Progesterone: Normal Levels in MenHome » Pregnenolone » Progesterone: Normal Levels in Men

Progesterone is one of those “forgotten” hormones for men in the sense that it is undermonitored and undermanaged by most physicians. It’s important for anxiety reduction, erectile strength and possibly lipid management as well (according to the work of Dr. Dzugan). It is also important to monitor in TRT (testosterone replacement therapy) according to one school of thought, because progesterone levels can fall unnaturally after 3+ months on TRT (without HCG).  I am likely a great example as my progesterone levels were the following in January of 2016:

Progesterone <0.5 ng/ml [range < 1.6 ng/ml]   Sonora Quest

Notice that my range is somewhere between 0.0 and 0.5 ng/ml and thus on the low side after being on testosterone cypionate for several years.  (I discuss my solution with the help of Dr. Saya of Defy Medical here: DHEA and Pregnenolone.)  And my case brings up an important question:  just what are normal, adult male progesterone levels?  I asked that of Dr. Saya, and his reponse was

NORMAL MALE PROGESTERONE LEVELS: Progesterone 0.0 – 1.2 ng/ml  LabCorp

Notice that there is a little dispute as to the top of the range if you compare Sonora versus LabCorp, but that both are fairly close and could be explained simply by differences in equipment and methodology.

NEWS FLASH:  There has been considerable heartburn on the Elite Manliness Forum, because Lab Corp has updated their progesterone test for men and the new range is 0 – 0.2 ng/ml! In other words, the top of the range is now a fraction of the old top of the range.  One of our posters was dismayed with this situation and posted the following:

“So, I have been taking 20mg dhea and 30mg pregnenolone in a compounded tablet through defy medical. Also, taking HCG 250units EOD. Then, .10ml Tcyp EOD. My dhea went up to 293 from 170. That’s good maybe want to go higher though. My progesterone though went from .4 to .1!!!! This seems crazy!!!”

And this poster is not the only one.  I asked Dr. Saya about this new situation as well, and he said the following via email, which I post with his permission:

“Of course since LabCorp inexplicably changed their progesterone reference range about 3 weeks ago to basically zero (previously 0.0 -1.2 changed to 0.0 – 0.1) virtually ALL patients have shown “high” for progesterone on their LabCorp reports simply due to the ridiculously low reference range. I’ll be sending LabCorp execs a thank you card for Christmas to show my appreciation for the lost productivity attributed to having to explain this very fact to every single patient with NORMAL progesterone levels…I’m frustrated beyond belief with the irrational change in reference range for progesterone from LabCorp. I’ve got an email in to the medical directors, but likely won’t receive a response. According to their new “reference range”…95% of the NORMAL male population will have “high” progesterone levels. I literally have to explain to EVERY patient why their 0.2 or 0.4 or 0.6 progesterone level is completely normal and it’s just smoke and mirrors due to the lab report.“

Adding to the confusion is some great detective work by one of our senior posters that LabCorp may have changed the reagant and that this led to the incorrect reference range.  If you want to check out the technica details, see reference 2 below. [2]

REFERENCES:

1)  https://elitemanliness.com/forum/index.php?topic=11416.0

2) https://elitemanliness.com/forum/index.php?topic=11421.msg98904#msg98904

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