How many people get blood work done?

**07sandiegomuscle** · 10-19-2009, 01:40 PM

There doesn't seem to be many answers when you have questions about blood work in this forum. Thru a lot of outside research of this forum I found some answers about where to get blood work done and the costs, which are below. If you feel normal and are over 25 and going to do a cycle how often should you get your blood work done besides the one time before you start? Again in the middle? After PCT? During PCT? Of course if you see or feel something wrong, but if you don't at what intervals? The tests are not cheap when you do them all from what I posted below. Anyone know of a cheaper way to do it all?

It seems like in the USA you either can go to www.healthonelabs.com or www.anylabtestnow.com to find a local testing center. At Health One Labs to get all the testing recommended by this thread: http://forums.steroid.com/showthread.php?t=254423 You will have to get 6 test done:

Comprehensive Health Profile $60
Homocysteine Test - $60
Testoterone - $60
Luteinizing Hormone - Healthone doesn't offer it!
Estradiol - Healthone doesn't offer it!
Thyroid Panel- $60

So, 4 out of 6 tests are setting you back $360 and you will still need to get 2 more tests!
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**07sandiegomuscle** · 10-19-2009, 01:47 PM

After reading for 8 plus hours around this forum it doesn't seem like people without problems yet are doing much blood work? And when they do it is just Testosterone , CBC, and lipid panel. Is everyone just blowing off the Homocysteine, LH, and Estradiol test? There isn't much talk about it in the forum. I don't even know where to get the LH and Estradiol test? Where have others in the USA been getting them.

**chuckt12345** · 10-19-2009, 01:51 PM

what are you takin it for? if you are doing serious cycles regularly then blood test should be taken more often,, if not then i wouldnt worry much about them unless you feel u are having problems.
from the scenerios above id just get the test levels and comprehensive one done

**Merc.** · 10-19-2009, 01:55 PM

It depends.. Yes you should get bloodwork done prior to doing a cycle ( it is very helpful down the road to know what your levels are before you ever cycled) ..

A lot of peeps like to know what their levels are while on cycle( for various reasons). So say you are using a long chained ester like cyp or test E .. It can take up to 4-6 weeks to reach stable blood plasma levels ( most endocrinologist will do a blood test at around week 5 , after you start doing HRT )..

After the cycle ( and proper pct ) you will want to wait awhile to get a blood testing done ( again depending on the compound you used ) so it is accurate ..

**Merc.** · 10-19-2009, 01:58 PM

Also if doing a blood test while on cycle you will want to have Total testosterone levels tested ( it is the more important number when it comes to building muscle) ..

Merc.

**Merc.** · 10-19-2009, 02:03 PM

Originally Posted by 07sandiegomuscle

After reading for 8 plus hours around this forum it doesn't seem like people without problems yet are doing much blood work? And when they do it is just Testosterone, CBC, and lipid panel. Is everyone just blowing off the Homocysteine, LH, and Estradiol test? There isn't much talk about it in the forum. I don't even know where to get the LH and Estradiol test? Where have others in the USA been getting them.

Lab corp .. https://www.labcorp.com/wps/portal/ and Quest Diagnostics.. http://www.questdiagnostics.com/ do those test ( estradiol and LH) ( it is expensive if you dont have insurance ).. Homocysteine, LH, and Estradiol test are very important ...

Merc.

**07sandiegomuscle** · 10-19-2009, 02:10 PM

Originally Posted by Merc.

Also if doing a blood test while on cycle you will want to have Total testosterone levels tested ( it is the more important number when it comes to building muscle) ..

Merc.

Why have testosterone levels checked? To see if you gear is real? That is the only reason right? Say before cycling you were at 600, but you are on gear 4 weeks later-500mg of test., so now your test. level will say 1100? Or, something close right? But is that test. really important other than to know you gear is real? I would have thought you would say to do any of the other tests if you were trying not to waste money because the other tests will tell if something is wrong and let you try to correct it before long term damage is done?

**07sandiegomuscle** · 10-19-2009, 02:15 PM

Originally Posted by Merc.

Lab corp .. https://www.labcorp.com/wps/portal/ and Quest Diagnostics.. http://www.questdiagnostics.com/ do those test ( estradiol and LH) ( it is expensive if you dont have insurance ).. Homocysteine, LH, and Estradiol test are very important ...

Merc.

I didn't find the Quest Diagnostics before- thanks.

**chuckt12345** · 10-19-2009, 02:20 PM

when and why are you testing,, are you takin a test in the middle of your cycle?
if so why?

**07sandiegomuscle** · 10-19-2009, 02:27 PM

Originally Posted by chuckt12345

when and why are you testing,, are you takin a test in the middle of your cycle?
if so why?

I want to start my 2nd cycle soon and I want to do everything right. I don't want any serious, long term side effects?

**Merc.** · 10-19-2009, 02:34 PM

Originally Posted by 07sandiegomuscle

Why have testosterone levels checked? To see if you gear is real? That is the only reason right? Say before cycling you were at 600, but you are on gear 4 weeks later-500mg of test., so now your test. level will say 1100? Or, something close right? But is that test. really important other than to know you gear is real? I would have thought you would say to do any of the other tests if you were trying not to waste money because the other tests will tell if something is wrong and let you try to correct it before long term damage is done?

No not necessarily just to see if your stuff is real ( remember I said Dr's wait about 5 weeks to test their patients to make sure their levels are not too high or too low , but thats for HRT)...

So ideal would be blood test before ever doing a cycle.. Doing A CBC etc .( basically getting a full blood panel run) ..

Than getting testosterone levles checked in about 5 wks ( free test and total test as well as estradiol ).. Most I know dont do this ..

After cycle and Proper PCT ( two months or longer) you could get another full blood panel ran ( to compare to your first one).. Or if you just want to see if you are/have recovered .. you could just get LH , FSH .. Total Test and estradiol .. So it really depends on what the person is looking to do ..

Also as per your question everybody responds to test different as in what dose will produce what level of testosterone .. So for example one guy might use 500 of cyp per wk and after 5 wks have a total test level of like 1800-1900 .. Than another guy also doing 500 mg of test ( again after 5 wks ) might have a total testosterone level of 2500 Ng/DL..

Merc.

**JimInAK** · 10-20-2009, 09:25 PM

I've used ZRT Lab for an IGF-1 test. They do lots of blood and saliva tests. They mailed me a kit with a package to send my test back to them in, prepaid by UPS. They mailed my results and posted them for me to see online. Cost me $85 for IGF-1 test...

It was a pretty easy process and the test results seemed to be accurate.

**mant01** · 10-20-2009, 09:39 PM

Im gonna get some bloods done this week to just make sure everything is ok. I want to check my thyroid function as well and its free in the UK so may as well keep monitoring my levels.

**John88Test** · 10-22-2009, 11:57 PM

http://www.privatemdlabs.com/lp/Male...ne_Testing.php

Someone chime in if thats enough tests to evaluate your AAS health status. Pretty good deal at $150 though.

Private MD Lab Services offers the following hormone test panel for males, which can be used as an initial screen to determine if treatment with bioidentical hormone replacement is needed. Once a decision to start therapy is made, many physicians order a more comprehensive panel to establish a comprehensive baseline hormone status as well as for safety monitoring at periodic intervals.

Male Hormone Testing Panel $149.49
Learn more about male hormones

The Private MD Male Hormone Testing Panel contains the following tests:
Thyroid Profile w/ TSH
Complete Blood Count w/ Differential
Comprehensive Metabolic Panel
Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA)
Estradiol
Testosterone (Free), Serum With Total
Lipid Profile
Insulin Growth Factor (IGF-1)

**07sandiegomuscle** · 10-23-2009, 08:38 AM

Originally Posted by mant01

Im gonna get some bloods done this week to just make sure everything is ok. I want to check my thyroid function as well and its free in the UK so may as well keep monitoring my levels.

Free- that's nice! I think it is nice, but not sure. There is a lot of propaganda here about socialized medicine for the masses. I get socialized medicine via Veteran's Affairs and it is horrible! I called to make an appt. with my primary care physician for my yearly physical and it is a 2 month wait! I had to call 3 times at 15 minutes each time before on the 3rd try I got thru to a person to make the appt. You can't walk in anywhere to make the appt. you can only call a #. If my experiences are an insight into a government run health care in the USA we are fuc&$D!

**profbiv** · 10-23-2009, 08:42 AM

Need to!!!

**07sandiegomuscle** · 10-23-2009, 08:47 AM

Originally Posted by John88Test

http://www.privatemdlabs.com/lp/Male...ne_Testing.php

Someone chime in if thats enough tests to evaluate your AAS health status. Pretty good deal at $150 though.

Private MD Lab Services offers the following hormone test panel for males, which can be used as an initial screen to determine if treatment with bioidentical hormone replacement is needed. Once a decision to start therapy is made, many physicians order a more comprehensive panel to establish a comprehensive baseline hormone status as well as for safety monitoring at periodic intervals.

Male Hormone Testing Panel $149.49
Learn more about male hormones

The Private MD Male Hormone Testing Panel contains the following tests:
Thyroid Profile w/ TSH
Complete Blood Count w/ Differential
Comprehensive Metabolic Panel
Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA)
Estradiol
Testosterone (Free), Serum With Total
Lipid Profile
Insulin Growth Factor (IGF-1)

Thanks a lot for that website! That is the best price I have seen. I went thru www.healthonelabs.com which is really a front to get you around the Doctors prescription we need in Cali to order any tests on our own. Yes, ridiculous! Health One Labs then sent me to Lapcorp, which is a local lap place that seems to have a monopoly on testing in San Diego. It cost $180 for the only 3 tests an aas user would want- cbc, lipids, and test. They don't offer the other tests.