What is free testosterone?

What is Free Testosterone?: <p>if you experience symptoms of low testosterone or andropause, your doctor may order an analysis of both the total and free testosterone levels in your blood. Testosterone is a molecular messenger that travels to organs throughout your body—including your brain, muscles, fat, bones and sexual organs—via your bloodstream. A protein in your blood, called sex hormone binding globulin or shbg, locks on to testosterone very strongly, potentially preventing it from acting on certain tissues. Only the testosterone that is not locked together with a protein, typically 1-3% of the total, is considered “free.”</p> <p>many doctors think these free hormones are the only ones that are medically relevant and that only free testosterone levels are needed to diagnose low t. This idea was supported by some studies that showed that muscle mass, strength and bone density are more sensitive to free than to total testosterone levels. However, that’s not the whole story.</p> <p>researchers have raised questions about the “free hormone hypothesis, ” describing receptors in your cells that may act like keys to unlock the testosterone from the protein and make it available to the body’s tissues. And although it is rare, in some men shbg does not lock on to testosterone as well. Doctors must also be aware of the method a laboratory is using to measure free testosterone—because measuring it directly is labor-intensive and costly, automated and less reliable methods are sometimes used.</p> <p>given these issues, some doctors, including us at inbalance health, consider both total and free testosterone, together with the symptoms you are experiencing, before making a diagnosis.</p> <p>inbalance health provides concierge medical services at an accessible price at its <a href="http://inbalancehealth.Net/locations-and-contact-info/" rel="nofollow">locations</a> in manhattan, westchester county, ny and fairfield county, ct (greenwich and wilton). Based on your individual symptom profile and medical evaluation, testosterone replacement therapy (trt) will be considered.</p> <p>inbalance health now offers its <a href="http://inbalancehealth.Net/body-inbalance-program/" rel="nofollow">body inbalance program</a>tm, allowing patients to elect to integrate testosterone treatment, exercise and nutrition to achieve fitness and health goals in weeks rather than years.</p> <p>this post, and the information contained herein, is protected by us copyright law and may not be reproduced, displayed or published on any other website without the prior written consent of inbalance health.</p>.