When is the best time to have blood drawn for testing?

[SilverBackGorilla]

Question #1

I want to get some blood work done again soon. I pin Monday morning and Thursday night and I take my Arimadex at the same time as the pin. When is the best time to get my blood drawn? Monday morning before I pin is easy to do and should be my trough correct?


Question #2

Is it ok to have your total test higher than normal as long as I am in range at my trough?
To explain better, say I get blood work Monday morning before I pin which would be my trough and my number is 1100 or so at that low. Can I pin at that low even though It's at 1100 and shoot that number up and then have it come back down to around 1100 Thursday night before my next pin?
So basically, does my peak have to be within normal range?

Sorry to be wordy.

 

[Megatron28]

1) Monday morning or Thursday afternoon should be a good time.

2). Depends on what your doctor wants. And what you want.

 

[willnorthwest]

If you get labs the morning of, but prior to your next scheduled injection, then yes, you will be measuring your trough levels. If you are pinning every 3.5 days, then the difference between your peak and trough levels will not be as drastic, then say, if you were pinning only once a week, or god forbid, once every 2 weeks. Purely speculating on my part, I would say that your peak levels pinning e3.5d would be around 400-500 points higher than whatever your trough levels return at. The only way to know for sure would be to do labs on both a peak day (24/36 hours after injection) and on your trough day.
You ask if your peak has to be in normal range. Well that also depends on a few things. What lab range are you referring to? I have seen some ranges with a high-normal of 800 and ive also seen ranges with a high-normal of 1100. What range have you and your doctors discussed as far as where you want to or need to be? In my case for instance, my doctor is okay with my trough levels in the 1000-1100 range, which means that he is okay with me having even higher peak levels. I think with levels that high, yes you might be taking a little bit bigger risk, then say if you were hovering around 700 or 800, but I think the reward outweighs the risk if you feel better at those levels and you are closely monitoring your treatment with proper labwork.

 

[SilverBackGorilla]

Well, the last time I had it done was on a Monday morning before my pin and I was 1219 on a scale of 250-1100.
I questioned my doc and ha said "How do you feel?" I said fine and out the door I went. I think what I'll do is get it done again, same bat time, same bat place and see if I can mimic that number and if I do, drop it a bit... Or not ;-) Thanks guys!