There's a term known as "Transdermal Fatigue" that's probably what you experienced with the Androgel. It works well and after awhile your body adapts. Now the Androgel dose has to increase and you have to continue increasing it often to keep it working. Before you know it you need a bathtub full of it to get anything out of it. This is not an uncommon situation at all. I believe I've mentioned this before, even the Androgel brand admits to a 20% fail rate in its literature, meaning the product won't work in 20% of all men from the start. But I do not believe it mentions the issue of Transdermal Fatigue, which holds true with every form of transdermal testosterone.

The protocol you're on now may be OK but it's impossible to say for use with out a blood work examination. The best way to determine how you're doing is how you feel, that's always the primary factor but as far as your numbers go, the same protocol will result in different numbers for every man. There's no one single protocol that produces the same numbers in all men.

If you'd like a good, sound protocol I'd encourage you to consider injectable testosterone. It's the easiest to control and manipulate until you find the right dosing plan for you. It also doesn't have a fail rate in normal men.