SarahChen_PharmD said:A defensible baseline is short: HbA1c and fasting glucose, a lipid panel with ApoB if you can get it, ALT and AST, creatinine with eGFR, TSH, ferritin…
This is where I part company with the consensus forming above. 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.
steve_okc said:My prescriber ordered three tests and this board recommends about twenty, and I would like to know which of those two lists is right.
Shot day Friday report relevant to baseline bloodwork:
Week 18. Currently on 1.0mg. Down 54 lbs from starting weight of 266 lbs.
This week's observations: Slight injection site redness, resolved in 24h.
Labs due next week — looking forward to seeing the metabolic panel. I'll post results in the Lab Results section when they come in.
julia.endo 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 StandardsFollowing on from kim_atl_prep — and this may be the naive question:
How often to repeat it, because quarterly seems to be the convention and I cannot find the reasoning?
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.