question from a user
How closely do you help monitor blood tests with the patient?
AlphaMD's Answer
In general, we take blood tests for all new patients or accept recent lab work in place of that. If they're an established TRT patient & can provide proof of previous testing or current treatment, we also accept that. (If we test a current TRT patient, their levels are just going to be high/normal.)
After the initial testing, we adjust our re-testing needs based on dosing & symptoms. As long as someone is under 200mg/week Testosterone as a treatment and they're feeling good, we do not require frequent testing. This is due to 200mg/week or below being the generally safe treatment area due to precedent with the DEA & how well most patients do at this number. We may check as needed after that, but it's per patient.
Once a patient moves above 200mg/week, that's considered "experimental" by the DEA standards. Since we deal with a controlled substance, we want to make sure we stay right by them & stay safe for our patients. As we increase thresholds we increase the frequency and depth of required testing. Things like Estrogen, Cholesterol, CBCs, hematocrits, etc are things we would want to take looks at.
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