Fasting before bloodwork?

[JohnnyV85]

How important is it to follow this instruction in the requisition? It says to fast for 12-14 hours prior to bw.
1) I already ate breakfast this morning
2) I dont want to go 12 hours without eating. Im always hungry as it is.

I had a cup of oatmeal with 1 scoop of protein powder and 1 tbsp of pb powder, if that matters. Will it skew my numbers somehow?

[Quester]

-Yes it will change the results.

[Gallowmere]

How important is it to follow this instruction in the requisition? It says to fast for 12-14 hours prior to bw.
1) I already ate breakfast this morning
2) I dont want to go 12 hours without eating. Im always hungry as it is.

I had a cup of oatmeal with 1 scoop of protein powder and 1 tbsp of pb powder, if that matters. Will it skew my numbers somehow?

Mostly it screws with the metabolic panel and possibly lipid profile.

[The God Himself]

Depends on what are you really going to be tested for.
If its a hormone panel, I wouldn't be worried at all.
Like the posts before me have said it can mess your blood lipids and sugar though.
Best practice for that is to have the bloodwork in the morning so you can "fast" while you're sleeping..

[JohnnyV85]

Thanks for all the feedback. I wasnt mentally prepared to fast for that long, I only made it to like 5 hours. TGH that's a great suggestion, that's what I'm gonna do next week.

[Quester]

I've never not had the blood test when the lab opened. 14-hours is ridiculous.

[powerliftmike]

I have medical self experience with this question actually. As stated above it depends on what the bloodwork is for. Eating (i.e. non-fasting) will absolutely mess fasted blood sugar levels up. The general recommendation to fast is for the often-done lipid panel, eating can mostly effect the triglyceride results here. Tests for GH and insulin hormones also can be screwed up. If you are just looking for other hormones, e.g. estradiol, testosterone, t3, or liver enzymes [e.g. ALT & AST] no need to fast.

Beware that phlebotomists (the people that draw your blood) generally are given blanket advice to not perform the test and reschedule if you say you ate when they ask. If you and your doc do not care about lipids, blood sugars, etc on this particular test then you can just lie and say you havent eaten.

Schedule this stuff first thing in the morning is what I do when checking on lipids.

[Gallowmere]

I've never not had the blood test when the lab opened. 14-hours is ridiculous.

How so? Finish dinner at 6:00, have draw at 8:00am. I do it regularly.

[< <Samson> >]

How so? Finish dinner at 6:00, have draw at 8:00am. I do it regularly.

That's what I was gonna say

Take a xan & sleep a little extra long - shit, I can sleep 10 hours as is just fine