Wacky Test Results from Labcorp

I tested nearly 200 points above the top of their range for TT but have only been midrange at quest and a hospital lab. I have found another guy on a different forum getting similar results. Anybody else?

Every place has their own norms.

I’ve seen ranges of mid 200s to mid to low 800s and also 300 to 1200.

What are you worried about? Do you feel good? Do you function well?

[quote]Bricknyce wrote:
Every place has their own norms.

I’ve seen ranges of mid 200s to mid to low 800s and also 300 to 1200.

What are you worried about? Do you feel good? Do you function well? [/quote]

What I am worried about is that one lab says I am being over-treated and the other indicates that I could be under-treated, and that is a problem when you are trying to figure out why you still feel “off.”

So at labcorp I get 960[300-800] and at quest 550[280-1100] and at a local hospital 590[300-900], all improvements but I am looking for that dose that hits my genetic set-point.

I am going to believe the results of two independent labs over labcorp. I have a feeling that I am one of those guys who will do best somewhere near the top of the range, considering how severe my symptoms were at 280[280-1100].

I still feel “not quite like myself.” And this is about 6.5 months into treatment…

What do the rest of your labs look like? TRT alone is far from a cure all.

[quote]brentf13 wrote:
What do the rest of your labs look like? TRT alone is far from a cure all.[/quote]

I do agree with your statement about TRT not being a cure all. But my labs look pretty good. Urinary cortisol was good. Thyroid was in pretty good shape with midrangish rT3. I still get some hypoglycemia/extreme hunger symptoms, which points to some type of abberant carbohydrate metabolism [which would point to thyroid levels and cortisol], but it certainly has yet to show up on paper…

So maybe my brain chemistry is still schwacked, but I want to at least optimize my hormones before going down the anti-depressant road again [I usually have bad reactions to psych meds]

We cannot have a proper discussion without knowing your TRT protocol and timing of all of the labs relative to prior doses. Variations in results can be from lab timing effects.

[quote]KSman wrote:
We cannot have a proper discussion without knowing your TRT protocol and timing of all of the labs relative to prior doses. Variations in results can be from lab timing effects.[/quote]

KSman:

I am on 30mg T cyp EOD, so my levels should be about steady state I would imagine.

The high level came about 12 hours after a shot. I got midrange about 16 hours after a shot and midrange again 1 hour before a shot.

I am going back in again tomorrow morning [about 12 hours after my shot tonight] to see what I get from labcorp.

As I said, there are others getting unexpectedly high results from labcorp. Their reference rnage is weird too. The ref range I have seen quoted for men is usually 280-1100.

Reference range will be age adjusted. What you see on your report depends on your age. Target is youthful levels and these age adjusted ranges are not helpful. Comparing to what others see for ranges depends on age of others too.

[quote]KSman wrote:
Reference range will be age adjusted. What you see on your report depends on your age. Target is youthful levels and these age adjusted ranges are not helpful. Comparing to what others see for ranges depends on age of others too.[/quote]

I am 23 so I always get the highest range on my reports. Either way, if all laboratories are performing the way that they should, a midrange result at one lab should also yield a midrange number at another, although the absolute values of these numbers could be much different. So getting a result that is 125% the top of the range at one lab and 50% of the top at a different lab is rather annoying. It makes it difficult to tune doses, especially when your doctor sees the 125% result and says NO MORE T FOR YOU, and especially when your remaining hypogonadal symptoms could be alleviated with a slightly higher dose.

Unfortunately, I can’t buy Quest’s accurate LC/MS/MS TT, free and biovailable test on my own, so I am stuck with this inferior labcorp testing.

But Labcorp does have the only estradiol test I would ever use – estradiol, sensitive. Quest has garbage estradiol testing.

Rant over.

I just got my TT result back yesterday from LC and my Serum Test level was over 1,200ng/dl. I am only on 120mg of test a week. (2X week 60mg) My last test 3 months ago I was on 160mg a week (2X week 8omg) and tested at 1,059ng/dl. My doctor said since I cut back from 160 to 120 three weeks ago my levels will come down, it can take up to 4 to 6 weeks before it is confirmed by blood work. I took a 60mg test shot the day before my blood work, my next test doc said take injection the same day after blood is drawn.

My free test was 38.3. The funny thing is LC lowered my reference range to 193-740, because I am over 50.If LC did a LC/MS-MS test that reference range is 350-1,030 for anybody over 18 years old. I talked to my doctor about this and he said he would talk to the lab director for clarification why there is such a big difference in the reference ranges on the two tests. He said my next test we will order the LC/MS-MS test not the ELISA.

He even said we can switch to Quest if I wanted to.