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Thought this might be of use for retired people or seniors in general. I am grateful that I am healthy (so far, so good) and I do donate blood.
What's the Most Common Blood Type?
"The Healthy Geezer" answers questions about health and aging in his weekly column.
Question: What is the most common blood type?
Answer: The approximate distribution of blood types in the U.S. population is as follows:
O-positive: 38 percent, O-negative: 7 percent, A-positive: 34 percent. A-negative: 6 percent, B-positive: 9 percent, B-negative: 2 percent, AB-positive: 3 percent, AB-negative: 1 percent
It's important to note that the blood type distribution may be different for specific racial and ethnic groups.
Type O-negative blood is called the universal donor type because it is compatible with any blood type. Type AB-positive blood is called the universal recipient type because a person who has it can receive blood of any type.
People over age 69 receive half of all transfusions of whole blood and red blood cells, according to the National Blood Data Resource Center (NBDRC).
Thank you for posting. I have always meant to donate but haven't. Maybe in retirement in my new town when I go to the big town with THE hospital?
I think I'm A-positive. I seem to remember that from my military reserve days, trying to make a meme to remember it, "A plus".
I did not know my blood type until about five years ago., Once when I needed a blood test, I asked to be informed of my type, and the lab said Medicare won't pay for that, so you will be billed an extra $30. When I was in the hospital for surgery, I asked my doctor, and I found out for the first time.
I was told it is very important to know your blood type. Why? In an emergency, I sure as hell don't want somebody giving me a transfusion on my self-declaration of my blood type.
BTW, if the intent of the OP was for this to be a thread about blood type, I invite the Mod to change the title.
I donated gallons of blood in my day as A+. Even when I was below 110 lbs, as required, I'd load my purse with rocks! ( no kidding!) to get up the weight. As a retiree, OK, the usual pain in the butt folks complaining about posts - but hey, we as old folks/retirees, if we are still healthy, over 110 lbs, why not donate!?!?! It isn't like we have anything better to do.
I refuse blood transfusions, as a vegetarian (and my weird spiritual beliefs). But if other folks want blood, we retirees have plenty of both blood and time to spare.
If you donate blood, you'll find out what blood type you are, and some of them will even check your cholesterol and give you those results, and they check your blood pressure and weigh you, too. Plus, they give you good snacks for free.
They don't care how old you are, either.
I'm O negative so they love me. I give double red cells. To do that, you have to have a big body mass index - you actually need to be a bit overweight, so your body can handle the blood loss, somehow. I've been losing weight, so eventually, I may end up too small to donate double red cells.
The blood center I donate to now actually lets me know when people get my blood. Without giving me their personal info. But, I'll get an email that will tell me that someone was in a car accident and they needed a transfusion, and my blood helped save their life. Makes me feel good.
We did blood typing in college Human Anatomy. Decades later, when I ended up in the hospital with a bad GI bleed and needed a blood transfusion, I commented that I was A+ because we had done blood typing in college. The nurse just gave on of those "We'll get they right blood type" answers, but never confirmed my blood type with me. I eventually requested my medical records.
Medical treatment in Wayne county Ohio is competent, but they do not believe in informed consent. More recently, I went to an urgent care center for a long overdue DTP booster. I had to request the fact sheet 3 times, and then still did not get all of the pages. I went online and printed the complete updated fact sheet at home.
It's interesting to note the industry behind blood donations, including the Red Cross. We donate for free, and they profit immensely. That's why over the years there have been battles over controlling blood collection.
Whole blood is used as is, after testing of course, but is also fractionated into various parts, like packed RBC, albumin, platelets, clotting factors and many more. That's where the money is.
The marketing effort has been superb, convincing us to donate for free as a supposed altruistic act, when in truth, we're providing organizations with a valuable starting material. The fact that these orgs are non-profits does not mean they're not money driven. It mostly means they operate under a different part of the tax code.
I was told it is very important to know your blood type. Why? In an emergency, I sure as hell don't want somebody giving me a transfusion on my self-declaration of my blood type.
Well, maybe it's not for when you need a transfusion, but for when others need blood. When there's a low blood supply or if a catastrophic event occurs, sometimes the local Red Cross or hospital will broadcast a need for a certain type of blood and will ask for people with that blood-type to donate. Only those who actually know what their blood-type is will be able to respond to the call.
Quote:
Originally Posted by LivingDeadGirl
I donated gallons of blood in my day as A+. Even when I was below 110 lbs, as required, I'd load my purse with rocks! ( no kidding!) to get up the weight. As a retiree, OK, the usual pain in the butt folks complaining about posts - but hey, we as old folks/retirees, if we are still healthy, over 110 lbs, why not donate!?!?! It isn't like we have anything better to do.
Where do you see the usual folks - - - pain in the butt or otherwise - - - complaining about posts? I saw one singular comment suggesting that the title might be changed to better reflect the subject matter, but that wasn't a complaint about a post, and it certainly wasn't from multiple people (or folks).
But, hey, now you can consider my post to be a complaint about your post, so maybe you were right after all!
I donated gallons of blood in my day as A+. Even when I was below 110 lbs, as required, I'd load my purse with rocks! ( no kidding!) to get up the weight. As a retiree, OK, the usual pain in the butt folks complaining about posts - but hey, we as old folks/retirees, if we are still healthy, over 110 lbs, why not donate!?!?! It isn't like we have anything better to do.
I refuse blood transfusions, as a vegetarian (and my weird spiritual beliefs). But if other folks want blood, we retirees have plenty of both blood and time to spare.
I donated blood one time when I barely weighed enough to be allowed to. I ended up fainting later that day at my on-campus job. I felt kind of funny so headed for the bathroom. Don't remember anything after that until I woke up with everyone standing around me. One of my coworkers said my eyelids were the prettiest shade of blue (this was the 70s) and she was going to ask what eye shadow I was wearing, until she realized it wasn't eye shadow.
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