diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 9f2cc8f..8d4dde9 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@ The minor version will be incremented upon a breaking change and the patch versi
 
 ### Fixes
 
+- client: include request in initial subscribe to gRPC endpoint to fix LB connection delay ([#252](https://github.com/rpcpool/yellowstone-grpc/pull/252))
+
 ### Features
 
 ### Breaking
diff --git a/examples/rust/src/bin/client.rs b/examples/rust/src/bin/client.rs
index ba1f4eb..39cac8f 100644
--- a/examples/rust/src/bin/client.rs
+++ b/examples/rust/src/bin/client.rs
@@ -524,11 +524,7 @@ async fn geyser_subscribe(
     request: SubscribeRequest,
     resub: usize,
 ) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
-    let (mut subscribe_tx, mut stream) = client.subscribe().await?;
-    subscribe_tx
-        .send(request)
-        .await
-        .map_err(GeyserGrpcClientError::SubscribeSendError)?;
+    let (mut subscribe_tx, mut stream) = client.subscribe_with_request(Some(request)).await?;
 
     info!("stream opened");
     let mut counter = 0;
diff --git a/yellowstone-grpc-client/src/lib.rs b/yellowstone-grpc-client/src/lib.rs
index 99e71f1..8389133 100644
--- a/yellowstone-grpc-client/src/lib.rs
+++ b/yellowstone-grpc-client/src/lib.rs
@@ -173,7 +173,23 @@ impl<F: Interceptor> GeyserGrpcClient<F> {
         impl Sink<SubscribeRequest, Error = mpsc::SendError>,
         impl Stream<Item = Result<SubscribeUpdate, Status>>,
     )> {
-        let (subscribe_tx, subscribe_rx) = mpsc::unbounded();
+        self.subscribe_with_request(None).await
+    }
+
+    pub async fn subscribe_with_request(
+        &mut self,
+        request: Option<SubscribeRequest>,
+    ) -> GeyserGrpcClientResult<(
+        impl Sink<SubscribeRequest, Error = mpsc::SendError>,
+        impl Stream<Item = Result<SubscribeUpdate, Status>>,
+    )> {
+        let (mut subscribe_tx, subscribe_rx) = mpsc::unbounded();
+        if let Some(request) = request {
+            subscribe_tx
+                .send(request)
+                .await
+                .map_err(GeyserGrpcClientError::SubscribeSendError)?;
+        }
         let response: Response<Streaming<SubscribeUpdate>> =
             self.geyser.subscribe(subscribe_rx).await?;
         Ok((subscribe_tx, response.into_inner()))
@@ -206,14 +222,13 @@ impl<F: Interceptor> GeyserGrpcClient<F> {
         .await
     }
 
-    #[allow(clippy::too_many_arguments)]
     pub async fn subscribe_once2(
         &mut self,
         request: SubscribeRequest,
     ) -> GeyserGrpcClientResult<impl Stream<Item = Result<SubscribeUpdate, Status>>> {
-        let (mut subscribe_tx, response) = self.subscribe().await?;
-        subscribe_tx.send(request).await?;
-        Ok(response)
+        self.subscribe_with_request(Some(request))
+            .await
+            .map(|(_sink, stream)| stream)
     }
 
     pub async fn ping(&mut self, count: i32) -> GeyserGrpcClientResult<PongResponse> {