Blood tests, fasting or not.

Perhaps you're having the Hba1c test Tanith which gives an indication of blood glucose levels over a period of time. Presumably you wouldn't need to fast for that.
www.diabetes.co.uk/what-is-hba1c.html

Thanks janeainsworth that must be it .

These tests are no longer fasting, has been this way for around a year

Thanks goose1964 I'm glad it seems its nationwide and not peculiar to my surgery.. I will ask the nurse why they've done that though.

For as long as I've been having them, HbA1c has never been a fasting test.

Glucose tolerance tests are fasting, but you will have been told if that's what they want to do.

daphnedill I did say that I usually have the fasting test its just changed to non fasting this time so I was a bit puzzled. I will find out from the nurse why its changed to non-fasting.

I don't have to fast now for my cholesterol blood test either - much to my relief as I'm not too happy when I am hungry!

Seems like its pretty common now to have the non-fasting... must admit several times I had my morning cuppa then remembered I was supposed to be fasting

The Hba1c blood test which looks at blood sugar levels over the previous 3 months is non-fasting, as are most blood tests nowadays. The reason that most blood tests have been changed to non-fasting is because there was too much variation in patients and their 'idea' of fasting i.e. some people fasting from 9pm the prev evening, some from 12am etc. The one blood test remaining which is fasting is the Glucose Tolerance Test (GTT).

I'm a bit puzzled too tanith. Oh well! At least you can have your cuppa without a guilty conscience.

I had mine last week and it was still a fasting blood test .

I asked the nurse and she said it was purely down individual practices and ours decided to no longer do fasting tests and that is all she would say.

It seems very strange. I was diagnosed as having T2 diabetes just over 25 years ago. Originally I had consultant care at the local hospital, because I was atypical and they thought I could be T1. I had Glucose Tolerance Tests, which were fasting, but after a couple of years I started having Hba1c tests every six months. I've been having them for over 20 years and they've never been fasting. I don't really understand why they would need to be fasting, because they measure glycated haemoglobin, which gives an indication of average glucose levels over the last two to three months.

Was your blood tested for cholesterol at the same time? Some of these tests are fasting.

The fasting blood glucose test is still fasting, that hasn't changed at all

There is also, as mentioned, a different test that can give information about your blood sugar over a period of time, that's not fasting.

neither test has changed, you may have been booked for a different test is all

If it's the fasting one, usually you'll be told that your appointment will take two hours: one blood test after fasting, and one after the glucose solution.

If it's just an in-and-out test it's probably the non fasting one

The reason I asked whether cholesterol is being checked with the same lot of blood is that I've just read that the recommendations for cholesterol testing have changed. Previously, it was thought that it should be fasting, but now it's been decided that it doesn't matter.

Thanks for all the input I also read about that daphnedill so I leave it to the experts and assume they know what they are doing.

Fingers crossed!

PS. Hope you had a nice cuppa!