For two years I have been seeking help from many doctors about a serious undiagnosed health issue. This week a doctor realized that I am truly an A negative blood type and that for years I had been mistyped at having A positive blood. I have had 5 pregnancies including 3 healthy children and two miscarriages and I never received the Rhogam shot. I have to wait until Monday to call for an appointment with a hematologist. Any nurses out there who can give me some help in the meantime and explain what health issues can come of not receiving the shot? I'm just trying to figure out if this is the answer to my undiagnosed health problem. Thanks so much.
To clarify for the first response...my husband is 0 positive.
Thanks so much for all your great advice. It turns out that my babies thus far have probably been positive blood type. I could have developed health issues, so they say, if my babies were negative. The miscarriages were not due to the blood issue, thank goodness! I should be able to have a healthy pregnancy in the future. I'll definitely get the shot if I get pregnant again! Thanks for helping me sort it all out.
Hi, K.:
What is the health problem that you have?
Get an sensitivity test done. Check the web at
elisa/Act blood test.
Just a thought.
D.
The only time you are actually in need of this type of shot is if your child is born RH + then you need the shot. And you actually don't need the shot while pregnant either.
I am not a nurse but my understanding is that when the mom is a Rh- blood type and the father is a Rh+, the rhogam shop protects your baby while it is inutero if the baby happens to be a Rh+ blood type like the father. Because you are Rh-, your body could attack the baby because he/she would be seen as a foreign invader.
A lot of people have Rh- blood type and do not have health problems, including myself. Like I said, I'm not a nurse but I would think that the fact that you being Rh- would not be playing a part in your current health problems unless it is making you susceptible to something else that maybe going on in your body as well.
Hope you will be able to find the answer to your question, that you feel better soon and that you have a safe and healthy pregnancy.
you would only need rhogam if your husband is +. and then, i believe, it usually affects subsequent + babies, not you. good luck!
only time it causes issues is if you are pregnant with a + blood type baby and then it can cause issues with the baby (your body can reject the baby) not issues with you. I am RH- also
When you have negative blood and your baby has positive, there is a small chance that the bloods will mix and cause something similar to an allergic reaction. I don't know how long the effects last but I do know that it make you prone to miscarriages. Rhogam is suppose to prevent the reaction. I had little reaction to the shot other than a day of being sore at the injection sight and I had two shots per child (one in the middle and one at the 6 week check up) and four children.
is your hubby negative also?
Being a negative blood type doesn't cause a health problem for you, what it DOES do, is cause potential problems for the baby inside of you. To put it very simply, if the baby inside of you had a postive blood type and you a negative, *IF* your bloods mix, (only complications usually cause this) your body will mistake the fetus as a foreign body and will destroy it. Outside of pregnancy, negative bloodtype is not an issue.
I am RH- also and I agree with the other posts that it itself does not cause any health issues unless your body has come in contact with + blood. A- can not be mixed with any other blood type. I had the normal 2 shots with my oldest and had no problem. 5 years later I was pregnant with my daughter. I had abnormal bleeding within the first 2 months, I received the shot then and received it every 6 weeks. There are no ill effects to me nor my daughter and both of my kids are A+ blood types. You can refuse the shots as I did for the final one, mainly because I knew I would not be having anymore children, so the risk for me having a miscarriage was not a concern.
Good Luck!
