Reliability of saliva Free T tests

Medical Q&A [Moderated]
1

Hi docs,

I’m a 23yr male, 5’10, 155lbs, about 12-15% bf and I finished a 6 month cut in August where I lost about 35lbs.I’m pretty happy with my results but in the last few months of the cut my libido dissapeared completely, and hasn’t come back since, even though I have been eating at maintaince or above for the last ~8weeks.

I have always suspected my T to be on the lower side because of my depression, poor sleep and general anxiety but I have never had issues with my sex drive/performance. Another thing is that my strength hasn’t progresses in quite a while but that could be related to the lack of calories I guess.

All of this left me wondering if I’m suffering from low T, but I’m currently not able to afford to go to the doctor and do the necessary tests.I searched online and found a company which does these saliva based Free T tests, where you send them the sample and you get the results online. They are in my price range so I wanted to know is it worth it, are these tests reliable and if they are, would the Free T alone mean anything without the other variables? My plan is if I am in the low range to go to the doctor as soon as I can afford it, and if I’m in the normal range just to forget it and not stress about it.

Thanks in advance!

2

In general I would not recommend the use of these salivary assays for the diagnosis of clinical hypogonadism.

It sounds like based on your financial situation, you would not be able to act on an “abnormal” result right now anyway; with that in mind I would consider reintroducing some calories (while maintaining a healthy body composition / waist circumference), working on sleep quality/hygiene, stress, and other modifiable factors to the extent possible. Then, if you are still experiencing symptoms when your financial situation improves, get the definitive / gold standard serum tests that can actually answer the question.