What Lab work does your doctor require?

Just curious what lab work everyone gets done on a regular basis.  I have my 9 month check up soon and need to go get my labs done.  My doctor ordered a CBC, but that only checks the hemoglobin for iron, but I know I read on here once that we need to get our ferritin checked as well.  When I spoke with the PA, she said they only do other tests if the hemoglobin is off.  Anyone know anything about this?

Jen

I just walk in with a list and say "I need these labs"

CBC
Pro time, PT/INR
iron, TIBC, ferritin, transferring
CMP
Folate, Vitamin A (THEY NEED TO WRAP THIS, IF ITS EXPOSED TO LIGHT THEY CANNOT TEST IT!! - in all caps, because not all of the phlebotomists seem to know this) vitamin B6, vitamin B12, vitamin D (D25, 0,25 NOT the 1,25 which is what they seem to just defer to)
PTH (we need this to use with your calcium and vitamin D levels, to see if your calcium is coming from supplementation or leaching from your bones)
lipid panel, triglycerides, LDL, vldl, HDL, cholesterol total.

Dr. A suggests we hold vitamin supplements for 3 days prior to lab draw and have them fasting. 
Other doctors do not suggest the same thing, so once again - no real baseline. Some folks say that they do not see the point in stopping the supplementation because they are not planning on stopping the supplementation, other folks say yes, its important so you can see the levels that are actually held in your body, so again - no baseline rule of thumb for everyone.

An that's it for Dr. A! 

Edit to add the PTH and hte specific vitamin D I learned from posting my labs here and asking for help, cuz my doc at the time was CLUE LESS!! 

I broke up with her. 

Why do you do the Vitamin A?

mary

Firstly only because it was on the list, then when I asked for help on the lightweight board, they made some comments, but I will need to shuttle through my old posts to find out what they said!  I used to have all that info in a durn document, but that computer has crashed and is gone.  BAh!

I will find out after work and share!

Okay.. it was bugging me.. but here

http://wlsvitagarten.com/2010/01/02/vitamins-from-a-zinc-vit amin-a/

Nobody mentioned the "why" of the A to me on my lab questions, but here is andrea's information page.

Deficiency can lead to night blindness, which is a given, and its impact on our immunity, but the attachment to it going along with iron-deficiency anemia and iron stores is very interesting!



 

thanks, I'll have to look into that!

mary

Welcome!  You and me too!

My doc orders everything but the kitchen sink.  I had 13 tubes drawn once and 11 another time!  He also says to stop vits 2 days before drawing blood to see what my body actually has in its system, not what is floating around, waiting to come out in my pee(case in point- that wonderful neon yellow color to it :)

my surgeon does an extremely extensive panel at one year. Haven't done that yet. going to pu**** into next year for insurance reasons which surgeon has ok'd. my pcp has done some blood work a couple of times this past year. i think iron, ferritin, cholesterool (at my request) liver stuff, platelets, and a bunch of other stuff i dont get. lab orders from surgeon for the one year look like comprehensive metabolic, a series of vitamin levels, hematology including iron and feratin, and cardiac which is cholesterol and triglicerides. says to stop taking supplements three days before test. i think the my surgeon might want this panel repeated every year. i might fuss about that as its expensive and i have a high deductable.  so thats all i know. D

Yes, it's the same each year, and I do think it's worth doing. My labs generally have been excellent, but it seems like one thing needs a little tweaking each year...B1 the first year, iron the 2nd, nothing out of range this year but a few that were trending down and barely in range. I've read that some things, like iron and B may actually get worse the longer out we are...not sure whether I believe it, but we do need to be sure on this stuff. I still take 2 multis (one with iron) per day, extra B, D3 and of course calcium so I'm aware that I can't possibly be getting enough nutrients from food if my levels are on the low end of normal WITH supplementation...
L.

He told me that after two years, if my labs were good, I didn't need to get them all done any more as there is nothing in this surgery that would cause a change after that point.

I will always get Vitamin D, the cholesterol and a few others done though. Plus, I'm still having protein issues.