Blood sugar H1a1c test. sample is after food or fasting?

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I was 3 years old, and I was thirsty all the time and always going to the bathroom.. I lost a lot weight in like 2 weeks and was really tired and moody. My mom is a nurse and she suspected I had diabetes so she took me to the doctor. He checked my urine and then did a finger prick test and when he came back in the room he said I needed to go to the hospital right away because my blood sugar level was 848 (or something around there) which meant I had juvenile diabetes. I was scared, and my mom took me straight there where they gave me an IV. I was in the hospital for about a week, and a lot of people came to see me. I listened to everything the nurses told me. I remember one night I was sitting on the floor checking between my toes and the nurses at the nurses station saw me and laughed because I guess the doctor had mentioned it was important to check your feet often and I had remembered. I also remember my sister sitting in my room with me while my parents talked to the educators and nurses. The worst part about being diagnosed was that one of my two blankies got lost in my hospital sheets and put in the laundry with them, never to be seen again. When I was about 5 years old my pediatrician referred me to a pediatric endocrinologist, whom I have been seeing every 3-4 months since then. I started doing my own shots when I was 5 and got an insulin pump when I was 8. I've had three different ones (Minimed 508, Paradigm 712, and 722) with the last one a year ago. I started using the CGMS with it in January and it's been really neat and helped me have better control.

If you are getting tested for Hemoglobin A1C alone, then it won't really matter if you have the test done before or after eating. That's because HbA1C is found in red blood cells, and it measures the average level over the course of the last 90 days or so. This test is used to monitor a known diabetic's control of his/her blood glucose levels. It is also used to diagnose diabetes - esp Type II Diabetes.

Your doctor's office will instruct you. Generally this must be with 8-10 hours of fasting. That means you can only have water, no gum and no artificial sweeteners.

This test is one to screen for your average blood sugar in the last 3 months. While you have high and low numbers, this one does the average. Tells the doctor how well you are doing on your blood sugar management.

No, it's any time. That's half the beauty of the test.

It could be at any time even random because it is an average value.