Dr.PainCLE said:The single most useful discipline is bringing the whole panel to a clinician rather than one flagged value.
Pushing back on Dr.PainCLE here. 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.
I would rather be corrected than agreed with, if it comes to it.
traveltech_sara 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…
Blood work came back perfect. baseline bloodwork + this community = winning. 🏆
kate.chem said:I would drop the "get everything" instinct further than this thread does.
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.
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Shop Reference StandardsOne thing that is still open after NurseKim_ATL’s answer:
What actually belongs on a baseline panel, as opposed to the enormous list that gets pasted around here?
OP back with an update, since a thread like this is useless without one.
Took the whole panel in rather than the one flagged line, and the conversation lasted two minutes instead of generating three more tests.