Not all blood is similar! Do you want to get an understanding of your blood type? First of all, do understand that there are in general four main types of blood groups – A, B, AB and O. Your blood group type could be determined by the genes you inherit from your parents. In general, blood is made up of white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets found in a liquid known as plasma. The blood type is identified by the antigens and antibodies that are present in the blood.

Antigens are the protein molecules found on the red blood cells surface. Antibodies are proteins that are found in plasma, which are actually a part of human body’s natural defence mechanism. They reckon foreign molecules like germs and bacteria; alert your immunity system and destroys them. Each blood group can be either RhD positive or negative, leading to major 8 main blood groups, which are mentioned in below.

• A RhD positive (A+)
• A RhD negative (A-)
• B RhD positive (B+)
• B RhD negative (B-)
• RhD positive (O+)
• RhD negative (O-)
• AB RhD positive (AB+)
• AB RhD negative (AB-)

Now the big question is – how to find out your blood type? There could be different ways through which you can find out and they are enlisted below in a brief way.

• Donate blood – It is one of the easiest ways to know about the blood type and also help someone else, at the same time. Find out a local donation center or a nearby blood drive going on, visit there, donate the blood and ask with the staff if they can tell you your blood type. The blood will not be tested at that time and could take a few days or a week and they can e-mail or call you with the result.
• Request for a blood test with the doctor – If your blood type is not been mentioned in your medical file, you can ask the doctor to go for a blood test. This way, you can know your blood type and it will take hardly a day or two to come up with the result.
• Purchase a blood typing kit – If you don’t wish to visit a doctor or donate blood, you can purchase a home blood typing kit from the pharmacy that comes in like $10. There is step by step instructions mentioned over the kit to follow, so do make sure to follow each one of them carefully. The kit instructs you to first dampen labelled patches on a special card, then prick your finger and drop a little bit of blood on each patch. Once you are done with patches and blood, carry on reading the kit’s instructions and know your blood type.
• Call a doctor who took your blood – If your doctor has already your blood type mentioned over the file, you simply have to contact him or her. Though, they will have your record only and only if you had your blood tested before. The common reasons why you had already given your blood to test include surgery, pregnancy, blood transfusion, organ donation, etc.
• Ask your parents – If your parents know their blood type, it narrows down so many probabilities of which blood type you must have. Simply ask them about their blood type if they know, use an online blood type calculator to figure out the type. Or, figure it out by your own as per the following.

• O parent x O parent = O child
• O parent x A parent = A or O child
• O parent x B parent = B or O child
• O parent x AB parent = A or B child
• A parent x A parent = A or O child
• A parent x B parent = A, B, AB or O child
• A parent x AB parent = A, B or AB child
• B parent x B parent = B or O child
• B parent x AB parent = A, B or AB child
• AB parent x AB parent = A, B or AB child
• Go to the nearby blood service center in your country – There are blood service centers in many countries that generally provide people with free resources to get their blood tested and know about the blood type they have.

In all, you might want to know about your blood type for different reasons like for medical purposes, or to know about your own body, or to get an international visa or so. Do follow any of the approaches as mentioned in above, and know about your blood type.