Contents:
- Medical Video: Fasting for Blood Work | Frequently Asked Questions
- Why do you have to fast before you check your health?
- Types of tests that require fasting before health check
- How long should you fast before checking health?
- What are the consequences if not fasting before a medical check up?
- Can you take medicine when doing a health check?
Medical Video: Fasting for Blood Work | Frequently Asked Questions
Have you ever had a medical check-up? Medical check-up is a comprehensive medical examination that aims to determine the patient's health condition. This health check can be done for all ages and genders depending on one's needs. You can check your health anywhere as long as the laboratory is available to do a blood test.
Usually before doing a blood test, the doctor will tell the patient to do fasting. But there are also certain types of health checks where doctors allow you to eat and drink whatever you want.
Proper examination is the thing you need to do in order to get accurate results as a form of diagnosis regarding the medical problems you are experiencing. That is why, you must do the instructions given by the doctor correctly to avoid re-examination or avoid unnecessary additional checks.
Why do you have to fast before you check your health?
Fasting before conducting a health check is very important to help ensure that the results of your tests are accurate. Because the nutritional content in the food and drinks you consume before taking a health test will be absorbed into the bloodstream and can have a direct impact on the level of blood glucose, fat and iron in the body.
That's why you are instructed by a doctor to fast before taking a medical. This is also a way to ensure that the results of the examination are not influenced by the consumption of the last meal and can be correctly interpreted by the doctor so that the diagnosis process regarding your health condition will be more accurate.
Types of tests that require fasting before health check
Some health checks that require patients to fast during medical check-ups, namely:
- Glucose examination
- Cholesterol examination (lipid / fat profile)
- Examination of urea and gout
- Examination of liver function
- Examination of triglyceride levels
- Examination of the basic metabolic system
- And so forth
How long should you fast before checking health?
Basically, the length of your fasting depends on the type of health test you are doing. Fasting time ranges from 10-12 hours before taking a health test. But if you want to check glucose levels in the blood, you are recommended to just fast at least 8 hours.
What are the consequences if not fasting before a medical check up?
Fasting in the context of a health check is not eating food and drinks within a predetermined period of time. Even so you are still allowed to drink water so that the body remains well hydrated so that it will give an idea of the actual level of examination.
Well, if you do not fast or not fast according to the recommended time, the examination you do will give inaccurate results because certain checks are still influenced by food. But if you feel fasting will cause problems for your body's condition, you can consult your doctor or nurse.
Can you take medicine when doing a health check?
Before you do a health check, you are not allowed to take drugs in a certain period of time. Because there are several drugs that will affect the results of blood tests. But if you really need to keep taking the medicine, it's a good idea to confirm with the laboratory. This aims to help the laboratory in validating your health test results.
A good health check is done in the morning, when the body is still in shape after resting at night. In addition, our bodies have biological variations in accordance with time, meaning that chemicals that are examined in the morning can give different results if examined in the afternoon. For that, make sure you follow the instructions of your doctor or laboratory officer before health check.
