How to check test levels?

[D00fy]

hey is there something to check test levels after a cycle without going to a doctor,any home kits?

[McBain]

Originally posted by D00fy
hey is there something to check test levels after a cycle without going to a doctor,any home kits?

Not sure about accuracy but I know there are a couple kits on bodybuilding.com that sell for like 30-40 bucks. I believe its only one test for that though which is steep.

[TNT]

Well, D00fy, first you get the oil dipstick from your car. Bring it inside, wash it, and disinfect it with some isopropyl alcohol.

Now, get a jar of Vaseline.

(Okay, enough of that joke. I trust y'all know where it was going anyway. So to speak. "Where it was going..." Get it? )

Seriously, D00fy, that's actually a good question. The answer, unfortunately, is no.

As you might be aware, there are tests for lots of other things these days - home pregnancy tests, home HIV tests, home cholesterol tests, and even home drug testing kits (that they tend to market to parents to check out their kids).

There might be a limited market for a home, um, "test test" for use by juicers, but it would be a long time in coming. Even then, it would probably be the typein which a blood sample would have to be mailed to a lab (which is how the home HIV test kits work).

[D00fy]

hehe thx for the info

[McBain]

Originally posted by TNT
Well, D00fy, first you get the oil dipstick from your car. Bring it inside, wash it, and disinfect it with some isopropyl alcohol.

Now, get a jar of Vaseline.

(Okay, enough of that joke. I trust y'all know where it was going anyway. So to speak. "Where it was going..." Get it? )

Seriously, D00fy, that's actually a good question. The answer, unfortunately, is no.

As you might be aware, there are tests for lots of other things these days - home pregnancy tests, home HIV tests, home cholesterol tests, and even home drug testing kits (that they tend to market to parents to check out their kids).

There might be a limited market for a home, um, "test test" for use by juicers, but it would be a long time in coming. Even then, it would probably be the typein which a blood sample would have to be mailed to a lab (which is how the home HIV test kits work).

TNT do the one's on bodybuilding.com that are sold not work? Because they claim to be testosterone testers, you chew a gum or something then mail it in and they test it.

[NightOp]

i found some kits available for home hormonal testing, they use saliva and are pretty expensive depending on what hormone levels you want tested.. the best ive seen are at http://www.naturomd.com/noname.html

also> ast sells some here> http://www.ast-ss.com/Products/Produ....asp?ProdID=23

not sure if these are BS or not. (TNT knows what he is talking about so maybe these are junk)... id just goto a doc and tell him exactly what you want.............

[McBain]

Originally posted by NightOp
i found some kits available for home hormonal testing, they use saliva and are pretty expensive depending on what hormone levels you want tested.. the best ive seen are at http://www.naturomd.com/noname.html

also> ast sells some here> http://www.ast-ss.com/Products/Produ....asp?ProdID=23

not sure if these are BS or not. (TNT knows what he is talking about so maybe these are junk)... id just goto a doc and tell him exactly what you want.............

What's the excuse for having your test levels checked without getting a big red AAS mark in your file

[Tankass]

hehe a "test test" I like it.

[TNT]

Originally posted by McBain
What's the excuse for having your test levels checked without getting a big red AAS mark in your file

I think that says it all. If you want to get your testosterone tested, why not go directly to a physician who uses a reputable lab? If you want to use a different lab, what is your goal for being tested in the first place?

If you are in the United States, when you go to your doctor and have him or her do a testosterone test, in most cases, your blood sample is sent to Quest Laboratories. That is the largest lab in the United States, formerly a division of Glaxo SmithKline, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, before GSK spun off its lab operations into Quest. Some physicians also use hospital labs - those that are affiliated with your local hospital. All labs used by licensed physicians generally comport to F.D.A.* standards.

The test that is done measures total testosterone - an important distinction as you'll see below - but is only one of many tests (again, see below) that is done to gauge your overall testosterone status. In almost all cases, if you have health insurance, your insurance will pick up the cost of the test as long as it was ordered bya physician or other qualified licensed health care professional.

So let's look at some of the tests that were cited in this thread thus far . . . First, http://www.naturomd.com/noname.html, cited by NightOp. (Um, look at the URL again. "No name?") This is a naturopathic test, unrelgulated and unapproved by the F.D.A., allegedly under the direction of a Ph.D. (with no indication that it was even submitted to F.D.A. for approval), part of a company run by a wazoo who purports to be an "N.D., Ph.D." His profile, however, does not indicate the schools from which he earned any of his degrees.

Campers, listen up on this one - I know from whence I speak. When someone hypes himself to the high heavens and lists two doctorate degrees in his profile but does not identify the schools from which he earned them, I guarantee that they were earned from unaccredited correspondence degree mills. If anyone provides information on the owner's specific degree claims, if they turn out to be legit, and if I am able to verify them, I will be delighted to eat my words. Until that time, I'll go on record as saying that he is a sham, practicing in a field that is highly unregulated.

(That is not to say that there are not legitimate naturopathic practitioners aorund, but they are very much in the minority. By the way, in most U.S. states naturopathic medicine is not) a licensure field. So when people talk about "licensed naturopaths," it's a meaningless term, since they are not talking about licensure from a state board of health.)

Now, let's look at a diect quote from NightOp's other citation on the AST Sports Science web site:

In close cooperation with a major analytical laboratory, we have made special arrangements to offer a unique "Saliva Test" for testing a direct measure of "FREE" testosterone levels in the body. "FREE" testosterone levels are the biologically important levels - the levels that are not bound to protein carriers and are readily available to receptor sites in the body. Measuring "FREE" testosterone levels is much more important than measuring total testosterone levels as it gives an accurate measurement of the active levels in the body.

Sorry, guys, but I have to call this as bullshit. When guys who have andropause , hypogonadism, or delayed puberty - the traditional clinical indications for (reasons to use) testosterone, the test they go for is the total testosterone test. The other tests that they would normally have before beginning testosterone replacement therapy include the free & weakly binding testosterone test, but once you have an initial indication of that (as well as other factors that include prolactin, luteinizing hormone, follicle stimulating hormone, and sex binding globulin hormone) there is only one test that matters: total testosterone. At that point, the free testosterone test means squat. Got it? If someone were taking testosterone therapeutically, once on it, they would never take the test that AST is advertising, and AST does not market the total test test. (Yeah, I know, test test. I"m glad I'm not spell checking this, since that would definitely be flagged. ) In short, this test is a useless ripoff; even if it works accurately (and we have no guarantee that it does, since it is not approved by F.D.A.), the information it would provide is worthless in the big picture.

As for the testosterone test kit sold at bodybuilding.com, guess what? It's the AST test kit. 'Nuff said.

So, ya want your test tested? Head straight on down to your local friendly neighborhood doctor's office, where you can get it done by a reputable lab at no charge (assuming you have good health insurance), done according to F.D.A. standards. But avoid all of the so-called self-testing kits for testosterone like the scams that they are.

Finally, the advertising hype for the AST free testosterone test at bodybuilding.com includes in its product description, "I must say this is really a neat product. If you're anything like me you want to know everything you possibly can about everything. I love obtaining knowledge - the more the better."

A "neat" product? Notwithstanding that you should never put any credibility in a clinical product description written in first person form and calling the product "neat," I actually agree with the rest of the statement. You should want to obtain more knowledge about everything, including testosterone testing.

So congratulations: You just obtained it in this post, and it didn't cost you $50 to do it.
________________________

* For non U.S. readers, the F.D.A. is the United States Food & Drug Administration, the regulatory agency that aproves everything from drugs to tests to treatments. They are the "powers-that-be" on medical matters in the U.S.

[JP1570]

Once again, learned more reading your post than from all other posts I read today combined. Great post TNT

[McBain]

Thanks TNT, you didn't leave ANY loose ends as usual

[Methuselah]

There are home test kits available on some of the rejuvination clinic's websites. They send you the kit. You provide them with a saliva sample and send it in. They test it and send you the results. I don't know if it could be as accurate as a blood test, but it costs about the same. $200.00 aprox.

[Terinox]

Geeeeeeezus christ, fucken awesome post as always TNT.

Just one question: HOW DO YOU KNOW ALL THIS STUFF???

Damn, your like a walking Encyclopedia, Dictionary and Thesarous (sp?).

Do you have an M.D. Ph.D. ??? Cause it sounds like you do

Well anyways, great post man!!!