blood tests 101

Reading Blood Tests 101

Many people are under the impression that blood tests are difficult to read and must be in some secret coded language only doctors can possibly understand. Nothing could be further from the truth. The trick is not in reading them per se but interpreting them. Interpreting a blood test, that is understanding the relevance of the results, is where the doctor's education may come in and where years of research can be spent.

This does not mean however that even the average person can't read a blood test and derive some very useful information regarding the state of their health, hormone levels, and so on. It's not uncommon at all for a person to spot something of concern on a blood test a doctor either didn't notice or didn't feel was a concern (such as a low "normal" testosterone level) where the bodybuilder would be concerned (being you can't build no **** muscle without adequate testosterone!).

Labs have a reference range for anything tested, such as testosterone, cholesterol, and so on. The test always has that range with the results of your test next to it, and it's easy enough to read. For example: normal testosterone levels range from a low of 300ng/dl to a high of 1200ng/dl*. A testosterone level between those numbers (mine was 520) is considered "normal." Free (unbound) testosterone has a low/high range of 8.7pg/ml - 25pg/ml. Mine was 18.3 which would be about mid "normal."

So, it's quite easy to read a blood test. Again, the challenge is understanding why a person has say low testosterone and what to do about it, such as run additional tests, consider hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and so on. So, reading them is easy, interpreting them is where the difficulty comes in and doctors are often as guilty as lay people in this respect. A perfect example; the many people who fall in the low "normal" range of some hormone. You will often see some poor bastard who is just a few points above the lowest possible "normal" level of testosterone, but most doctors won't treat a person if they are low normal, even when the person is exhibiting symptoms of lacking testosterone.

A smart doctor will know that low normal testosterone levels, though technically "normal," really sucks for adding new muscle, keeping body fat down, libido, mental function, and so on. Though technically sub-clinical, these low "normal" levels should be treated and the data is quite clear that men will greatly benefit from such treatments, often seeing an increase in libido, reduced depression, reduction in cholesterol levels, reductions in bodyfat, and improved muscle mass. Even when some doctors are aware that sub clinical levels of testosterone should be addressed (via HRT), they often won't due to fear of liability.

There are other areas where sub clinical (low normal) levels of hormones should be treated, such as sub clinical levels of thyroid hormones T3 and T4 for example. Of course there can be levels of some hormone that can be too high (versus too low) yet still be technically in the normal range. For example, most of the medical profession refuses to understand the role estrogen - in particular estradiol - plays in a man's physiology. To the majority of the medical profession, estradiol is a "woman's" hormone and refuse to treat men (via an estrogen lowering drug or other modality) when high estrogen levels in men can cause a long list of undesirable effects, from gyno (bitch tits), to increases in bodyfat, to a loss of libido, etc.

Recent data also points to estradiol being correlated to prostate cancer and other ailments best avoided.** So, don't think doctors have all the answers after viewing a blood test. They don't. The best combination is an open-minded progressive doctor who works with a patient who has a general understanding of how to read their own blood tests. A partnership, so to speak, between doctor and patient. This segues us into a comment regarding (some) doctors and your blood tests. Always ask for a copy of your blood work versus simply taking the doctor's word for it with a sweeping "your blood work looks fine" that they often use.

It's very odd to note that some doctors will refuse to give a person a copy of their own blood work! I have no idea why they feel they have the right to do that, but they don't. Any doctor that refuses to give a person a copy of their own blood work is no doctor you want to work with.

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