Dr. Mary Claire Haver

Now,

The goal when we're treating with testosterone is to restore the level to what it was at our peak.

And that would be in our mid-20s.

Got it.

So in the U.S., we measure testosterone in nanograms per deciliter.

And so the normal range you'll oftentimes see quoted between 15 and 70.

But the 70 is kind of on the extreme, I have to say.

The best study that was done, it was published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine.

The numbers looked more like between 15 and 45.

But the truth is those were using old, outdated ways of measuring testosterone.

And this is why the level question gets so confusing.

There are two different ways to measure hormones.

And the one in almost all of the studies that we look at for even for menopausal hormone therapy used an older way of measuring that oftentimes overestimated.

Because remember, we talk about how estrogen, testosterone, progesterone, they're all related to each other.

Well, their metabolites would all show a signal.

And so they would get overestimated, right?

And so the newer ways that we measure it are not included in most of the studies.

So I just put that out there for the levels.

But the natural physiologic level, if you look at my lab, it tells me at UCSF, if the level is above 50 to 55, it's in the high range.

That's outside normal.