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Fasting blood test

Posted , 13 users are following.

Whisper2003
Whisper2003

Hi, lovely people. i hope someone can advise. I received a letter from a GP at my surgery requesting that I have a fasting blood test, glucose I assume. I am currently on 5 mg pred after just over 2 years. Is this necessary or useful do you think? I'm one of the 'lucky' ones who lose weight on pred and my BMI is extremely low. I have little appetite and eat 6 times a day to try to maintain where I am now! I have struggled to get down to 5 and am not sure my adrenals are doing very well. Very fatigued and not too comfortable at the moment.

I'm happy to accept donations of extra pounds that you have to spare!

0 likes, 41 replies

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  • EileenH
    EileenH Whisper2003

    Posted

    It's a perfectly standard instruction for the routine tests that should be done when you are taking pred - including a fasting blood sugar. It's the most standard way of doing a blood sugar test. Actually it is possible that your blood sugar level runs a bit high when on pred - that would account for a lack of appetite. I don't know what mine was before - my morning fasting blood sugar level certainly runs a bit higher than it should be. But it doesn't matter if I am fasting or have had a few mugs of tea with milk - the result is about the same.
    • Whisper2003
      Whisper2003 EileenH

      Posted

      Thank you Eileen, that's very interesting. I have no idea what normal figures are so will look it up so I'm prepared.
    • Whisper2003
      Whisper2003

      Posted

      Is 14 hours fasting really necessary anyone?
    • Anhaga
      Anhaga Whisper2003

      Posted

      If you are told to fast for 14 hours, that's what they mean, although you should be allowed water.  It's ages since I've had a fasting test and I seem to remember they just said nothing after midnight, or maybe it was nothing after supper.  Somehow I remember that it was more like eight hours, not fourteen. I was at the lab first thing in the morning, as soon as it opened - along with all the other people in the same boat!
    • EileenH
      EileenH Whisper2003

      Posted

      It's usually from midnight until you have a morning blood sample done.
    • ptolemy
      ptolemy Whisper2003

      Posted

      My surgery asks for fifteen hours, perhaps to be on the safe side for all those people who don't quite make the figure they are told!
    • Anhaga
      Anhaga ptolemy

      Posted

      Well, I'd be cheating if they told me 15 hours!
    • ptolemy
      ptolemy Anhaga

      Posted

      I think that's why they say fifteen hours as they expect everyone to cheat!
    • Anhaga
      Anhaga ptolemy

      Posted

      That doesn't make sense, expecting the worst of people.  I remember when my daughter had her wisdom teeth removed.  She was told, no food or fluids after midnight.  Her appointment, however, wasn't until sometime really late the next day, five o'clock or so.  I told her to have some apple juice early in the morning.  So it was still going to be well over eight hours befor the procedure.  She told them, and they nearly cancelled the appointment.  Always thought that was completely ridiculous.  They just want your stomach empty so that you don't choke on vomit, or something.  To starve a teenager for seventeen hours, without even being allowed water, seemed to me to be absolutely ridiculous.   I guess I must have made sure when my boys had their turn at this not so lovely event their procedures were scheduled for earlier in the day.  

      BTW I now understand that the narrow faces which led to having wisdom teeth taken out may have been caused in part by a lack of Vitamin K2 during gestation and early childhood.  I, like my parents before me, have all my teeth, but we grew up before factory farming really took hold.

    • EileenH
      EileenH ptolemy

      Posted

      I wonder if it is cholesterol or something - something at the back of my mind is telling me that there is somethng that is affected by eating within so many hours. And liver tests can be affected by alcoho within even longer - as if I take any notice of that! My liver tests are generally perfect...
    • Anhaga
      Anhaga EileenH

      Posted

      Checking with Dr Google, it's eight hours for fasting blood glucose; 8-12 for cholesterol and as much as 14 for liver, depending on the test.  But read an interesting item which indicates to get accurate picture of LDL cholesterol, fasting is probably not necessary.
    • Juno-Irl-Dub
      Juno-Irl-Dub Anhaga

      Posted

      From my hospital days, i think that the most reliable full lipid profile comes from a mimimum 8 hour wash- out period . . . ..  J
    • ptolemy
      ptolemy EileenH

      Posted

      Eating can affect the glucose, lipids and iron in the blood along with other things and cholesterol is a lipid. So you are probably right. I was very impressed with my liver test, I think all my friends were too. In fact most of them probably did not believe it! 
    • Juno-Irl-Dub
      Juno-Irl-Dub Anhaga

      Posted

      Hi Anhaga,  full lipid profile is readings of the folloowing:  Total Cholesterol, HDL ('good"  cholesterol),  LDL ('bad cholesterol"),  and Tryglycerides.  J
    • EileenH
      EileenH ptolemy

      Posted

      I used to work in biochemical medicine but I just hadn't time to look it up. We just dealt with the samples - not the patients...
    • ptolemy
      ptolemy EileenH

      Posted

      As a consultant surgeon once said to me, hospitals would be great places if we did not have patients! 
    • EileenH
      EileenH ptolemy

      Posted

      We all said that too - they'd run like clockwork. No waiting for beds to be cleared, no overrun on admissions times in A&E.

      No bad backs, no vomit on your uniforms and shoes, you could get a night's sleep - I could go on and on...  rolleyes

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