How to find out your blood type?

I urgently need to find out my blood type (honestly, I have no idea why I don’t already know this), and I am completely lost on where to even look... how long does this process usually take?

edit—I’ve tried searching online, but I haven't been able to track anything down. My apologies if I haven't been thorough enough in my search elsewhere.

So, you go get your blood drawn for a transfusion, hand over your referral, and then whether you actually get your blood type results right away depends entirely on the hospital's internal policy and how much of an emergency it is... You might get the word today, maybe tomorrow, or they just mail the results straight to your house in a few days...
Honestly, when things are hitting the fan in a trauma center, the whole process of cross-matching and determining blood types with specific dosage interactions is technically something they can pull off pretty fast if they have to...

What exactly do you mean by transfusion? I’m not quite following... Is there any way to actually get one without a doctor's referral or some kind of official order?

analogviper21 said:What exactly do you mean by transfusion? I’m not quite following... Is there any way to actually get one without a doctor's referral or some kind of official order?

If you happen to be over in the Chicago area, head over to 123 Maple Avenue; it’s probably your quickest and most reliable bet.

Unfortunately, I'm not from the big city... I'm out in Indianapolis rather than there.
Does anyone happen to know where one might be able to get this done quickly around the Indy area?

analogviper21 said:What exactly do you mean by transfusion? I’m not quite following... Is there any way to actually get one without a doctor's referral or some kind of official order?

Man, I'm not sure how to explain what I meant... basically, all the stuff regarding blood types and everything else happens at the transfusion departments.
If you're hanging out in Indianapolis, you’d probably head over to the local hospital system there to ask around... though, honestly, it'd be pretty silly to just show up unannounced asking for a blood type without having a referral from a doctor first.

Scott Allen10 said:Man, I'm not sure how to explain what I meant... basically, all the stuff regarding blood types and everything else happens at the transfusion departments.
If you're hanging out in Indianapolis, you’d probably head over to the local hospital system there to ask around... though, honestly, it'd be pretty silly to just show up unannounced asking for a blood type without having a referral from a doctor first.

They gave me the go-ahead, though it was just verbal... I went in today, and turns out you don't actually need a formal doctor's referral. You just pay the $71 fee... thanks, you were a huge help.

analogviper21 said:They gave me the go-ahead, though it was just verbal... I went in today, and turns out you don't actually need a formal doctor's referral. You just pay the $71 fee... thanks, you were a huge help.

It varies quite a bit. Personally, I didn't find out my blood type until I donated blood at the hospital in Indianapolis, and naturally, there was absolutely no charge for that.

So, basically, since those super smart nurses at my doctor's office managed to lose my old medical file—along with all my childhood health records and a mountain of other paperwork—I'm kind of stuck without even knowing my blood type anymore.
I asked my doctor a while back if she could just send over a lab order for some routine stuff I need anyway (like checking my diabetes, cholesterol, iron levels, etc.) and maybe just test my blood type at the same time, but she kind of brushed me off with some excuse about how that requires special separate testing or whatever...

I guess back in the day, when you went for those standard physicals to get a driver's license, they’d draw blood and give you this little card with all your info and your blood type printed right on it, just in case you were in an accident and needed a transfusion on the spot, but obviously, those don't exist anymore.

So, yeah, what's the easiest way to find out my type? Maybe donating blood is an option, but I think I'd really prefer having something written down for my own records.

Any ideas?

Best to everyone

Look, if your primary care doctor won't cover it, you're gonna be stuck footing the bill yourself, and honestly, who even knows how much of a hit that's gonna take 🤷

If you want some actual info on doctors, go check out the threads about San Francisco, people there are constantly sharing their experiences.

It seems pretty easy enough to pay for, though I guess I'm just not entirely sure where to even start, or what specifically I should be looking for and who the best person to ask would be.

Hey there!

You can just hit up any private lab to get your blood drawn and check your type—like Breyer in New York City, though I've no clue about San Francisco, so just Google it

Got it, thanks so much!

You could just go donate some blood and find out for yourself 🙂 it’s free, plus you get a free lunch out of it 🙂

To get your blood type determined, you have to go to the American Red Cross. You don't even need a referral, though it costs about $200; that's just how things work here in Miami.

Your paper records aren't actually lost; they’ve just been migrated to a digital format since Medicare rolled out their new integrated IT system for primary care. Basically, all your info is tucked away and securely stored in a virtual file.
To find out your blood type, just grab a referral from your primary care physician for those specific tests—which, by the way, is totally free and fully covered by Medicare.

I guess he’s been lost for at least ten years now, ever since back when they didn't even know what a computer was at the local clinic, and I remember being sent all over to dig through the old files at the community health center, but we never really found anything, and then they just started a whole new system without any of those important old records that probably just vanished into thin air somewhere along the way...

best

Angela Wright said:Your paper records aren't actually lost; they’ve just been migrated to a digital format since Medicare rolled out their new integrated IT system for primary care. Basically, all your info is tucked away and securely stored in a virtual file.
To find out your blood type, just grab a referral from your primary care physician for those specific tests—which, by the way, is totally free and fully covered by Medicare.

I actually need to find out my blood type too, and I'm honestly not even sure if that information is in my medical records or saved in their new digital system. I'm curious, though—how is it possible to get this test for free when they told me at the American Red Cross that there’s a fee $61? I guess what I'm wondering is, if you have a doctor's referral, can you really get it done without paying? I really can't afford to donate blood right now 😁, because, frankly, I'd probably just pass out.

I actually managed to score mine for free at a college fair at the University of Michigan booth... I just can't recall which 😛

I suppose it should be possible to request a referral just to get your blood type determined. And yeah, they don't typically include that in your standard routine blood work; you'd probably have to go through the American Red Cross specifically. (Though I guess it depends on which facility you use... 🙂)