" began in force some 10 or so years ago).

I'm type O+, the most common, 36% or something of the population, but the most useful to donate after O-. I've donated blood three times. The first time I really wanted to know my blood type. But I sort of liked the fact that I was doing something 'good' and got a good feeling from that, which is why I went a second time and plan to again. The needle does bother me a bit, and the bag slowly filling with my own blood, but it isn't that bad. If you plan on donating blood, make sure you drink a lot of water and eat well - whole foods, etc. before. The second time, I had barely drunk any water and the process went really slowly. In Canada, or at least in BC, we don't get paid for donating blood.


Blood type personality myths:

One of the main myths surrounding blood type which many people buy into is that different blood types require different diets. Looking this up online, I found surprisingly little skepticism against it, and people who are supposed experts on bloodtype diets. But I also found out that there is no evidence to back up any of it.

The reason it seems bs to me that bloodtype effects personality or anything like that is because our blood type only describes the components on our blood that cause clotting when mixed with blood that doesn't have those components. Ex: if a person with A+ blood tries to donate blood to a person with O+ blood, the person with O+ blood would not recognize the A component and 'attack' the new A+ blood, causing it to clot and likely kill the person.

That is the only reason we label those blood types and consider the A, B, an Rh factors. Realistically, we have many different components in our blood besides A B and Rh which some people have and others don't, there just isn't a point in including them with the bloodtype label because there's no clotting danger associated with them. Why should the component in blood, that happens to clot when mixed with blood that doesn't have that component, happen to be the same components that contribute to our personalities or what we should eat? Why isn't it the unheard of Q bloodtype that causes antisocialness? It makes no sense. It's just something people find fun to believe in, even though it has no basis, like horoscopes.

I've never given blood because I don't weigh enough for my height.

I don't believe any of the myths. Blood type is labeled because of the antigens (did I spell that right? XD) on your blood cells. They're like ID tags just like RH. I've actually been studying blood types along with genetic disorders for a while these past few months.

My technical blood genotype is Bi RH+ which of course can be abbreviated to B+
I got the 'B' from my dad and the 'i' from my mom, because she's O+.

Sorry for the double post.

There can be cases where your blood type changes. It can only happen if you needed mass transfusions repeatedly. I also believe you need a certain blood type too. It's either O, because an O blood type is made up of blank alleles. (Or wait, perhaps its O- that can change you...)
Or, actually, I think its the AB blood type. you keep getting a ton of A or B and it takes over. However any incidences of this are extremely rare because 1. Blood type is genetic and controlled by multiple alleles and 2. you'd need a pretty bad accident to need those kinds of transfusions.

I think my blood type is AB or something along those lines. Or maybe my mother's is AB and I'm O something... I do know it's one or the other. Either way I don't donate. The idea of someone having my blood creeps me out in the worst way. The idea of my blood being taken from my body as well (though I don't get squeamish at the sight of myself bleeding. Probably because someone isn't physically removing it from me).

Of course finding out that men who've had sex with other men can't donate is actually true I might be inclined not to out of principle... I can understand doing certain things for the sake of prevention, but how is that any more risky then a straight male? Both can take dangerous risks and both can be safe so shouldn't it be more a promiscuity thing then what gender you have sex with? Or am I missing the point?

Studies still indicate that men who have sex with men are much more likely to have HIV/AIDS compared to the rest of the population, that is the only reason.

Women who have sex with women can donate blood so it's not a homophobia thing.

There was a recent supreme court ruling here that said that since a blood donation was a gift (not a "right"), the recipient could chose to refuse it. I agree 100%, I'll be damned if I or anyone else gets infected with HIV by blood transfusion because of political correctness...

Originally Posted by Spartiate

Studies still indicate that men who have sex with men are much more likely to have HIV/AIDS compared to the rest of the population, that is the only reason.

Women who have sex with women can donate blood so it's not a homophobia thing.

There was a recent supreme court ruling here that said that since a blood donation was a gift (not a "right"), the recipient could chose to refuse it. I agree 100%, I'll be damned if I or anyone else gets infected with HIV by blood transfusion because of political correctness...

My question is why is that the case though? Why is a gay couple whom have only ever had sex with each other more at risk then a straight man whose had sex with multiple women? Or even a gay man who took every precaution with his sex life and made sure that both he and his partners get tested? And haven't studies shown that black men and women are at about the same amount of risk, but we don't turn them down because of that risk? I don't know if it's a homophobia issue or not.

I'm not really trying to argue with you so much as understand. As I said I've never given blood, I don't know the ends and outs of it, nor am I very familiar with the statistics but from what knowledge I do have it just seems a little self defeating. Though I'm more then open if there really is valid reasoning behind it.

Originally Posted by Auron

If I'm not mistaken aids was more prevalent in the gay community when it was debuting. This is why there are some conspiracy theories out there saying that the government invented it to destroy gays and whatnot. Anyways, I'm 0+, and I've donated around 6 gallons of blood. 14 more to go and I get a polo tee shirt! I donate because I really like the staff that works there, and it's just a good thing to do.

Now that I will agree is ridiculous. I don't see how people can honestly believe those sorts of things.

Originally Posted by Blackberryfox

My question is why is that the case though? Why is a gay couple whom have only ever had sex with each other more at risk then a straight man whose had sex with multiple women? Or even a gay man who took every precaution with his sex life and made sure that both he and his partners get tested? And haven't studies shown that black men and women are at about the same amount of risk, but we don't turn them down because of that risk? I don't know if it's a homophobia issue or not.

I'm not really trying to argue with you so much as understand. As I said I've never given blood, I don't know the ends and outs of it, nor am I very familiar with the statistics but from what knowledge I do have it just seems a little self defeating. Though I'm more then open if there really is valid reasoning behind it.

Because the blood technician can't know if you've had a safe sex life or relatively few partners, so they just blanket everybody in the high risk group. As for why HIV/AIDS is more common in the gay community I'm not exactly sure, but if I would venture a guess it would be that they have unprotected sex more frequently (since obviously they don't have to worry about pregnancy).

It's not the only peculiar requirement. Here you can't give blood if you've been to the UK recently because of the relatively high incidence of a human form of mad cow disease in that country.

Originally Posted by Spartiate

Because the blood technician can't know if you've had a safe sex life or relatively few partners, so they just blanket everybody in the high risk group. As for why HIV/AIDS is more common in the gay community I'm not exactly sure, but if I would venture a guess it would be that they have unprotected sex more frequently (since obviously they don't have to worry about pregnancy).

It's not the only peculiar requirement. Here you can't give blood if you've been to the UK recently because of the relatively high incidence of a human form of mad cow disease in that country.

No offense meant, but I'm still not convinced that they have valid reason to exclude men who have had gay sex. As I said according to the CDC website black men and women have just a high of statistics as gay men do, but as far as I'm aware they don't exclude them for safety reasons.

As Zhaylin said better then I could have it all sounds like a primitive practice based on an outdated idea that gay men are more careless in their sex lives then other groups of people.

And either way what good does a rule like that do anyway? There's proof when a person travels, but as you stated how are they going to prove who slept with who?

Originally Posted by Blackberryfox

I can understand doing certain things for the sake of prevention, but how is that any more risky then a straight male? Both can take dangerous risks and both can be safe so shouldn't it be more a promiscuity thing then what gender you have sex with? Or am I missing the point?

If I'm not mistaken aids was more prevalent in the gay community when it was debuting. This is why there are some conspiracy theories out there saying that the government invented it to destroy gays and whatnot. Anyways, I'm 0+, and I've donated around 6 gallons of blood. 14 more to go and I get a polo tee shirt! I donate because I really like the staff that works there, and it's just a good thing to do.

Schlachtfeld, what is the "i"? Does it indicate the RH?

There may actually be something to the information provided by the dadamo site.
I went and read the various types to see if he was using "fortune teller" tricks. But the information given seems pretty Type specific (except he recommends that every type avoid caffeine which is his own personal bias coming through IMO).
As I read one, I said to myself: "I'd bet this is my husband's type." I asked him, and sure enough, his type is indeed A

**EDIT**
Which is why I called the practice primitive. If I'm not mistaken, AIDS was so quickly passed in the gay community because many (?) frequented "bath houses" (whatever they're called in this/that day and age). Which I associate with the era of free love. I had to leave and look it up lol
"Free love became a prominent phrase used by and about the new social movements and counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s, typified by the Summer of Love in 1967 and the slogan "make love not war". Unrestrained sexuality became a new norm in some of these youth movements, leading certain feminists to critique the 60s/70s "free love" as a way for men to pressure women into sex; women who said "no" could be characterized as prudish and uptight.
In the 1980s, concerns over AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases tempered the promiscuity of the 1970s, but many of the sexual reforms advocated by earlier free-love movements had become mainstream: legalisation of abortion, birth control, and homosexuality; freedom in choosing love, sex, or both; and women's rights in general. Chastity, virginity, and subservience in marriage had much less power as social ideals for women."

Some of the gays of that time were like kids in a candy store- exploring, tasting, trying out this and that lol
But people, in general, are more enlightened now. They use protection, they have long lasting relationships etc. So, I don't see how they pose any more of a threat than anyone else.

My quote was taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_love