Opinions requested, not medical advice. [View all]

(sorry, I wanted to make that clear to the mods, I am not asking for medical advice. I am asking men what they would personally do in my situation.)

This is as much background as I can think of off the top of my head:

I am a 43 year old male. Married, two children, one teenage child, another close behind. Professional job, work at a desk all day. 5'-11", about 200. I ride my bicycle perhaps 3 nights a week after work for 5 miles or so, shoot very light hoops 1-2 nights a week for no more than 20 minutes, just enough to get a little sweat going.

The last month or so I have had a fatigue just sweep over me, so bad that it feels as if I am moving through a fog all the time. Very hard to concentrate. Sometimes it is all I can do to hold a conversation with a co-worker. However, like a lot of men, I am very good at putting on a front, so I just plow through it. My libido is still good, but it used to be great.

But it was getting so bad I started wondering if there was something physically wrong with me. Went to the doctor, had bloodwork done. Everything was spot on, except testosterone. Reference range for a man my age is 280-1070, I'm at 125. Doctor has suggested T-gel.

This stuff is scary. I realize they have to put all the side effects on the bottle, but some of the stuff is very daunting. Testicular shrinkage(!), male pattern baldness (I have a full head of hair), increased risk of prostate cancer. My wife actually does very involved research with testosterone for her job, and she says if I used the gel long enough to get up to normal range, then cycle off for awhile, and come back as needed, that my statistical chance of experiencing these effects is minimal.

So to the men in the group, I am wondering if any of you have experienced this, and if so, what *you* did, not what I should necessarily do. And if you haven't experienced it, what you would do if you were in a similar situation.

I hope I phrased this well enough to avoid a lock. I don't want medical advice. I want to know what other men think, that's all.