Explaining Blood Work & Other Common Questions Again

[Low Testosterone]

Low T,

In my view, here is a perfect example of the point I was trying to make and, IMO, makes LowTestosterone.com's practice of infrequent bloodwork (as standard policy) impractical at best, and terribly unsafe at worst. What is the oath? "First do no harm."

I just got my lab work back and, in part, these are the results:

Pregnenolone <5 Range: 13-208 ng/dL

Estradiol 41 Range <OR=29 pg/mL

Tot. Testosterone 1307 Range: 250-1100 ng/dL

Testosterone, Free 359.04 Range: 35.0-155.0 pg/mL

SHBG 31 Range: 22-77 nmol/L

Five weeks earlier, my Estradiol was <2. On Dec. 16th, I then stopped my low dose AI -.25mg E3D - and continued a DIM, Zinc, Copper daily regimen. Apparently this didn't do the trick.

My protocol is fairly straightforward:
32mg Test Cyp, subQ, EOD

hCG: 250iu 3xweek

100mg DIM, 50mg Zinc, 4mg Copper daily


My point is this: If a patient's values are not monitored closely for the first year, how is it possible to know how to adjust his dosages - and prevent problems? OR to improve treatment? BOTH would have to wait for six months. This is crazy to me.

I can only imagine what the results would have been if I let this go for six months.

And while I'm on the subject, I'd be grateful for anyone's advice on how to address these results above. Thanks.

My idea is to lower my dose to 30mg Test Cyp EOD and .25mg adex every 4/5 days. (I took a dose as soon as I got this lab report!) But I'm thinking it might be better to dose .25mg adex every week. What do you all think?

Again, we're not a clinic. We're a client management provider. That's a BIG difference. On our website it even says in big capital letters in several places WE ARE NOT A CLINIC.

Our service, we have pre-negotiated prices with doctors, pharmacies and labs. Our job is to set you up with those things. Could you see the same doctor for the same treatment outside of our system? Absolutely, but you'd pay a good bit more. That's the entire point, to be able to use those doctors, pharmacies and labs for the discounted rate. And at the discounted rate, what you get is what's been described.

Do we help guide our clients through their TRT process? Absolutely, and if they do need more than what the package includes we make it available to them and do our best to do so at a more affordable rate.

Let's also keep in mind, our job at lowtestosterone.com is not to tell you why you have low testosterone. Again, we're not a clinic. Absolutely, there are hundreds of reasons why a man might have low testosterone, but around 95% of men that have it do so because of age or past drug use, that's it. Those are the men that will benefit from our program. They'll receive treatment from physicians who understand TRT, who care that their TRT is successful and they'll receive good meds they need to help with that.

Have you ever used an insurance broker to help you get a better deal on car insurance or some type of insurance? I'm sure many here have, I have. The broker presents the various plans available from different providers and states this is what you get for that price. If you want more than that, absolutely, you can receive more than that, but you won't for the stated price, it will cost a little more. There's really no difference here.

Finally, so far we have an almost 90% retention rate with our clients. As the message board knows, our business is not that old and it's also the only model like it in the country. A retention rate of 90% that's unheard of and something we're very proud of. If the program was terrible and the men on the program weren't getting the benefits they needed, you can guarantee it would be lower. Have their been those who didn't care for the program? Of course, otherwise we'd be at 100% but there's no such thing anywhere. People lose their jobs, hit hard times, find that they have a unique problem that is beyond simply low testosterone or get upset when they don't get 84000mg per week.

[2Sox]

Again, we're not a clinic. We're a client management provider. That's a BIG difference. On our website it even says in big capital letters in several places WE ARE NOT A CLINIC.

Our service, we have pre-negotiated prices with doctors, pharmacies and labs. Our job is to set you up with those things. Could you see the same doctor for the same treatment outside of our system? Absolutely, but you'd pay a good bit more. That's the entire point, to be able to use those doctors, pharmacies and labs for the discounted rate. And at the discounted rate, what you get is what's been described.

Do we help guide our clients through their TRT process? Absolutely, and if they do need more than what the package includes we make it available to them and do our best to do so at a more affordable rate.

Let's also keep in mind, our job at lowtestosterone.com is not to tell you why you have low testosterone. Again, we're not a clinic. Absolutely, there are hundreds of reasons why a man might have low testosterone, but around 95% of men that have it do so because of age or past drug use, that's it. Those are the men that will benefit from our program. They'll receive treatment from physicians who understand TRT, who care that their TRT is successful and they'll receive good meds they need to help with that.

Have you ever used an insurance broker to help you get a better deal on car insurance or some type of insurance? I'm sure many here have, I have. The broker presents the various plans available from different providers and states this is what you get for that price. If you want more than that, absolutely, you can receive more than that, but you won't for the stated price, it will cost a little more. There's really no difference here.

Finally, so far we have an almost 90% retention rate with our clients. As the message board knows, our business is not that old and it's also the only model like it in the country. A retention rate of 90% that's unheard of and something we're very proud of. If the program was terrible and the men on the program weren't getting the benefits they needed, you can guarantee it would be lower. Have their been those who didn't care for the program? Of course, otherwise we'd be at 100% but there's no such thing anywhere. People lose their jobs, hit hard times, find that they have a unique problem that is beyond simply low testosterone or get upset when they don't get 84000mg per week.

Maybe this is going over my head. Does "client management" mean you're not required to do what's medically prudent, and this way you won't get in trouble for it because of the label. In contrast, a "clinic" must do what's medically prudent or they will get in trouble? I'd be grateful if you cleared this up for me.

[2Sox]

LowT,

Let me be clear: I have absolutely no doubt that you provide an excellent service and you clients are very satisfied with it. If I was not able to get treatment, I'd most likey give you a call myself. That's not what I'm questioning at all. I'm merely questioning this practice of infrequent blood work that I think not only short changes your clients - but puts their health at risk, which I have tried to make clear. I'm talking about what I believe would be ethical medicine. I'm not sure I know what you are talking about when you try to differentiate between "client management" and "clinic".

[Low Testosterone]

Maybe this is going over my head. Does "client management" mean you're not required to do what's medically prudent, and this way you won't get in trouble for it because of the label. In contrast, a "clinic" must do what's medically prudent or they will get in trouble? I'd be grateful if you cleared this up for me.

Saying we're not a clinic isn't a loophole or anything like that. We're in no shape or form a clinic. We're not the ones doing your treatment. For $199 per month you receive what's laid out in the program. That's the base plan. If you want other things, more blood testing, methylcobalamin, sermorelin, etc. we can help you with that, but that's not covered by the $199. Staying on the topic of blood work, if you feel you need blood work every 6 or so weeks the first year, we can help you with that. If you wanted to have blood work every day (not saying you're saying that) we can help you with that too.

I think the issue here is that what we do is not something anyone else does and that makes it confusing. But if you step back for a minute, read what's on the website, it's all there and explained in detail.