Blood vs Saliva

[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.