[MonikaT]

Hmmm, I tend to trust blood tests, done competently. Quite a few people alive today because they got them, and lots of them dead because they didn't. On the other hand, if a saliva test, done competently, is good enough to put sundry criminals away for the rest of their natural-born lives, I'm a fan!! Bring em on!

As a side question, I'm curious about your comment on free T level numbers. I've had a few done by my doctor, and when she gave me the 3 pages of result sheets, the recommended level for adult males was between 241-827 ng/dl. With mine bouncing between <20-30, it has been an issue I've been trying to unscrew as to exactly how to handle.

Incidentally that range I gave, was for total T. If you only got results for free T, Are you getting the test you need? I'm only guessing here, but I would think a total T test would be simpler to perform, and maybe a more applicable measurement for your needs. My doctor didn't ever mention testing for total T. Maybe it was because my symptom was being tired and run-down, and your is something else? Patti

Sorry. I should have been more specific. My free T was 10. My total T was under 500, I no longer remember any more. It may have been under 400. Regardless, it was still within the very wide normal range. That was six months ago, and I've been preoccupied with eye issues the past several months like the hemorrhage in my left eye that just began a few minutes ago while I am typing this. I just had a vitrectomy, epiretinal membrane peel, and 1800 laser burns on December 20. I shouldn't be bleeding.

I tend to focus on the free T because the articles I keep reading say good youthful free T level should be 20-25 which usually puts the total T around 800-1000. Such a T level is also supposed to assist in blood sugar control.

My issues are diabetes, lack of libido, ED, obesity, fatigue, low thyroid and probably a few other things. Despite the recommendation from the Endocrine Society that all diabetic males, especially the overweight ones, should be tested for low T, I had to fight with my doctor for several months to get him to check. I achieved pretty tight control over the diabetes and still felt like crap as the weight started piling on. He saw the weight gain as progress because my body was now using carbs. I asked when I was supposed to start feeling better. He said I already should. I didn't and don't.

The same doctor couldn't understand why I still had the outer third of my eyebrows with a TSH of 33 and acted as if the blood tests were lying. I've had low thyroid symptoms since I was a teen, but nobody has ever listened, and my TSH was always below 5 which is the high end of normal. Some docs begin to suspect when it is over 2 and symptoms are present. My doc keeps jacking my dose around based on TSH. All I know is my basal temperature is still below normal, and I'm tired. I'm so disgusted with the doctors I've encountered around here that I'm about to just stop going, let my prescriptions lapse and let nature take its course. I feel like little more than a revenue stream. I can't really afford the time investment and expense of going a few hundred miles to Seattle or Portland where I could maybe find a decent doctor at a university.

Incidentally, I've begun to wonder if what I thought to be low T might not be related to dopamine since a lot of those issues occurred during the 18 months I took Effexor and have persisted for more than six years since stopping the medication.

I would be really concerned about your T levels, though it sounds like you kind of want it that low. I'd want to know why my testes had shut down.