Do I really need bloodwork every 3 months? It is expensive — need advice

TrialNerd_Beth 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.

Happy to go further on any of that.

gary_naperville 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.

NeuroNate said:

I would drop the "get everything" instinct further than this thread does.

Shot day Wednesday report relevant to baseline bloodwork:

Week 41. Currently on 0.5mg. Down 67 lbs from starting weight of 279 lbs.

This week's observations: Mild fatigue day 1-2 post-injection, then fine.

Labs due next week — looking forward to seeing the metabolic panel. I'll post results in the Lab Results section when they come in.

One thing that is still open after Dr.AddMedPHL’s answer:

What actually belongs on a baseline panel, as opposed to the enormous list that gets pasted around here?

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.