blood work

[lambchops]

i had bloodtests done a year ago and i don't recall paying... so is it safe to assume its covered by ohip?

or was it because i had legitimate complaints that it was covered.

i guess my question is can i walk into my GP and ask for bloodwork and be covered by ohip without a specific reason.

[Freebsd1977]

All my bloodwork was covered by ohip, got it all done by MDS labs.

[canadianmuscle0803]

bloodwork is covered by OHIP, just make sure you ask for the right test.. GP's dont always know what too look for, just make sure you ask for a full hormone test that covers everything.. you might have to give a good reason, say your libido is low and your feeling tired.. hope that helps.

[tarnow]

I had to pay $50 for testosterone tests, but all others have been covered by OHIP.

[phatkid77]

you will have to pay for BIOAVAILABLE testosterone test... total and free test is covered.... and if they check the PSA, thats out of your pocket as well...

phats

[GTZ3]

you will have to pay for BIOAVAILABLE testosterone test... total and free test is covered.... and if they check the PSA, thats out of your pocket as well...

phats

whats the difference between free test and bio available test?

[spiderman7]

Free T vs Bio T

When Testosterone is converted from cholesterol in the leydig cells of the testis, it's released into the blood stream where it embarks on an anabolic adventure.

However, when in the blood, 60% of the big T released from the boys down below is bound up by a protein known as SHBG, or sex-hormone binding globulin. SHBG is produced and released by the liver. The important point is that the Testosterone bound to SHBG is biologically inactive and this is why there's an important distinction between total T and bioavailable T.

Total T represents all the Testosterone in the blood, while bioavailable T represents the non SHBG bound Testosterone. There are other proteins in the blood that bind Testosterone, too, but their binding is rather weak, so this T is bioavailable and these proteins can still enter the cells to produce and effect all the things we're interested in.

As I said, bioavailable T represents the Testosterone that is not SHBG bound, while free T represents the Testosterone that's not bound to any blood proteins at all. It's tricky, I know, but I hope that it's now evident that although only about 2% of the T in blood is technically considered free T, there is a larger percentage of T (about 40% or so) that is bioavailable because it's only weakly bound to non SHBG blood proteins.

I'm taking you through this complex path for good reason. When trying to increase T levels in the body, one must attempt to not only increase total T. More importantly, one must attempt to increase bioavailable T. If you increase total T, but you increase SHBG to a larger extent, they you will actually have less bioavailable T for muscle building purposes!

A great example of this is the use of both thyroid drugs and tamoxifen (nolvadex). Both may increase total T levels in the body, but both also increase SHBG to a large extent. Although you may get a bit of a T surge with each (hurray!), the increase in SHBG may bind up any extra, and actually decrease your bioavailable T (boo!).

[ubcpower]

If you go in to the GP and complain about lethargy, low sex drive ..etc and you are somewhat sincere. They should write up a referal to a testing lab like LIFELABS or something and any decent dr. should request free test and bio avail test . Once you have that referal it should be billed to your OHIP. You can also look into the coverage of your extendedmedical plan if you have one as i know alot of people who have their bloodwork and HRT covered entirely