Dr.PainCLE said:

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

Pushing back on Dr.PainCLE here. 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.

traveltech_sara 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…

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

kate.chem 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.

One thing that is still open after NurseKim_ATL’s answer:

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

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.