Tetosterone Tests

Testosterone testing is very useful for gynos, and you may want to gab with yours to see if you need this hormone checked. But getting the right test, and an accurate test is very important. The Testosterone Tests were Toppled in 2011. Laboratories changed the way they reported tests, and they had to change how they interpreted the results. Results of Testosterone Tests called into question by the endocrine society and then the tests have been improved. All patients need to understand that all testing has flaws, but with hormones it's often difficult to get a test that your gyno can use. Times of day, part of the menstrual cycle, are just two of the obvious sources of error to testosterone testing. Then there is the fact that physicians have not been able to decide what level is a normal blood level of testosterone. It may not even be so simple as what is normal per decade of life, but may be what is normal for a certain ethnicity.  But there is more to it than that, testosterone circulates in an essentially an inactive form. So you cannot have a completely accurate reading by just getting testosterone alone tested. You may need free testosterone tested. Much of testosterone is bound to either SHBG (Sex Hormone Binding Globulin) or to albumin. Actually about 70 to 80% of our testosterone is bound to SHBG, and the rest to albumin, and actually about 1, perhaps 2%, of the male hormone testosterone circulates free, and thus active, in our system. This is in part why high protein diets can alter testosterone: higher protein diets lead to more circulating albumin in your system. SHBG levels are more reflective of other hormones, like estrogen which can increase SHBG; the fine tuning of your diet and your hormones will affect your blood testosterone level. So you need to get with your gyno if you have had these tests in the past and see if there are new ways to test your blood male hormones. You were tested for a reason. The results were interpreted based on your whole case, don't panic. The results may in fact be valid. As a lone gyno voice gabbing, I'm getting with my laboratories and asking for a statement regarding their testing policies and procedures and accuracies so that we can inform our patients. Have your gyno do the same.