Check Your Testosterone
What to do to have a blood test
You will shortly be able to attend for a test in London or Manchester with additional centres to come.
Take our short Symptom Questionnaire that enables us to confirm if Testosterone deficiency is likely your problem.
How to get a blood test
Not yet available here but shortly to be so.
Timing of the blood sample
You should be able to attend in the morning for your blood sample because there is potentially significant variation between morning and afternoon levels of testosterone.
Why a T test is helpful
– If you have erection problems then you need to know if this is due to low testosterone or not.
– If it is low testosterone then the best treatment is testosterone replacement.
– If you have taken Viagra, Levitra or Cialis without success you probable have low testosterone. Testosterone replacement will in most cases restore your erections.
– IF you are fatigued, short of sex drive or desire and performing poorly at work then low testosterone may be the cause and testosterone replacement the cure.
– If you are diabetic then low testosterone contributes to your problem. Testosterone treatment will help you to control your weight and blood sugar.
– If you have few or no early morning erections you are very likely to be testosterone deficient. As there are significant dangers of low testosterone then confirming the diagnosis and seeking treatment is important for your health.
The correct treatment requires the right diagnosis.
If you have ED and your testosterone is normal then hormone treatment is not the solution for you and other approaches will be needed.
How to interpret your results
Our questionnaire defines if you have T deficiency symptoms.
Your blood result defines if you have a normal, borderline or low testosterone result.
The diagram shows combinations of symptoms and plasma (testosterone) that may occur.
How low is a “low” testosterone result?
Here are the results of 4 studies of normal Total T in young men ie below 40. The range shown covers 95% of the population and anyone with a level below the blue line would be regarded as ‘abnormal’ and be likely to have testicular failure of one sort or another.
All ‘normal’ men have a result > 15 nmol/L.
In older men with lower levels of Total Testosterone, symptoms start to occur when the level falls below 15 nmol/L.
At first changes in moon and confidence occur, then as the level falls nearer to 11 nmol/L there are problems with erection.
Men with levels below 10 nmol/L are deemed to have unequivocal testicular failure and are generally unable to sustain an erection at all.
At the bottom end of the range one can argue about what number to define as the critical level but this is a pointless exercise. IF the test has been done in the morning, then the level measured is as high as it will be that day. It will not dramatically change day by day. If that man has symptoms then we can be sure that it is low T that has caused them. This can be confirmed by seeing what happens with a trial of T treatment.
