How can I find out what blood type I am?

You can find out your blood group by giving blood.

To find out someone’s blood group, a sample of their blood has to be taken and tested. However, GPs do not routinely check people’s blood groups.

Healthcare professionals sometimes need to know a person’s blood group for medical reasons.

If you need a blood transfusion, the blood group you receive must be compatible with your own blood group. Your blood type will therefore be tested before you receive a blood transfusion, to make sure the two are compatible. Giving someone blood from the wrong group can be potentially life-threatening.

If you’re pregnant, your blood will be tested to see if it’s rhesus negative or positive. You can find information about rhesus disease in the Health A-Z. Some women are rhesus negative. This isn't usually a concern for a first pregnancy, but it may affect the next baby if you get pregnant again.

Healthcare professionals will also check a person’s blood group before they:

• give blood

• have an operation (surgery)

• donate an organ for transplant

Your blood group will be checked if you give blood through the National Blood Service, so it can be matched to someone with the same blood group or one that is compatible.

Some blood groups cannot be mixed with each other because chemicals in the blood (antigens) can attack one another, causing the blood to clot.

Your blood will be tested before you give blood, and your blood group will be recorded on your donor card.

What are blood types?

People have different types of blood known as blood groups. The two main systems for classifying blood groups are:

• the ABO blood group system

• the Rh system

Your blood group is determined by genes that you inherit from your parents. It depends on substances in your blood:

• antigens – proteins found on the surface of red blood cells that cause antibodies to be produced

• antibodies – infection-fighting proteins found in plasma, the liquid part of blood, that are part of your immune system (your body’s defence against infection) and attack specific antigens if they’re found in your body

The ABO system

Under this system, your blood may belong to one of four groups:

• A B –

• AB –

• O

Group O is the most common blood type in the UK.

The Rh system

• RhD positive (also called rhesus positive)

• RhD negative (also called rhesus negative)

Most people in the UK are RhD positive.

Your blood group is determined by your AOB group and your RhD group. For example, if your blood is group O and RhD positive, your blood group is O positive. Healthcare professionals will check someone’s blood group if they need a blood transfusion, where blood is taken from one person and given to someone else.

Some blood groups cannot be mixed with each otherGetting the wrong blood can be very harmful .A lot of detailed work goes into preparation of blood transfusions for this reason.

And This is why blood groups are checked when people give blood.

What is Hallux Valgus?

A bunion is a bony swelling at the base of the big toe. The medical name for a bunion is hallux valgus.

The foot is made up of five bones called the metatarsals that join the heel bone to the bones inside the toes. Normally, the big toe is in line with the first metatarsal, the second toe with the second metatarsal, and so on.

Sometimes, the big toe can become angled inwards, towards the middle of the foot and the second toe.

This can force the top of the first metatarsal to protrude (stick out) from the side of the foot, at the base of the big toe. If this happens, a painful, swollen bunion forms.

It is not known exactly why bunions occur, but wearing badly fitting shoes is thought to be a possible cause.

If bunions become worse over time, they can cause other problems, such as arthritis within the big toe joint.

Common treatments for bunions include:

• painkillers,

• bunion pads, and, in severe cases,

• surgery.

Anyone can develop a bunion, but they affect up to a third more women than men.