Blood vs Saliva

[Viking13]

Was just curious as to the members experiences here are and what differences (pros/cons) that y'all see in the testing?

I ask because more and more docs seem to be going to the saliva form of testing, or it is atleast becoming more popular.

[GotNoBlueMilk]

If you are looking for the existance of something and not concerned with determining concentration then saliva is ok. With saliva, determining concentration of a compound can be difficult. Dehydration, breathing a lot or very little through your mouth, the humidity even, can all impact concentration readings. Dehydration can impact blood tests too, but to a lot lesser degree and your dehydration has to be much greater.

The other concern with saliva is that it is much easier to contaminate the sample, say with something you ate an hour ago.

[steroid.com 1]

Saliva is best assay for accurate Cortisol reading.

[HRTstudent]

Saliva is best assay for accurate Cortisol reading.

definitely what I have heard from doctors as well.

As for the saliva vs blood... I think there is more private money in saliva testing because they (the practice) usually negotiates with a third party who does NOT participate in insurance. So they avoid the insurance game and can charge more.

Meanwhile, it certainly costs the patient more if they have insurance (bloodwork/labwork is usually very affordable with insurance). But the clinic has a vested interest to tout the "benefits" of saliva... the main one being how easy it is and no pain. Thats not really a big deal to me because I never heard of someone who cant get labwork because of the pain.

My current doctor uses saliva testing primarily but he told me that the sex hormones in blood tests are reliable and good numbers, and he's letting me use my insurance coverage and forego the pricier saliva testing. If I didnt have insurance I would probably do the saliva testing, but ill be damned if insurance costs thousands of dollars and I dont use it because a doctor wants to cut out the insurance.