The problem with testosterone levels is that no one really knows what their level was before they discovered a problem. So a patient goes to their Dr gets a blood test then receives the result. The Dr says all normal Mr xxx because there is no before and after level to compare. The second issue is that the medical community has created this normal range to evaluate testosterone. The normal range based on UK levels is approx between 8 to 25 nmol, in the US I think it starts at around 250. When you are within the normal range then you are considered healthy and symptom free. A man can be sick with a level of 8.5 nmol but when his level drops to say 7.9 nmol the Dr can now say you have symptoms of low testosterone. This argument of being healthy anywhere within the normal range has been questioned by anti ageing Dr’s and a few hormone specialists but mainstream Dr’s are not interested. Testosterone treatment is expensive and fairly complicated so national health services are happy only to treat the worst affected. They often ignore those who maybe suffering within the bottom end of the normal range. The Dr says your range is normal you are depressed Sir. The Harvard study confirmed that men are depressed; they complied with general mainstream thinking on testosterone levels. So much for Harvard, the so-called institute of free thinkers.
How did Harvard plan to prove that propecia does or doesn’t lower a man’s testosterone level? If all men studied fell within the normal range, which they did, then nobody could have had low testosterone. A man either has low testosterone or normal range testosterone but that’s it for clinical diagnosis. If Harvard had proven that propecia lowers testosterone then all hell would have broke loose and they’d be up to their necks in Merck lawyers. I don’t believe the study was ever designed to prove that propecia could lower a man’s testosterone. Harvard knew what they were doing when they took the Foundation’s money.
For a study all we need is a medical Dr/researcher willing to prescribe propecia to men for free in return for a few simple tests completed before and during or after discontinuation of use. All the Dr has to say is they are monitoring the hormone panel as propecia alters DHT, a male hormone. In fact if all men who take propecia took a testosterone test today and another if/when they felt unwell then we would have our research or proof right there.
In the end we want to know why pfs patients have the symptoms that they do. We know that injecting men with hormones like testosterone in many cases doesn’t make the pfs patient any better. Therefore they need to research beyond hormone levels, which I gather that’s what they are trying to do by looking at receptors etc. Can the researchers find proof without running into Merck lawyers? If researchers prove that propecia affects receptor xxx will that put men off from taking propecia in the future, probably not because most couldn’t relate to something like receptor xxx. Instead they are thinking about work, girlfriend, gym etc so we might get our research after all.