What's your blood type? // Does blood type matter in CFS/ME

[Lelvina]

I wasn't sure where to put this.

The two members of my family with CFS/ME have the same blood type. No one else has our blood type, no one else has CFS/ME.

I've wondered if there could be a connection.

Has anyone else noticed this in their family?

Does anyone else have a family member with the SAME blood type, who also has CFS?

Thanks.

 

[_Kim_]

I just checked the results from the XMRV+ survey and it looks like there is a scattered distribution of the different blood types.

I'm B-neg, the 2nd rarest blood type. I would have been donating frequently, as my mother and sister (also B-neg) have done. But since I had hepatitis (a consequence of Mono) when I was 18, I am not eligible to donate blood. Good thing, huh?

 

[HopingSince88]

I am also B- and I have not donated blood because all 3 of my children are rh+ and I became sensitized. Red Cross turned me down back in 1979 - the first time I tried to donate blood. I haven't tried since. I suspect that both my girls may have XMRV. One is B+ and one is O+.

 

[awol]

I just checked the results from the XMRV+ survey and it looks like there is a scattered distribution of the different blood types.

I'm B-neg, the 2nd rarest blood type. I would have been donating frequently, as my mother and sister (also B-neg) have done. But since I had hepatitis (a consequence of Mono) when I was 18, I am not eligible to donate blood. Good thing, huh?

Kim is it possible to see the survey results already? How and where?

 

[jace]

If you vote you can see the results, just vote 'I don't know/don't want to say' if you have to.


So far 71% are either A- or B-

Ooops.

 

[vdt33]

This is really interesting. I am A +

 

[_Kim_]

Kim is it possible to see the survey results already? How and where?

julius is working on getting some of the results up on the survey website. In the meantime, if there are some particulars you are interested in, i can look them up and post them.

 

[Forbin]

These would be the expected percentages in the population at large...

O+ 37% O- 6%
A+ 34% A- 6%
B+ 10% B- 2%
AB+ 4% AB- 1%

http://www.unitedbloodservices.org/humanbloodtypes.html

 

[lululowry]

I am O+ and luckily, I have never been able to donate blood in the U.S. For years it was because I didn't weigh enough. Then it was because of mad cow disease: you cannot donate if, from January 1, 1980, through December 31, 1996, you spent (visited or lived) a cumulative time of 3 months or more, in Europe. I did.

 

[awol]

My guess is that blood type probably doesn't matter for whether or not you have ME/CFS, however it may play a role it the types of symptoms you get and their severity. It may also play a role in deciding what food sensitivities you have.

 

[HopingSince88]

Yes, Awol. I concur.

I think the distribution of types that we see in the poll is close to what it is in the general public...so we are a representative group.

 

[helsbells]

I have always wondered what blood group I was? How do you find out - is it when you go to give blood? That would explain me not knowing.

 

[Lelvina]

My guess is that blood type probably doesn't matter for whether or not you have ME/CFS, however it may play a role it the types of symptoms you get and their severity. It may also play a role in deciding what food sensitivities you have.

But does anyone else have family members with the same blood type, with CFS/ME? Could it play a roll family-to-family? Or is it a coincidence (in my family)... that the 2 of us with cfs are the same.

The poll results seem to show that we're a fairly normal group of (by blood type distribution) folks.

Thanks guys.