Dr.BariatricHTX said:

The single most useful discipline is bringing the whole panel to a clinician rather than one flagged value.

This answered a question I did not know how to ask. Printing the relevant bit and taking it with me.

Clinical perspective, offered as context rather than as advice.

Blood work came back perfect. baseline bloodwork + this community = winning. 🏆

NurseLeah_Nash said:

PSA: get baseline labs BEFORE starting baseline bloodwork therapy.

This is where I part company with the consensus forming above. I think the framing smuggles in the conclusion. Ask it the other way round and the obvious answer reverses, which usually means the question is doing the work.

Adding the numbers, since they settle part of this. Say what you would expect to see if you were wrong, before you look. It is a small discipline and it changes what you notice.

Moderator note: good thread. Keeping it here rather than moving it, because the question is general enough to be useful.