Free and Total Testosterone Tests for Women

My wife recently received the results of a blood panel that stated that her free testosterone was "0" and her total testosterone was under the detectable range. Needless to say, this was somewhat alarming, but we don't want to do anything hasty, and since we're currently working on having a baby, there's probably not much that can be done now anyways. Regardless, it would be good to have a better understanding of what's going on.

It was suggested by a doctor during a recent consultation that her other doctor may have ordered a test that was not sensitive enough for a women's lower testosterone levels. So, I've done a but of research, and it seems to me that the best option for free testosterone is the liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS-MS) at LabCorp, which is specified for women, children and males known to be hypogonadal. And I would presume that the best test for free testosterone, even in women, is direct analog/radioimmunoassay (RIA)?

Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

Thanks a bunch!

Your wife would benefit by reading Natural Superwoman by Dr. Uzzi Reiss, and Ageless-The Naked Truth About Bio-Hormones by Suzanne Somers. It's not unusual that many women report having severely deficient testosterone serum levels < 5ng/dl, and free testosterone at 1% or below due to SHBG. There are probably other variables that are factored into this, including hormonal imbalances upstream/downstream, metabolic, and/or lifestyle choices.

If your wife is serious with finding answers and learning more, I suggest you have her create an account, post some background and lab work, and have her start a new campaign of discovery. Her testosterone level will play an equal role with her other hormones and nutrients, with ensuring she is healthy, strong, and physically/mentally prepared for pregnancy. Not to say BHRT is the first solution, but by no means discount the importance of testosterone for women, and possibly understanding that deficient serum levels might also mean that other areas, like the thyroid and adrenals (to name a few) might not be functioning as desired ...

Thank you, Chris! I will definitely pass this along.

paco said:

My wife recently received the results of a blood panel that stated that her free testosterone was "0" and her total testosterone was under the detectable range. Needless to say, this was somewhat alarming, but we don't want to do anything hasty, and since we're currently working on having a baby, there's probably not much that can be done now anyways. Regardless, it would be good to have a better understanding of what's going on.

It was suggested by a doctor during a recent consultation that her other doctor may have ordered a test that was not sensitive enough for a women's lower testosterone levels. So, I've done a but of research, and it seems to me that the best option for free testosterone is the liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS-MS) at LabCorp, which is specified for women, children and males known to be hypogonadal. And I would presume that the best test for free testosterone, even in women, is direct analog/radioimmunoassay (RIA)?

Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

Thanks a bunch!

Click to expand...

I wrote a long article about testosterone in women that you may want to read: https://www.excelmale.com/forum/thr...-Replacement-in-Women-Is-it-Worth-it-and-Safe

Also, I took this paragraph from this paper: http://press.endocrine.org/doi/full/10.1210/jc.2006-1864


"In the absence of other information, direct assays (those performed on whole serum) perform poorly at low T concentrations (i.e. in women, children, and hypogonadal men) and should be avoided. Assays after extraction and chromatography, followed by either MS or immunoassay, are likely to furnish more reliable results and are currently preferred."

This is all very helpful. I am hopeful she just had the wrong assays done previously. Labcorp offers a Liquid Chromatography/Tandem Mass Spectrometry test for Total T and an Equilibrium Dialysis for free T, so I think she should get more accurate results with those tests, if I'm reading these materials correctly.