Before trying to conceive, knowing your body’s starting point is a huge advantage. Some very common deficiencies or imbalances don’t produce obvious symptoms, but they can affect fertility and the baby’s development.
The most useful basic tests include: a complete blood count, iron and ferritin (your iron stores), vitamin D (an extremely common deficiency in Berlin, where winter sunlight is scarce), vitamin B12 and folate, blood glucose and insulin (to assess sugar metabolism), and a thyroid panel (TSH, FT3, FT4, and antibodies).
Watch out: having values “within range” does not always mean having values that are optimal for fertility. Ferritin, for example, can be formally normal yet too low to properly support a pregnancy. That’s why it helps to have someone guide you in interpreting the results from a preconception perspective.
