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The Kitchen Table

Blood work

11 years ago

I have a requisition for some blood work, and it includes fasting. Does that mean I can't even drink water after 8 pm?

If so, the good news is that I might be able to sleep right thru the nite without getting up a few times to pee. A silver lining for sure!

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Comments (13)

Jodi_SoCal
11 years ago
It usually means no water except for that needed to take your regular meds.
ravencajun Zone 8b TX
11 years ago
It depends on the tests, most allow for water only, in fact being well hydrated helps make the blood drawing much easier. I have to do fasting blood work every few weeks, I can have as much water as I want but nothing else after midnight.
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it is detection limit , which essentially means if you start with zero or none as a means of a benchmark measure...what is the first measurable amount from that...the detection limit. Does that make any sense? I do not know how that would apply in your case, though. Sorry.
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Thanks! I was sooo afraid she would put me on meds. Mom takes meds for it, and dad had meds and 6 shots a day for it. I just didn't want to start that yet. I told DH that I had to keep doing what I'm doing, no matter what the blood work said. It will be really hard once we start traveling again for the summer, but he's already been told that my big food processor is going with us. I found a recipe for spelt flour biscuits that I have been using for breakfast. I mix them in the fp and bake them, and bake eggs, cook my bacon ahead of time. Then my breakfast gets nuked and eaten for the day instead of grabbing toast for breakfast. It's gotta be better for me. He has also been told no more going 6-8 hours between meal stops. 4-5 is about my limit. I hope he listens! He did remember last Sat. when we had a day out. I made breakfast before we left and by 12:30 he was stopping for lunch. Dinner was getting pretty late for me and I could feel it, but we were going out with his sister and bil. They served a loaf of warm wheat bread right away, so I had just half a slice of that to tide me over. When we are on the road, test kit goes where I go! Guess I will find out how it works on the road in two weeks. We will be headed for VA for a wedding. Invitation came yesterday for a cousin of his, and we are going. This cousin's wife died of cancer almost two years ago. The memeorial service was in June when she passed, and then in Nov. she was interred in Arlington Nat'l Cemetary, and we went for that. I am sure she is very happy for him. She was that kind of person. We will definitly be going! Special people to us, as you can tell by the fact that we drove 7 hours each way, and spent the money for rooms twice. This is an older cousin of DH's. Thanks for the encouragement. I need it! Tami
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Comments (8)
Hello Lynn, I guess first thing to ask and I'm sorry I have to do this- can your cat still get to the dracaena? If he still is eating the plant, well there ya go. But I'm sure you've already removed the source of the problem... A routine panel can rule out many metabolic diseases. Did the bloodwork include T4 to rule out hypertyroidism? If not, I'd definately have that included with any additional lab work. There are several other things that can make a cat vomit, feel fine, and have normal bloodwork. Foreign body with partial GI obstruction; he has a history of eating a plant, which isn't entirely digestible. Other obstructions- masses, intussusception (folding of intestines over itself); probably the reason for the radiograph Pancreatitis- cats don't always have routine bloodwork changes with this condition; can do additional blood tests (PLI, TLI) that are more sensitive Food sensitivity/allergy/intolerance GI cancer- usually hard to see with radiographs and sometimes ultrasound doesn't pick it up either, because it tends to be diffuse infiltrative disease, not discrete masses Famotidine causes some people to vomit; it doesn't have much documentation for use in veterinary med, so it's possible the meds are making him vomit Toxins- probably not in an indoor only cat, unless there are other plants within reach Parasites- also unlikely but possible in an adult indoor cat That's just a start. Some things are hard to diagnose. My own Aleksander (husky) had GI cancer, but it wasn't diagnosed until after 3 sets of routine labwork, one test for Addisons, 2 ultrasounds by boarded radiologists, with attempts to aspirate a thickened pyloris, and finally got it diagnosed on endoscopy. All he was doing for the first month was vomiting once a day. Unfortunately vomiting is a very non-specific problem and almost anything can cause a cat to vomit. Sounds like the vet is progressing in a logical manner to me- has history of eating non-food items so look for evidence of that, and continue ruling out other common metabolic diseases just based on his age. I hope he does OK. What's his name?
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Well, since Bo has not had blood work since 2003 and is getting the dental work done, I decided I will go ahead and do the blood work. I did ask the vet for a quote for in-house and it was WAY more expensive and also fewer tests done (In house we can do 13 blood chemistries, i.e. BUN, creatnine, ALT, etc. as opposed to 17 that Marshfield can do.) They also mentioned that the T4 has to be sent out anyways. The vet indicated that the blood pressure ($25.70), eye pressure ($18.69) and T4 ($43.05) are not required for the dental work but recommended. Regarding the bacteria culture, that is only done if there are issues with the urine. If I subract the blood pressure and eye pressure from the quote, the total for blood, urine and T4 is $181.25. That compares to the $150 meghane has below. If I subract out the urine test, then it is $119.95 and Tess mentions $125. So, sounds as if my cat only vet is probably a little on the high side, but not too far off. Tess - you get a good price on the whole package!! Some of the others are hard to compare to since I don't know if they are comparing apples to apples. I.e. what exactly is included in the blood test. Since Bo is 7 and gettng dental work, will go ahead and do it. And then, if he doesn't get dental work again next year, will probably go a couple of years before doing the full blood work again. Regarding doing it every 6 months, that sounds like too much unless there is a known health issue. I only go in for a physical once a year myself, and DH never does. We may look into a closer, less expensive vet next time we have to take a cat in. I just worry since Cougar has specific health issues (IBD) - would like to find a vet that offers the same food. I do keep a copy of all the vet records so that is good at least. Thanks everyone for your responses!!
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blubird
11 years ago
Like ravencajun, I also do fasting blood work every few weeks. I am encouraged to drink as much water as I'd like. It keeps the veins nicely plumped up and easier to do the blood draw.

H
wanda_va
11 years ago
Whenever we have fasting blood work, we cannot eat or drink after midnight--except water. The phlebotomist has actually told DH to drink water in the morning, because it is very hard to get blood from him, and the hydration helps with blood drawing (as raven said).
wildchild
11 years ago
Yes you can drink plain water. You need to stay hydrated. If you get dehydrated it can be harder to draw the blood. Also dehydration can skew the results of your triglyceride count making it high. Not being well hydrated can also give you a false positive in regards to diabetes.
Jasdip
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks for all the quick replies. I'm weird.....if I know that I can't have water, or if I forget to take my stainless bottle with me when I go anywhere, I get so thirsty!!!

Drinking now. :D
ravencajun Zone 8b TX
11 years ago
This link might help.
Now if fasting for a surgery that is different in that case no or extremely small amounts of water are allowed, they told me each time to drink only as much as I need to swallow my regular meds.

Here is a link that might be useful: Fasting
ravencajun Zone 8b TX
11 years ago
I know what you mean. I have Sjogrens syndrome which means I carry a bottle of water with me every where, you will not see me with out one of my many water containers. I now have started collecting them.
When I have to fast for surgery it is awful.
The more you can't the more you want!!
azzalea
11 years ago
I always used to think that meant no water, too. And then the tech would have a terrible time drawing my blood. Once my SIL (who is a vampire--I mean blood tech) told me to drink a lot of water, it made the process SO much easier.
jannie
11 years ago
Nothing after midnight, but you can have a few sips of water.
Jasdip
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks guys. The clinic opens at 7 and I was part of the line-up outside. They opened the doors early and we all took a number and registered. At 7 they started calling names and we got our blood drawn.

I told the nurse that I asked my online friends last nite and they said that water makes it easier to draw the blood. She agreed that water is fine to drink.

I was home at 7:25
LuAnn_in_PA
11 years ago
I am surprised with all the "nothing after midnight" comments.

All my blood draws are 12 hour fasts.
I have nothing after dinner.
susanjf_gw
11 years ago
i thnk it depends on the test?

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