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The bloodwork is the treatment.
Testosterone itself is not complicated. What separates a safe programme from a dangerous one is whether anyone is reading your labs — before you start, and on a schedule afterwards.
Testosterone is extremely safe when it's done correctly. It can be dangerous when it's done recklessly.
Peter O'Brien, NPWhat we watch, and why
The sequence
- Baseline labs before anything is prescribed
- Proper dosing, set against your numbers rather than a default
- Follow-up labs on a schedule
- Symptom tracking — how you actually feel, not just the panel
- Ongoing blood monitoring for as long as you're on treatment
Miss any of those and it stops being a medical programme.
Where you get drawn
You'll get an order for Quest and go to a location near you. Results come back to Peter, and the two of you look at them together before anything changes.
Lab work is billed separately by the laboratory. It isn't included in the $200 monthly price — here's exactly what is.
Why this page exists
Plenty of clinics will send you testosterone after a questionnaire and a card number. That works fine right up until it doesn't, and the person who finds out first is you.
Some men shouldn't be on testosterone at all. The only way to know which group you're in is to look.
It starts with a blood draw, not a prescription.
And if the numbers don't support treatment, we'll say so.