23Y/O Scared Dr Gave Me Too Low TRT Dose

Hi everybody, hope this is the right place to post this.

I’m a 23 year old guy, had low t symptoms since around 19. Felt insecure, anxious, low confidence, low energy, very little body hair (almost smooth face, not bc. genes because all males in my family have full beards) etc. Sexdrive has actually been pretty normal, but morning boners are very rare. Well lets fast forward a bit, I took a blood test, it measured 318ng/dl TT, low but not insanely low. I was referred to an endocrinologist, and he said he could prescribe Fortesta / Tostran 2% Gel to me, but that he didn’t necessarily recommend it because although my levels were on the low end he said I was still perfectly normal. Now I know injections are better, but he wanted to start out with this first, and that sounds sensible bc. here I can only get T undecanoate (nebido / aveed) which lasts a very long time. My concern is that he prescribed too small of a dose. He wants me to do 2 pumps (20mg testosterone) every day. I asked if I am free to go up if needed and he said no and that we will review on our next appointment, but that’s still 2.5 months away! I do have enough prescribed that I could up the dose anyway, but I don’t like going against the doctors orders.

So today I took my first dose of 20mg testosterone through gel. Feel nothing noteworthy yet, but from what I hear that’s not expected either. I might be having one effect, usually when I think about stressful stuff my heart starts going a bit faster, I get a bit nervous. But today it has been much less. Could very well just be placebo(?).

Any comments on his prescription? What would you guys do in the same situation? I’m a small skinny guy, never done any steroids before, so keep that in mind. 5 foot 6, 120 lbs.

I guess I’m concerned because I don’t wanna be “missing out” with too low of a dose. Lets say I feel nothing on this and I figure out meh, this does nothing for me so I might as well stop. But maybe with a higher dose I would feel a million times better. So if I feel nothing on 20mg after a week, should I up to 30mg, then 40mg etc.? I mean the standard starting dose is 60mg.

Thanks for any advice!

We need more info and all of your labwork with lab ranges.

With transdermal T, absorption is always an unknown.

Labs should have included DHEA-S, TT, FT, E2, LH/FSH and prolactin.

LH/FSH cannot be tested after starting TRT.

I hope that you like reading!

Please read the stickies found here: About the T Replacement Category - #2 by KSman

  • advice for new guys - need more info about you
  • things that damage your hormones
  • protocol for injections
  • finding a TRT doc

Evaluate your overall thyroid function by checking oral body temperatures as per the thyroid basics sticky. Thyroid hormone fT3 is what gets the job done and it regulates mitochondrial activity, the source of ATP which is the universal currency of cellular energy. This is part of the body’s temperature control loop. This can get messed up if you are iodine deficient. In many countries, you need to be using iodized salt. Other countries add iodine to dairy or bread.

KSman is simply a regular member on this site. Nothing more other than highly active.