T Blood Tests..

[Guest Jackson]

Sara might be right on this one. I was thinking that it really depends on the lab that runs it. I would think that you'd get both, but you never know. Then again, the lab may just report the one back to you and bill you for both if you request both. It's hard to say how the financial side works what with the reimbursement for medical now. It really sucks. I don't even know how our lab does it really. I have the access to view everything anyway so if there is a free level ordered, usually they do the total level as well.

[Guest Evan_J]

Hopefully your doctor will choose the "right" test so you don't have to! I had my pre-T bloodwork handy, so I went and looked. On mine they got serum testosterone levels, which is how much testosterone is in your blood. I'm not sure if they were looking at free testosterone or total testosterone though. Both free and total testosterone are blood tests and as such would probably be described as serum levels.

As a side note, SOT's pre-T levels were 23 ng/dL, which is at the low end of the normal range for genetic females. : (

In my defense, when the test was done I was at the point in the dreaded menstrual cycle when T levels would have been lowest.

Soooo...I did a light googling of the topic. It looks like total testosterone is reported in ng/dL, like on my results sheet. Free testosterone looks like it is reported as some kind of ratio or percent. What I'm finding suggests that free testosterone is the proportion of total testosterone that ISN'T bound to this protein called SHBG...which seems to be pretty important.

I guess it looks like the pre-T bloodwork I got was total testosterone, not free testosterone. I'm not sure what they'll get when I do my follow-up in April. Maybe both. I'll ask someone at the clinic I go to.

As best as I can tell, it looks like either type of test is fine as long as you don't have any medical conditions that affect your SHBG levels (like hypothyroidism). That's what causes the differences between free and total T levels in genetic males. When your SHBG levels are screwy, it changes the results. From what I'm reading, it looks like people who are in the normal range for one kind of T are in the normal range for the other. If your SHBG levels are too high then you have normal levels of total T but lower than normal levels of free, bioavailable T.

I don't know how much the tests cost in total. I think the blood work I got done was about $50, but I get that for a reduced rate because I'm poor. Still, it doesn't look like there's any need to spring for the expensive test unless you have a thyroid problem or liver dysfunction or something like that.

You know, testosterone levels in saliva are pretty closely related to serum levels. If you're just curious you might look into getting the spit test. I think I saw a "home kit" online for like $30 once. You spit in a tube and send it off to a lab. Easy as pie.

Jumping in and few pages later.... (forgive me if its been answered I only read through page 1) in my pre-T bloodwork my testosterone was measured the same way as Strandeds -50 ng /dl - (I'm older than he is though so maybe a grain of salt is in order) it was called "slightly high" (I believe "normal" ends at 48?) so that might be the test you're lookin for. But like stranded said, best to ask your doctor.