Sensitive Assay Estradiol Test Vs Regular Estradiol Test – Which Do You Need And Why

Why You Need To Get A Sensitive Assay Estradiol Test

The standard hormone profiles by default include the cheaper FDA-approved Roche ECLIA (Electrochemiluminescence Immunoassay) methodology.

That test is wildly inaccurate in men, unfortunately.

Most men get by default when they get blood work done, and consequently receive an inaccurate result.

As a result, men will get skewed results that often lead them to using aromatase inhibitors when they don't need them, or using a dosage that is too high or too low for their needs.

As you can imagine, this can have detrimental effects on a man's quality of life and health, not to mention make it nearly impossible for him to nail down his Estrogen to a healthy spot.

To illustrate just how significant of an issue this can be, I compared the results of a Sensitive Assay Estradiol Test to a regular Estradiol Test conducted on the same blood sample.

The goal was to see how much the results of the two methods varied, and to assess whether the default Estradiol blood test is even viable for men.

Results Of My Blood Tests

The first thing I looked at was my result from the default Estradiol test that most labs use.

Roche ECLIA Methodology Estradiol Test Results

My estradiol levels using the traditional default Roche ECLIA methodology was 36.8 pg/mL, which is on the high end of normal.

Not too high, but 30 pg/mL is my usual target.

You can see the normal range is from 7.6 to 42.6 pg/mL.

Some guys would see this and logically think to themselves, “Okay, so things look pretty good, maybe I could use a bit of an AI to bring me down closer to 30.”

I had the same blood tested using Liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) which is not an FDA approved test.

As you would expect, the LC/MS/MS test is more expensive as well.

This test was developed to measure Estradiol with greatly increased sensitivity in postmenopausal women, men, children and adolescents [R].

The Sensitive Assay Estradiol test should be the default for men in my opinion, as it has vastly different results.

Most men won't go out of their way to add this to their cart separately, or opt for a more expensive panel to get this included when they get their blood work done.

I assure you, it's worth the additional price to see what's actually going on.

Sensitive Assay Estradiol Test Results

This was the result of the sensitive assay test conducted on the same sample:

As you can see in the image above, my Estradiol levels are actually only at 9.9 pg/mL.

If you know how to interpret estrogen levels, you would know that a 9.9 pg/mL result, despite it being in the normal range, is on the extreme low end of normal and could very likely lead to negative outcomes.

The Potential Harm Of A False Reading On An Estradiol Test

The difference between the sensitive assay estradiol test and the regular estradiol test is massive.

The difference in my test result was almost 30 pg/mL, which is practically the entire reference range.

If you think you're at 36.8 pg/mL and think to yourself, “Oh, I could probably use a bit of Aromasin to bring me down to 30 pg/mL,” but you're only actually at 9.9 pg/mL and then you use Aromasin and tank it even further, you can just imagine what's going to happen.

Here are some of the potential side effects of low estrogen:

• Dull weak orgasms
• Dry skin and lips
• Dehydration
• Erectile dysfunction
• Low libido
• Irritability
• Mood swings
• Loss of appetite
• Fatigue
• Lethargy
• Dry, achy joints
• Bone degeneration
• Decreased muscle growth
• Decreased fat loss

You could inadvertently cause all of these issues, and exacerbate them even further by using an inappropriate aromatase inhibitor dosage that isn't congruent with your body's actual needs.

You could think you need an even higher dosage of your AI because you're having libido or ED issues, pop some Aromasin and then screw yourself up even more.

This is extremely common, and often times doctors will prescribe predetermined dosages of AI's without even looking at your E2 levels at all, let alone looking at the accurate version of the test, which still baffles me to this day how much harm ignorant doctors cause to their patients on TRT with idiotic AI protocols.

Conclusion

It's very important that you get the Sensitive Assay Estradiol test added to your blood work if it is not already included in your panel.

It's the difference between you potentially screwing yourself up and not screwing yourself up.

It's especially critical if you're on TRT or PED's that you know exactly how much aromatization is actually occurring in your body.

If you are crashing your E2 into the ground for no reason, you're unnecessarily impairing your health and quality of life.

In the example above, I need more Estrogen in my body and should not use an AI at all, or should lower the dose accordingly if I were on one.

You will operate at a much higher quality of life with E2 levels closer to 30 pg/mL rather than 9 pg/mL, as well as build more muscle.