Is this normal?

julielkv · 11-26-2006, 04:13 PM

My endocrinologist went over my first numbers with me and I had a 48 in the area of testosterone. She said this fell within the normal range although it was a little on the high side. She said up to 60 is within normal limits.

I went into this office visit thinking my testosterone numbers were going to be really high when they checked them because I have so many symptoms: acne, weight around the middle, hair loss, hair where I DO NOT want it, etc...

Is this similiar to everyone else?

M&M's Mommy · 11-26-2006, 11:19 PM

My reproductive endocrinologist, a specialist in PCOS, explained that many of the "normal" values reported by labs are inaccurate because they used used the general population which included PCOS patients to determine the normal values. I have also read an article about this recently but I can't remember where. My total testosterone was 55 which was on a scale of up to 45. She said that a normal value is around 20-30. She also said that the more important number is the free testosterone level. Have you had that checked?

M&M's Mommy · 11-27-2006, 01:28 AM

I found this article about PCOS and it explains the significance (or lack thereof) of laboratory results in PCOS.
http://www.infertilityphysician.com/...ovulation.html
This is a long article. Scroll down to the section entitled "Myth-There is a test for PCOS". Further down still is another section entitled "Making Sense of Your Labs" which goes into more detail about the limitations of laboratory testing for PCOS.

caviechick · 11-27-2006, 07:50 AM

My RE has never tested my testosterone levels (at least that I'm aware of). When I asked her about it she told me that it wasnt a good indicator of anything.