Probably a dumb ass question but how do you guys go about getting the Rx/tested? My wife is like all up in arms at even the suggestion of me trying to get tested but I am thinking about it more and more. Probably 1/2 to 3/4 of the guys I throw/lift with are using some form of HRT and I know like 0 about it. Been playing with some supplements with mixed results. If this is off topic just clue me in on the appropriate thread.
Accurate testing is done in the am. (test is highest in the morning). Getting HRT is pretty easy it seems with the right docs. Getting insurance to cover is a different thing all together. My insurance required you about be dead...or a woman. You have to be below 200 or free test below 6 I think. The good news (or bad depending on how you look at it) is I actually met the requirements.
To meet insurance requirements you have to have the right tests done. Generally it is a method called equilibrium dialysis. There are other serum tests that can be used to get ideas of your profiles which are not as accurate but sometimes tell better pictures in the diagnosis.
My advice is this.....I would NOT advise going on HRT if you really dont "need" it. If you feel like sh!t this past year with lots of stress, and little sleep, TRT is not going to change that. You may even test low-is with the additional stresses and lack of sleep. To me that is not a reason to commit to a lifelong thing. It is not magic....unless you truly are suffering from a deficiency.
Dont forget that nature is a bell curve. Some guys feel great and are jacked at 400 levels. Going to 1200 wont make much difference. I have cut my TRT dose in almost half to what my script say simply because I feel better. Jacking up to the top makes me feel sluggish.
I would first fix lifestyle and make sure you dont have diet deficiencies (vit d for example). I just went through a tough year, and having 'optimal' levels of test did not change that I still felt like crap, was run down all the time, and made no progress in the gym.
I would advise running a real cycle if you want 'real' benefits. That way you are not committed to it for life for something that arguably wont really do much for you if you were not truly deficient.
Symptoms can be different, but low t symptoms are VERY similar to low thyroid. (something much easier to correct and NOT a life long commitment as recovery is easy if you want to stop.)
For me, despite eating the best I had in 3 years, being the strongest and leanest I had been in a decade, and getting 10-11 hours sleep a night, I was CONSTANTLY fatigued. On weekends, I would lay in bed until 1pm. I could remember hearing my kids downstairs laughing, having breakfast and I could not get myself out of bed. When I did get up, I would be napping by 430. It was really bad. The only thing I forced myself to do was workout. Which I did arguably well.
Coming back to the gym and within a couple years benching 225x30 (I did not max at the time), deadlifting 565 (never hit that 6 plates back then and was stalled with form issues) and squatting 495 (but probably not with proper depth because I had not worked my hips open yet back then). I was doing all that with the test levels of a 12y.o. girl.
The other thing I did not realize at the time was that I was losing body hair. My legs became shiny and patchy. (and I am a pretty hairy Italian guy). I never noticed it because it happened over about a 3 year period.
I never had any sexual issues and likewise, I cant say I feel any more drive since going on TRT.
Its a personal choice, but it wont fix any of the issues you mention if you still have stress and lack of sleep. I'd work on those things. If you can get them under control, see how you feel. If it is right to you and you want a boost, run a mild cycle if you want. 400mg. See how that treats you, but have your diet in order as well as recovery. It is not magic. At those levels, plenty of science that show almost zero negative effects. Studies have shown up to 600 gave no negative indications. (except rising hemocrit levels if you stay there forever) This of course is if you do not have underlying prostate issues.