im on trt myself for 5 years & few months now. Its the best decision i ever made. Here's my story for what its worth:
Symptoms i felt similar to outlawthing in addition to shitty sleep, but the thing that bothered me the most was the difficulty adding on muscle mass. It was very difficult even when i dotted my i's & crossed my t's diet in check sleep and workout regular. It seemed like i was pouring in a ton of effort & work and getting back almost nothing. I went to regular docs, and they draw blood & say "hmmm, your T is 280, not bad, its def in NORMAL range (range = 230-1100), see you next time". Thats the standard response. So i took matters in my own hands - my very early intro into Pro-hormones world.
I would go on 2-3 months stretchs with prohormones, and i would actually feel good relatively speaking compared to feeling shit with Low T, and added muscle mass & major strength in no time. The problem was when it was time to finish the cycle, a few weeks out, i would start seeing my gains disappear and feel like shit again, not knowing why (Low T hence cant support the muscle gains), i would jump into the next prohormone cycle in hopes of feeling good again & keeping and adding to my muscle gains. A few years of that, i transitioned from that to AAS , same reasoning but wanted added boost.
Finally, i figured out although this was working for my goals, i knew my health was in jeopardy because of the need to be on high doses of AAS all the time to feel good & maintain/add muscle mass. I decided to research HRT/TRT clinics, and i found a few clinics that checked out in my research with good reviews from people. Talked to some of them & enrolled into one so i can get the proper testing & approach this scientifically and not just throw a bunch of drugs into my system.
Doc started me 1st on clomid only, 50 mg 6 days per week. Blood test in 4 weeks, my T was at 695. Drastic improvement. Estro was 45 (elevated) , but the doc said is to be expected since T is rising up fast, and the body is responding by aromatizing some of the T. I could see myself bloating some. Then doc added Anastrozole to the equation to control estro, and that decreased signs of elevated estro, and things good better. Then, added the T for more "feel good" and help in gym gains ofcourse at therapeutic levels max 950 mg Test/month, so less than 250 mg per week. He added each drug 1 at a time followed by blood draw, before deciding to add another - that was KEY to ensure if i get sides, i know what caused it, and also when adding another drug make sure it addressed the issue it was added for via blood work.
Honestly, starting TRT saved my life in a way. Because at the time i refused to live feeling like crap & needed to make gains in gym, and at the time i figured running almost non-stop cycles back to back was the answer since heck it made me feel well and i see physique enhancements. That was wrong, and im glad i switched to TRT to get the feel good, keep muscle gains without jeopardizing my health, and doing it all in a Theraputic fashion.
currently i still do cycle AAS 2 times / year or so, but my main regimn is TRT hence im in no rush to hop back into any cycle. I can do pct and back into trt, and stay on trt as long as i want before deciding to hop into another cycle. Feeling healthy in SO many different ways (sleep, libido, focus, energy levels,...) & maintaining gains after cycles without needing to rush into another cycle was a LIFE CHANGER for me.
If you have any questions about reputable TRT clinics, or clinics i personally used, or TRT/HRT in general feel free to ask here or PM.
Long post, but you should've known better, when a convo starts with "here's my story", you know its a long read