BethLabQueen said:The single most useful discipline is bringing the whole panel to a clinician rather than one flagged value.
I read this differently from BethLabQueen, on substance rather than tone. I would drop the "get everything" instinct further than this thread does. Every extra test is another chance at a false positive, and incidental findings have their own cost in scans, biopsies and worry.
DataDave said:I got a full panel before starting and a repeat at three months, and the second one is more useful than the first purely because I now have something…
PSA: get baseline labs BEFORE starting baseline bloodwork therapy. You need a "before" picture to measure progress. My recommended pre-treatment panel:
- CMP + A1C + fasting insulin
- Complete lipid panel with particle count if possible
- hsCRP, ferritin, B12, vitamin D
- Thyroid panel (TSH + free T4)
- CBC with differential
- Liver panel (ALT, AST, GGT)
- DEXA scan or body composition
Total cost at Quest without insurance: ~$200. Worth every penny for the data.
Dr.SleepRoch said:I would drop the "get everything" instinct further than this thread does.
Blood work came back perfect. baseline bloodwork + this community = winning. 🏆
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View ResultsOne thing that is still open after pete_nash’s answer:
How often to repeat it, because quarterly seems to be the convention and I cannot find the reasoning?
Closing the loop on my own question.
Took the whole panel in rather than the one flagged line, and the conversation lasted two minutes instead of generating three more tests.