What are signs of a too low/too high of testosterone dose?

[Carbine420]

Hey guys! So I've been on T for three months now. In the beginning I was getting a shot weekly by my doctor, and I was really happy with all the changes and felt fine, however when I came in at the end of the first month for blood work my T levels were out the roof and very high. So now my doctor has me on just one shot, once a month. I feel like the drastic change was a bit much because my appetite has gone down, I have less energy, etc.

What are some signs of my dose being too low, so I can see if I have any of the symptoms, and know what to look out for so I can see about bringing it up next time I see my doctor.

Thanks guys.

[AndrewB]

I believe signs of low T can include loss of energy and appetite, as well as lowered libido. Signs of high T might include high blood pressure, heightened libido, increased appetite, and acne (could be more than usual, or the start of acne, if you haven't had it).

All that being said, I feel like your doctor made a drastic change in doses. If it were me, I would have tried biweekly shots on you, and if that wasn't working, I'd start adjusting dose. Going from every week to once a month seems like it'd really throw your body for a loop, and end up giving you really low 'lows' when you're in the last week or so of your shot cycle. You may want to discuss this with him, and keep track of how you feel as the month progresses.

[Carbine420]

Yeah, I've pretty much been experiencing all of those symptoms of too low of a dose. I'm going to try to see about changing to bi weekly and hopefully he will agree to upping the dosage, because the once a month shot has definitely taken a toll on me as far as appetite, energy, my mood, etc.

When I first got my blood work done he said my levels were pretty insane, as in literally 22 times higher than it should be, which seemed almost unrealistic, but it was. So he said the once a month shot would keep my levels at where they needed to be since the T has such a strong effect on my body. But it's defiantly not giving me results I'm happy with.

Thanks!

[AndrewB]

Yeah, this sounds like a doctor that doesn't have a lot of experience administering testosterone, but your body could just be very reactive to the T. 22 times higher sounds impossible unless he was giving you something like 300 mg every week, and even then, 22 times? That'd put your free testosterone range, if we say he's measuring it toward the middle of a weekly cycle, at anywhere from 5280-22,900 ng/dl. You might want to ask what he's basing his numbers off of, and make sure he's considering you at a male T range, instead of the high side of female.

[FTMax]

22x the high end of normal? Do you have access to your lab reports? My doctor has an online portal where I can reference my lab work and prescriptions. See if you can get an actual number so we can see what he's talking about. My T levels have consistently been between 750-1100 since starting T, and my doctor has been thrilled.

I find it very hard to believe that a weekly shot of an average dose could get you 22x higher than normal.