LabCorp Testosterone Reference Range Changing (Decreasing) Effective July 17, 2017

[ratbag]

I am beginning to wonder if there's something to the hypothesis that testosterone levels have declined considerably over the past century.

Yes this is true I read a study over 15 years ago showing that in Japan some 30 years earlier young men all had well over 1000 for TT and they showed how much it had dropped thru the last 30 years. There is no question about this as far as I've read. They concluded this was a world wide problem and was likely related to pollution and diets. However, I have not read about this for some time. My guess is that it's not just testosterone that lower than a century ago it's all our hormones.

 

[user_joe]

I feel you've got a dr that treats by these numbers you've got a problem.

Lets say your doc doesn't want you to exceed 900 now bc of this test. We test at trough anyway. If you injected weekly you probably peaked at 1700 and came down to 900.

Take the same dose and just split it to daily injections and you see something like 1300 when tested. Now what? See how little sense that makes?

Not saying i have everything figured out, but I like to be roughly 1300-1500. That's daily so I never see higher. BP perfect, hematocrit, even lipds excellent. I've experimented plenty, and this feels best. To me it's about optimizing everything to get the most benefit and not simply reliving the bad symptoms I had previously. Just my point of view. Without long term studies it's just s risk one can choose to take. I wouldn't have a dr who wouldn't allow it. I'd self treat.

 

[tomtom58]

Update time. I had an appointment with my urologist yesterday. I received the lab test results several days earlier. T was 969 ng/dl, down from 1125 three months ago. Hematocrit was 50.9, down from 55.5 three months ago. In the meantime, I had voluntarily reduced my dosage from 40 mg every third day to 37.5 mg, or 375 mg/month from 400 mg three months ago.

My doc was perfectly happy with my T levels three months ago except the effect on hematocrit. That was the only driver of the dosage reduction, not the reference range used by LabCorp.

We discussed at some length the LabCorp decision to reduce its reference range. Doc said that there are 5 or 6 organizations that have an interest in T levels--the urologists, endocrinologists, etc., and that all of them use different reference ranges, regardless of the LabCorp recommendations. For his own practice, his approach is to prescribe an amount of T that will serve the physical and mental needs of his patients, regardless of reference ranges. He does not prescribe by the numbers. He did not seem concerned that the DEA might come looking around.

I asked about the pharmacy benefits manager issue that I started this conversation with. He didn't know what their reaction would be to a renewal of my Rx, but he is prepared to answer their questions if they are forthcoming. As for asking the pharmacy just to skip running it through my insurance, since they don't pay anything anyway, he said it depends whether the pharmacy has a contract with the PBM that requires them to submit all Rxs.

In the end, without any prompting from me, he renewed the Rx for another 5 months and we set a return visit for 3 months, so that he can continue to review the hematocrit and my PSA. I feel that I am in good hands with a flexible practitioner who doesn't feel bound my rigid limits.

 

[AbsoluteZ3R0]

Update time. I had an appointment with my urologist yesterday. I received the lab test results several days earlier. T was 969 ng/dl, down from 1125 three months ago. Hematocrit was 50.9, down from 55.5 three months ago. In the meantime, I had voluntarily reduced my dosage from 40 mg every third day to 37.5 mg, or 375 mg/month from 400 mg three months ago.

My doc was perfectly happy with my T levels three months ago except the effect on hematocrit. That was the only driver of the dosage reduction, not the reference range used by LabCorp.

We discussed at some length the LabCorp decision to reduce its reference range. Doc said that there are 5 or 6 organizations that have an interest in T levels--the urologists, endocrinologists, etc., and that all of them use different reference ranges, regardless of the LabCorp recommendations. For his own practice, his approach is to prescribe an amount of T that will serve the physical and mental needs of his patients, regardless of reference ranges. He does not prescribe by the numbers. He did not seem concerned that the DEA might come looking around.

I asked about the pharmacy benefits manager issue that I started this conversation with. He didn't know what their reaction would be to a renewal of my Rx, but he is prepared to answer their questions if they are forthcoming. As for asking the pharmacy just to skip running it through my insurance, since they don't pay anything anyway, he said it depends whether the pharmacy has a contract with the PBM that requires them to submit all Rxs.

In the end, without any prompting from me, he renewed the Rx for another 5 months and we set a return visit for 3 months, so that he can continue to review the hematocrit and my PSA. I feel that I am in good hands with a flexible practitioner who doesn't feel bound my rigid limits.

Congratulations. I remember in the other thread we were theory-crafting every worst case scenario. Glad it all worked out in your favor

 

[BOISEMALE]

I would say it is also possible that the pressure is placed to hide the Western destruction of the male. Between the inoculations, plastics, soy, inks, processed foods, and environmental factors, western testosterone levels, and sperm has been slashed dramatically in the last 50 years. Which is not the case, in the non-western world.
So, by utilizing only western patients, and those that seek treatment, generally sick people, it artificially reduces what is "normal". Ensuring the continuation.

 

[johnt]

Decreasing the lower end range to 264 is completely ridiculous but decreasing the top end from 1197-916 is not as big a deal as some may make it out to be. If one does not experience symptom relief from a 900 trough considering e2 and other hormones are in check than something is not right as the majority of young healthy males produce 800-900 tt naturally. Sure there are others in the 1000+ range but if one thinks there tt needs to be 1000+ to see benefits from trt than they need to look into other underlying health issues.

I've seen several posts referencing what the majority of health young males TT in range of 700-900. Anyone know what the majority of young males Free T?

 

[Outcome]

What BOISEMALE said is the exact truth. It sounds very conspiratorial but it is factual. There are too many things going on (that reduce T levels) for it not to be on purpose. They don't want strong willed men. That and low hormone levels lead to just about every other illness out there. Strong willed men taking control of their own chemistry scares them. There's money in sick people.

 

[AbsoluteZ3R0]

I would say it is also possible that the pressure is placed to hide the Western destruction of the male. Between the inoculations, plastics, soy, inks, processed foods, and environmental factors, western testosterone levels, and sperm has been slashed dramatically in the last 50 years. Which is not the case, in the non-western world.
So, by utilizing only western patients, and those that seek treatment, generally sick people, it artificially reduces what is "normal". Ensuring the continuation.

Developing/third-world country men have even lower testosterone levels