473 ng/dl isn't very low. It might be too low for optimal mental health for you specifically, who knows, and that might've been the case for me as well (I had 16 nmol/L or 460 ng/dl when I felt like shit few years ago and I imagine it has gone up since). But testosterone isn't a wonder-drug, small increases, even a doubling might not be very noticeable for many people. I would recommend against using testosterone on your own, especially without a steady and reliable source, because what might happen is once you run out you might feel much worse than you do now.
If you have sleep problems, anxiety, stress.. then it would seem plausible to me to fix it with better sleep, maybe some various supplements or medications and whatnot.
I would suggest you get your vitamin D levels checked, maybe thyroid hormone levels too, if that hasn't been checked.
In either case you could try taking something like 5000 IU D3 a day for a few months (maybe even a bit more than that), and then get the levels tested. Unless of course the levels are already pretty good.
What's your caloric intake? that's another thing that can greatly determine testosterone levels and a bunch of other things. In particular if you are on the low end of BMI you might benefit from more calories rather than less.
My story is I self-medicated with benzodiazepines 2010-2011, and felt really sluggish and retarded after that for several years. One problem I had and solved was excessive muscle tension (eventually caused vertigo) due to bad posture and probably the benzo withdrawal, --- that helped with mental clarity. I also suspected I had slightly delayed puberty or anyway 2014 or 2015 my testicles grew by about +100% within a few months at age ~23 (from about 10-15ml each to 20-30ml each), and the only supplements I suspect had anything to do with it is 2000-6000 IU D3 and eating much more calories and nutrients in general (mostly dietary based), and maybe a brief usage of ~500mg resveratrol a day helped kickstart the system as well (can probably lower estrogen or at least give similar symptoms as low estrogen, which in turn might make the body produce testosterone to compensate). Early 2014 I also started using Cerebrolysin, which most notably (near immediately) helped me be able to speak, but also over time with general thinking and to some significant extent helped with the low mood. I suppose cerebrolysin might've helped with the hormonal/reproductive effects as well by alleviating stress and perhaps even directly healing some parts of the brain having to do with hormone regulation. I did suspect at the time that the benzodiazepines (or the withdrawal) caused dysregulted hormone production (and not necessarily primarily testosterone).
Anyway what you should consider is your state prior to this drug use you speak of. Maybe you really have ADHD and so low dose stimulants could help treat a portion of your symptoms (impulsiveness for example), but these days there's also Strattera which is not a fun drug at all but might work very well for some people with ADHD type symptoms. And I do suggest you look into treatment/diagnosis for depression - the relevant thing there is that it's very unhealthy to be depressed. Now if you are really worried about SSRIs or similar then maybe get some cerebrolysin and some needles and pumps (in my experience cere has some moderate to high anti-depressant effect and you don't need to use it every day or every month), but keep in mind there's also antidepressants like Wellbutrin that are not associated with withdrawal symptoms or early severe side-effects (unlike SSRIs), because wellbutrin is basically a weak stimulant (which I suspect has very low abuse potential).
Edited by Keizo, 09 August 2019 - 09:06 AM.