24-Hour Fasting with Diabetes: guide to physicians advising patients on medication adjustments prior to religious observances (or outpatient surgical procedures)

Patients with diabetes may undergo an approximately 24-h fast for a voluntary religious observance or in preparation for a medical procedure. Commonly, patients will manage their diabetes before and during such fasting without guidelines from their doctors, often because they did not ask for advice. The physician should therefore take the lead in advising patients how to fast safely, in order to avoid the situation wherein the patient manages medication changes on his/her own. Furthermore, it sends a message to the patient that having diabetes does not preclude living a reasonably ‘normal’ life, even when it comes to religious observances. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.