HbA1c - Type 1 - Fasting

[mum2westiesGill]

I got to speak with my DSN/practice nurse (who looks after my diabetic care) earlier today

This was the conversation:

- apparently (between myself & her) the phlebotomist nurse was a little bit out of order yesterday telling me I couldn't have my HbA1c done because I hadn't fasted properly ie having to treat the hypo & it's the same for all diabetics etc. A little addition if I may add from yesterday is that she had gone off to ask the practice manager!

- a fasting test is only really required for cholesterol, so if cholesterol levels are high then they have to reconsider ie a "proper" fasting test may have to be done.

- If the appointment is for 9am ish I can eat no later than midnight ie ignore the 10am which it always says on the letter I recieve telling me I have to book my fasting test.

- treating a hypo on the morning of a fasting test would not really make any difference to the HbA1c results because they go on the last 3 months of results.

- In future if I've had to treat a hypo on the morning of an HbA1c test I have to tell the pilebotomist to make sure she makes a note of me treating a hypo and to mark the test as non fasting

 

[Northerner]

Good to hear the DSN knows her stuff Gill 🙂

 

[mum2westiesGill]

Yes I feel so much better after speaking with her cause I know my stuff now 🙂 although part of me is not looking forward to going back to have my HbA1c as it's going to be the same phlebotomist and she might have it in for me 😡, she was a bit sn***y on Monday morning and not as nice as the other one I usually see.

 

[Northerner]

Yes I feel so much better after speaking with her cause I know my stuff now 🙂 although part of me is not looking forward to going back to have my HbA1c as it's going to be the same phlebotomist and she might have it in for me 😡, she was a bit sn***y on Monday morning and not as nice as the other one I usually see.

Better wait until she's taken the blood then before you tell her she was talking rubbish! 😱 😉

 

[mum2westiesGill]

Better wait until she's taken the blood then before you tell her she was talking rubbish! 😱 😉

Lol but I might actually do that 😉

 

[Highlander]

When I lived in Bristol the Practice Nurse always insisted on a fasting blood test and was quite adamant about this. Then I retired and moved back to Scotland where the Practice Nurse said, there is no need to fast. I think it is all down to the training various people get and their understanding, or lack of, of diabetes.

 

[Dorset Dumpling]

This is an interesting thread! I am booked for a repeat FASTING blood test on Friday ,- 3 months after the initial test that my diagnosis of Type 2 2was made on. A lady who I am a support worker to (and was diagnosed about a month before me) had her 2nd test a fortnight ago and I queried (we are patients at the same surgery) the fact that she did not have to fast and she definitely did not!!!!! I wondered if this was due to the fact that she has a learning disability and someone thought she would be over anxious about fasting???

 

[LeeLee]

All my tests were fasting for the first few years, which I understand was because they were doing the full range of tests including cholesterol which can't be done if you've eaten. It confused the heck out of me when I was sent an appointment for a non-fasting test, so I rang the surgery to confirm it was OK to have breakfast. It was.