Affordable Hormone Testing without a Doctor

If you order a lab test using my affiliate links, I receive a small commission. However this article and opinion are all my own.

If you’ve been wanting to get your hormones tested, but not wait for a dr. to order it for you, take control of your own health and order it yourself! It not only saves you money and hassle, but you can do it on your own schedule.

Hormones! I don’t generally talk about them because I’m not a doctor or a trained hormone specialist. But, most of the readers of my blog are pre-menopausal/menopausal women, trying to maintain or improve their health through losing or maintaining their weight, while building muscle.

When your hormones are in healthy ranges, the better you feel, and the more likely you’ll be able to lose fat and build muscle. So, it’s good to get tested to see where you are, and to start on hormone therapy depending on your levels.

I was interested to see if I had low testosterone. Not because I didn’t feel good, or had low libido. In fact, just the opposite. I’ve never felt so fantastic in my entire life. But, I did want to know where my hormones levels were, as a baseline for data on when I felt good. I was also interested in experimenting to see if a testosterone therapy could help me build a little extra muscle (so vital with aging!).

So, I made an appointment with a local doctor to ask her to order a hormone lab panel.

Little did I know, because I hadn’t met my deductible yet for the year, my lab work cost me $900 out of pocket! Apparently, she ordered more lab markers than hormones. But not knowing what she ordered, I was SHOCKED when I got the bill in the mail.

My testosterone came back at 9 ng/dl. So, it was indeed a little low, but I’m 51 years old). My progesterone and estrogen were normal. Again, not surprised, because I felt relatively well.

My doctor agreed to prescribe a low dose (4ng/dl) cream. But, because I was skeptical a cream would be effective, I wanted a re-test after a month of using it. I’m unsure why health insurance companies won’t pay for follow up tests to see if the therapy is even working. But, mine wouldn’t. And I still hadn’t met my deductible anyway, so I wasn’t about to pay $900 to test again.

That’s when I found online hormone testing that you can order without a prescription, without insurance, for as little as $100! WHAT?!? I wish I had started here!

I ordered the online test, and after only a few weeks on the cream, my testosterone increased to almost 30 ng/dl! I had no idea the cream could work so well.

So now, I get the labs without insurance, even though I’m working with a doctor. I feel like I’m the best advocate for my own health, and I’m budget conscious! So, online lab test ordering is how I’ve been testing my hormones for the past 3 years!

Signs your hormones are out of balance

Aging can have a lot of undesirable side effects. Fatigue, weight gain, aches & pains, and memory loss have all been attributed to getting older. Most of these side effects can be linked back to our inability to produce hormones at the rate and level we did when we were younger. This might show up in conditions like:

• Mood swings
• Weight gain
• Trouble sleeping
• Irregular periods
• Hair loss
• Vaginal dryness
• Inability to build muscle
• Acne
• Night sweats
• Low libido

So, if you have any of these symptoms, it would be a good idea to get tested. But also, like me, even if you don’t have those symptoms, getting your lab work for a baseline on what’s “good” for you, might also be a good idea.

How to order lab tests without a doctor

I had no idea how easy this part of getting lab work could be, or how affordable! To get your basic hormone panel, such as

• Testosterone
• Progesterone
• Estradiol
• DHEA
• and FSH & LH

For the best price and most affordable place to get lab tests, I used eNational Testing. It was $120 total! All you have to do is

1. navigate to their website and put the lab test you’re interested in into your shopping cart.
2. Check out with a credit card (until Dec. 31st, my coupon code will get you extra $$ off- HEALTHBEET)
3. Download or Print the lab order you get with your receipt.
4. Head over to your closest testing center. I chose Labcorp, but there are other options if you don’t have a labcorp close to you. (Find a lab near you here)
5. Show up during their open hours and give them your lab order.
6. Get your blood drawn (hate this part!!)
7. And then wait for the results!!

It took about 7 days for me to get my results, and I was able to see them online. I didn’t have to make any appointments, and I got to go to LabCorp when it was most convenient for me.

The rest of my story

After 2 years of taking the testosterones cream, and having good testosterone levels (in the 20’s-30’s), I decided to take a break for awhile. The cream was costing me $40/month, and I wanted to save money and see if I could keep those levels up without paying for it. I also got it in my mind that the testosterone was causing my appetite to increase and eat more (but to be fair, It was more likely that I just eat too much because I like food. LOL) .

So, I’ve been off of it for about 6 months. I just got retested last week, and the results are back down to 9 ng/ml again. It’s good information to have, but I think I’m going to call my Dr. And get back on that cream!

Resources:

• Research for the value of getting tested
• Other lab work from eNational Testing (like cortisol, cholesterol, etc!)
• Discount code for 10% off lab tests HEALTHBEET
• Research for Benefits of testosterone treatment and muscle growth
• My current supplement stack