LH is an important hormone produced by the pituitary gland for both men and women. In women, it works as part of the menstrual cycle. In men it serves to maintain and produce testosterone and sperm. It is important to stay within a normal range of secretion in order to keep these body functions working correctly and to ensure the general health of your pituitary gland.
To check secretion levels you can request a blood test. Before you go, be aware that tests results may vary, and getting different results even minutes apart is quite normal. Many people become concerned with the differing levels of normal, as they want to be high normal in their levels of testosterone as opposed to low normal.
While high normal is more effective for your body, low normal is not necessarily bad, especially since levels fluctuate regularly. So do not be surprised if your LH levels vary while your levels of testosterone remain consistent.
The true value of measuring LH using a single measure test
It’s a known truth that LH levels can change from minute to minute. This makes small changes in daily production nearly undetectable through testing. An example from another article (source below) gives a comparison of the LH test represented by judging a better hitter in baseball on one hit.
Will the player who has hit better all season necessarily win? No, but that’s why batting averages are made up of every single at-bat. We must think of LH in the same way. The whole (being at a normal level) is more important than the individual highs and lows within normal.
A variable better suited for that kind of test would be something like “Who has blue eyes” or “Who is younger”. Variables like age and eye color do not change. The nature at which the LH changes makes a single measure much less useful in determining daily levels.,
Why the test is still important
While the test cannot give precise information on miniscule daily rises and falls in LH levels, what it can do is indicate when you are dangerously low.
The test will be able to tell you when your pituitary gland is about to go into hypopituitarism. Considering the range of things controlled by your pituitary gland, such as the thyroid, adrenal gland, ovaries, testes, and kidneys, it important to know if you are below average.
The symptoms of hypopituitarism include abdominal pain, fatigue, loss of body hair, shortened height (if during a growth spurt), vision issues, and weight loss, among others. The test is not made to worry about being high or low normal, but it can keep you safe from larger issues.
What can be done if you’re still wanting higher levels of LH?
The problem with recommending drugs to increase levels of a hormone that is hard to measure is that we really cannot gauge the effectiveness of the drug. Some have tried a DAA supplement regimen, but you’ll really only benefit from that if you are consistently low normal. Since we cannot tell how close to a blood peak each test is, worrying about these levels is unnecessary unless your levels are below average.
As long as your LH and testosterone both read some kind of normal, there is no need for worry. But if you’ve got it in your head that you need some kind of measure, the best you can do it measure how the DAA is affecting your testosterone.
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