My 8 year old son is scheduled for a blood test. His lipid profile is among the ordered tests. The lab insists that a patient fast for 9-12 hours before the test. Clearly, my son needs to eat as soon as he wakes. Has anyone dealt with this before and how?
We JUST dealt with this same issue (also for lipid test). What we did was scheduled the blood test for first thing in the morning and brought food with for her to eat right after the test. Luckily she didn't wake up needing insulin or food right away so it worked out perfectly. Good luck!
I wonder why an 8 year old needs a lipid test.
Our diabetes doc told us that it was a routinetest for type1 patients.
Our 10 year old son just did his fasting blood test including lipids and he was fine
Sorry was cut off
We brought something to eat and his insulin since I think his nurse wanted to watch how we give his shots. As long as the are not low when they wake up then he should be fine. Good luck
I have been enduring blood tests for a long time. 30+ years with T1 and so I do my panels like a good soldier. Please this (below) is my opinion and I don't want ot offend anyone.
Lipid test for an 8 year old is beyond ridiculous. Since the world is full of type 2's, the insurance companies will pay for it with a diagnosis of "diabetes". Routine... probably for a 42 year old with type 2 and other complications. "routine" really? for an 8 year old? it's also called bill padding. You can instruct your doctor to remove it form the order if you want to.
I do get my lipids "checked" When they ask me if I am fasting: I SAY YES. all non-fasting will do for a lipid test is increase "bad cholesterol" results and that's it. If I get the test in the AM, I do it before breakfast... but more often than not my tests are in the afternoon, and so I don't fast. why would I care? In the off chance that I got a high result, I would tell my doctor, "oh I wasn't fasting".
off topic a little... I can fast all day if I want to, and the last time I needed to was an appendectomy. On that day the doctors didn't get any wise guy stuff from me at all. Is there a reason your son can't fast other than he's hungry?
good luck
You're right on Joe about the lipid testing. It's silly for a young child.
becyg's son probably takes shots, so fasting isn't as easy for him.
I am type 1on an insulin pump and it is much easier to fast while on a pump than on shots like my son. It is harder for a young kid as they are hungry and with no insulin on board their sugars will rise. You cannot compare a grown up to a child or know what it is like if you don’t have a child with diabetes
One: We don't know what medical issues may be going on with this child that her doctor is requesting a lipid test, but since most of us are parents, and not doctors, I don't think it's for us to question.
Two: Whether taking shots or insulin, it's really difficult for some T1s to go 9-12 hours without eating. My son has to eat every 3 hours with very few exceptions or his blood sugars will just drop drastically. An 8yo (or in my son's case 11) has a much different metabolism than a 42yo.
We're just in the beginning stages of our T1 (dx only 7 months ago) but if your son is anything like mine, it seems that your best course of action would be to try and get them to schedule it as early in the morning as possible. Some doctor's will make a special time slot for children with T1 because of their special circumstances.
It doesn't matter how old a diabetic is.
With shots it's difficult to maintain normal blood sugars while fasting. With a pump it's very easy to maintain normal blood sugars while fasting. You might be hungry, but your blood sugar is okay with a pump.
I may not parent a diabetic kid, but I WAS a diabetic kid (diagnosed at age 4). I had to do fasting blood sugar tests and remember how difficult it was to prevent lows when I had a fasting test.
I'm really curious about this fasting thing. How would someone with a pump fast? Do they completely shut the basals off? Do you mean fasting as in no food or no food/drink?
beckyg-
A pump uses only short acting insulin and works more like a pancreas.
A basal rate is the base rate of insulin needed to maintain blood sugars without eating. Through trial and error and lots of testing you find the appropriate basal rate (mine varies between .4 and 1.5 u per hour depending on time of day). Then if you eat or need to correct a high blood sugar, you give an additional amount called a bolus. If you're low or exercising you can disconnect from the pump to help mitigate the blood sugar drop.
I did shots for 25 years and had contstant highs and lows. It was very frustrating. I've used a pump for the last 10 and it's been wonderful. Had a healthy pregnancy and I rarely have lows anymore.
My Christian church spent a year doing a First Friday Fast where we prayed and fasted (no food, only a small amount of water) for the first Friday of each month. I left my pump's basal setting at the normal rate and my blood sugars were great... better than normal because there were no food/carb counting variables. The fasting days were a good opportunity to verify my basal rates were correct.
There's a great book by John Walsh called "Pumping Insulin" that gives a good overview of pumps. Gary Scheiner's "Think Like a Pancreas" covers pumps too.
-Jenna
Thank you all for the advice/encouragement. We made it through. We are now awaiting test results. I guess each new experience post-diagnosis is a new mountain to climb.