My doctor could not believe my bloodwork — need advice

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.

Happy to go further on any of that.

sophie_paris 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 Thursday report relevant to baseline bloodwork:

Week 20. Currently on 15mg. Down 66 lbs from starting weight of 278 lbs.

This week's observations: Energy levels excellent, zero nausea.

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

Dr.PainCLE 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:

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.

Following on from wanda_boise — and this may be the naive question:

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.