So i’ve been considering nutrition, health, joints and general longevity. I would like to put down a marker for where i’m at, and then work from there.
Has anyone had blood test done and recommend where to go? I was hoping to get a full sweep…
Your GP would probably be the best bet. Routine blood tests are typical for preventative care; and, in my experience, my doctor is more than happy to send a referral for a blood draw/labs, especially when I express interest in having them done.
Additionally, if you have specific concerns relating to any given component of your labs, your doctor would be best situated to explain/evaluate the impact on your health of relevant values.
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I’ve had my bloods taken several times. If your in the UK the GP will take your blood. I think some Chemists like Boots will also do it for a fee.
In the US, doctors have you do blood work as part of your annual (or biannual) physical. That physical also gets me a discount on my annual insurance costs, not sure if that’s true for all insurance.
Nothing wrong with getting a baseline. I think the real trick is… so what next? The odds are your labs “look fine” and there’s nothing obvious to change. I guess you have the peace-of-mind that your labs were normal at that particular moment, but that’s not saying much.
If nothing is at issue, you’ll get a red blood cell count, hemoglobin, and hematocrit. I’d never paid attention to my lab results much, except the cholesterol markers, since most are usually in the desired range, but the last ones I had done I studied them a little more. Interesting to see my RBC’s are getting close to the magic 50 million/uL. Must be all that z2.
Whether it’s worth getting done depends on where you live and therefore how much it costs.
Pros get their blood done quarterly, or so I have hard.
I would get your iron (plus ferritin, which is iron stores) and minerals, vitamins, and hormones done, plus the standard blood panel.
IANAD