Lipid panel improvements mega-thread — share your numbers

NurseKim_ATL said:

ApoB is the more informative number and it is cheap.

Agreed, and hsCRP is worth reading alongside them. The inflammatory-marker fall is often the most striking change on a panel and it is consistent with the cardiovascular outcome data.

mike_mealprep said:

One addition: if the lab changes analytical platform between your draws, the comparison breaks and nobody tells you.

Thank you — that is the clearest version of this I have read, and I have read a lot of them. Printing the relevant bit and taking it with me.

NurseKim_ATL said:

ApoB is the more informative number and it is cheap.

Careful with treating an unchanged LDL-C as a failure. If ApoB and triglycerides both fell, the particle picture improved regardless of what the calculated LDL says.

Worth separating that from the lipid panel, which this thread keeps folding into the same question. They behave differently and the advice does not transfer.

LipidDoc_ATL 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:

1. CMP + A1C + fasting insulin
2. Complete lipid panel with particle count if possible
3. hsCRP, ferritin, B12, vitamin D
4. Thyroid panel (TSH + free T4)
5. CBC with differential
6. Liver panel (ALT, AST, GGT)
7. DEXA scan or body composition

Total cost at Quest without insurance: ~$200. Worth every penny for the data.

Moderator note: the sourcing question belongs in the vendor section and has been split out. Thread quality here is what the rules are for. Keep it up.