What blood tests do you have ran?

Without insurance, I am trying to find the cheapest way to get my bloodwork done without paying an arm and a leg.  My local LabCorp will do any test I need without docs orders, but I want to make sure I am getting the right things done.  Here is the list I have from my surgeons office:

Cardiovascular                                Total Cholesterol, Triglycerides, LDL, VLDL, HDL

Comprehensive Metabolic               Albumin, Alkaline Phosphatase, Total Bilirubin, 

                                                         BUN, Carbon Dioxide (Bicarbonate), Calcium, 

                                                         Chloride, Creatinine, Glucose, Magnesium, 

                                                         Phosphorous, PTH (Intact), SGOT (AST), SGPT

                                                         (ALT), Sodium, Total Protein, TSH

Specialty Chemistry                         Folate (serum/RBC), Selenium, Vitamin A, Vitamin

                                                         B6, Vitamin B12, Vitamin D (25-OH), Zinc

Hematology                                      CBC, Platelet count, Prothrombin time, INR, PTT, 

                                                         Iron, Total Iron Binding Capacity, Ferritin, 

                                                         Transferrin

 Is there anything else you suggest, or think is unnecessary?  The Specialty Chemistry is about $250 itself!   Thanks for the input!

At some point you'll want to test vitamin K1  It might be cheaper than prothrombin time, etc for checking blood clotting. Looks like a good list to start with. Oh, add albumin. That goes with your protein serum.

--gina

Duodenal Switch Lab Orders

Patient should have DEXA (bone density) scan performed every 2 years

Please have the following drawn every 3 months for 2 years:

CBC with differential/platelets
COMPREHENSIVE METABOLIC PANEL
LIPID PANEL w/ LDL/HDL ratio
HEPATIC FUNCTION PANEL

     protein, total, serum
     Albumin, Serum
     Bilirubin, Total
     Bilirubin Direct
     Alkaline Phosphate, S
     AST (SGOT)
     ALT (SGPT)
 

AMYLASE, serum
FERRITIN
IRON, serum
TIBC (transferrin)
COPPER
ZINC
PHOSPHORUS, serum
PTH, intact
CALCIUM, ionized, serum
VITAMIN D, 25 HYDROXY
MAGNESIUM, serum
VITAMIN E, SERUM
VITAMIN K1
VITAMIN A
TSH
THYROXINE (T4)
VITAMIN B1 (thiamine)
VITAMIN B2 (riboflavin)
VITAMIN B3 (niacin)
VITAMIN B5 (pantothenic acid)
VITAMIN B6 (pyridoxine)  
VITAMIN B9 FOLATE (Folic acid)
VITAMIN B12 (cobalamin)  
MMA (Methylmalonic Acid) 

If you are trying to do the bare minimum, you can probably get away without doing the cardiovascular stuff.

Then you should do a CBC and Comprehensive Metabolic Panel - it is cheaper to do things in panels than individually.  You might want to do a CBC  by itself and not a CBC with differential since the differential really just looks for things that determine infection.  You just want the part that looks for anemia.

As far as the things you have listed in the Comprehensive Metabolic Panel - not all those things are part of the panel unless LabCorp has totally different panels that Quest and Shiel.  Magnesium, Phosporus and PTH are not part of the panels and neither are TSH but these things should be tested.  The comprehensive should include potassium and chloride - these are things that determine dehydration

I also have never seen a special chemistry with those things listed together.  You really dont need both Folate Serum and RBC - the RBC part is really expensive.  My Hematologist ran this for me this last time for the first time just because my serum levels were dropping but if you are paying out of pocket, I wouldnt pay to have the RBC Folate unless you are having a problem with your folate levels.

In the Hematology, you can do without the PTT, PT, INR - they are usually done for people having surgery - you need to have a vitamin K and vitamin E level done.  You also need copper

Are you sure that LabCorp is the cheapest way to go?  I have heard that there is a company online that allows you to order labs yourself - I dont remember which one - there is post op that works for them and had posted a year or so ago - you might want to post on the main board and RNY board asking about cheap labs for people without insurance and see if you get a response.