You're not getting old. You might be low.
Start with a free 15-minute call with our care team. If you go ahead, an Australian doctor reviews your bloods and symptoms and tells you straight what's going on. No subscription, ever.
- AHPRA-registered doctors
- 100% telehealth
- Private & discreet
- Delivered to your door
What happens on the call
15 minutes with our care team, by phone or video.
- We listen. A few questions about how you've been feeling and what you've already tried.
- We explain. How the bloods and the doctor consult work, what they cost and how long it takes.
- You decide. Go ahead, think about it, or don't. No pressure and nothing to pay on the call.
Australian residents 18+. Any treatment is only prescribed if a doctor judges it clinically appropriate after a consultation, and it isn't suitable for everyone.
Book your free 15-minute call
Pick a time that suits you. A member of our care team calls you, explains how it works and answers your questions. Nothing to prepare and nothing to pay.
- Private and confidential
- 100% telehealth, Australia-wide
- No subscription, no lock-in
OPTIVHEALTH PTY LTD · Australian-owned telehealth clinic · AHPRA-registered doctors · Dispensed by licensed Australian pharmacies
You didn't change. Your hormones might have.
Most men put these down to age, stress or a bad year. Some of the time that's exactly what it is. Sometimes it's a number on a blood test — and you won't know which until you look.
- Broken sleep
- Low libido
- Low mood
- Stubborn belly fat
- Slower recovery
- Short fuse
- Training that goes nowhere
- Nothing left by 3pm
- Losing your words
- No motivation
- Flat for no reason
- Waking up tired
Low testosterone is common. Getting tested isn't.
men have testosterone below the healthy reference range — roughly a quarter of men aged 30 to 79.
of men aged 45 and over seen in primary care met the clinical criteria for low testosterone.
is the average annual decline in total testosterone in men from around age 30 onward.
Sources: Araujo AB, et al. Prevalence and incidence of androgen deficiency in middle-aged and older men. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2004;89(12):5920–5926. Mulligan T, et al. Prevalence of hypogonadism in males aged at least 45 years: the HIM study. Int J Clin Pract. 2006;60(7):762–769. Harman SM, et al. Longitudinal effects of aging on serum total and free testosterone levels in healthy men. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2001;86(2):724–731. These figures describe published population research, not Optiv Health patient outcomes.
Four steps. No waiting rooms.
Book your consult
Pick a time that suits you using the calendar on this page. No GP referral needed — the pathology request is issued through our clinic.
FreeYour bloods
Already had bloods done by your GP recently? Send them through — if they cover the markers we need, that's your step two done and there's nothing to buy. If not, order the OPTIV panel for $229, and results come back in 24 to 48 hours.
Use your GP's, or $229See your doctor
An Australian-registered doctor goes through your results and your symptoms with you, and decides whether treatment is clinically appropriate.
$150Get your protocol
If you're approved, your treatment plan is built around your own bloods, dispensed by a licensed Australian pharmacy, with unlimited support for the whole cycle.
Unlimited supportA cycle runs 3 months. To continue past that, you see your doctor again. That's the only time you're charged a consult fee — there's nothing monthly in between.
Priced separately and plainly.
OPTIV Men's Health Consult
Bloods and doctor, priced separately and plainly.
- Telehealth consult with an AHPRA-registered doctor
- If you're happy, we book your doctor's consult
- Blood panel $229, or use your GP's recent results
- Doctor's consult $150, with an AHPRA-registered doctor
- Personalised treatment plan if you're eligible
- Unlimited support for your whole cycle
Your doctor needs recent bloods before the consult. If your GP has already run a panel and it covers the markers we need, you don't have to buy ours — send it through and we'll check it. If it's missing markers, or there isn't one, our panel is $229. One cycle runs 3 months, after which you see your doctor again. Medication is charged separately and only if you're eligible, priced against your protocol with supplies included. Australian residents 18+. Treatment is only prescribed where the treating doctor judges it clinically appropriate, and hormone treatment is not suitable for everyone.
Unlike most men's hormone clinics in Australia
No monthly subscription fees.
Most men's hormone clinics charge a monthly membership whether you use it that month or not. We don't. You pay $150 when you see the doctor. Bloods, if you need ours, are $229, and any medication is quoted before you're charged. Nothing is billed monthly.
- No membership
- No recurring billing
- No lock-in
- Nothing to cancel
Fifty-plus markers. Not just testosterone.
Low testosterone rarely travels alone. Your doctor needs to see the hormones around it, your thyroid, your liver and kidneys, your lipids and glucose, and a full blood count — the whole story rather than one number.
Had bloods done recently? You may not need ours.
If your GP has run a panel in the last few months and it covers the markers listed here, use it. Send your results through and we'll tell you whether they're enough before you spend anything. Standard GP panels often test total testosterone but skip free testosterone, SHBG, oestradiol, FSH/LH and prolactin — if yours is missing those, you'd need the gaps filled.
Ordered through our pathology partner.
Not sure whether your existing results are enough? Send them through when you book and we'll check them with you before you buy anything.
Hormones
- Total testosterone
- Free testosterone
- SHBG
- Oestradiol (E2)
- FSH / LH
- Prolactin
- Progesterone
- DHEAS
- Cortisol
- Thyroid function
Organ function
- Kidney function (UEC) · 11 analytes
- Liver function (LFT) · 8 analytes
- PSA
Metabolic
- Lipid studies · 6 analytes
- Glucose
- Magnesium
General health
- Full blood count · 16 analytes
- High-sensitivity CRP
It arrives sealed, plain and ready to go.
Once your doctor signs off, everything you need turns up in one box — your protocol, your supplies and clear instructions. Nothing on the outside says what's inside.
- Discreet outer packaging, no branding on the label
- Everything for safe administration in one pack
- Dispensed by a licensed Australian pharmacy
- Tracked delivery Australia-wide
Replacing what's missing — carefully.
Hormone replacement care tops up a hormone your body has stopped making enough of. Done properly, it isn't about chasing a number — it's about the lowest effective dose, monitored over time.
Prescribed to your bloods
Your protocol starts from your own pathology results, not a template. Dose and formulation are chosen by the treating doctor.
Reviewed, then adjusted
Repeat bloods at set intervals track testosterone, haematocrit and related markers so the protocol can be tuned or stopped.
Doctor-led clinic
Every protocol is written by an AHPRA-registered doctor, and every prescription is dispensed through licensed Australian pharmacies.
Honest about fit
Treatment isn't right for every man — particularly if you're planning children. If it isn't right for you, your doctor will say so and cover the alternatives.
What hormone treatment actually is.
A prescription treatment for men whose testosterone is clinically low and who have symptoms to match. It restores the hormone to a healthy physiological range under the supervision of an Australian-registered doctor.
Not about chasing a high number
The aim is resolving symptoms on the lowest effective dose, not pushing levels as high as possible. Higher is not better, and it is where side effects start.
Not the same as anabolic steroid use
Replacement brings a deficient hormone back to normal, under monitoring. Anabolic use pushes it far above normal, usually without any. Different dose, different intent, different oversight.
Legal, with a prescription
Hormone treatment is prescription-only in Australia. It is legal when prescribed by an AHPRA-registered doctor after a proper assessment, and illegal to import or possess without a prescription.
Ongoing, not set and forget
Repeat bloods and reviews are part of the treatment rather than an optional extra. Any clinic prescribing treatment without them is not meeting a reasonable standard of care.
Why testosterone drops.
Rarely one thing. Understanding which factors apply to you is part of what the assessment is for, and some of them are treatable on their own.
Age
- Levels decline roughly 1–2% a year from around 30
- Gradual for most, faster or from a lower baseline for some
Body composition
- Visceral fat converts testosterone to oestrogen
- Which makes fat harder to shift, and reinforces itself
Sleep & stress
- Most testosterone is released during sleep
- Untreated sleep apnoea is a common and fixable driver
- Sustained stress raises cortisol, which suppresses it
Medical & medication
- Type 2 diabetes, liver or kidney disease, pituitary conditions
- Opioids, corticosteroids and some antidepressants
- Previous anabolic steroid use, sometimes long-lasting
Your FSH and LH results help the doctor work out whether the problem originates in the testes or the pituitary, which changes the approach.
Not everyone who feels flat is a candidate.
Treatment is only appropriate where both the symptoms and the bloods support it, and where it is safe to start. Your doctor makes that call at the consult.
Worth getting assessed if
- Several symptoms have persisted for months, not weeks
- They haven't improved with better sleep, training or time off
- You're over 30, though younger men can be affected too
- There's a history of steroid use, sleep apnoea or metabolic issues
- A GP panel found nothing, but only tested total testosterone
Not suitable, or not yet
- Planning to conceive in the next 6 to 12 months
- Untreated sleep apnoea, which is addressed first
- Active or suspected prostate cancer, or an unexplained raised PSA
- Uncontrolled diabetes, or liver or kidney disease
- A recent heart attack or stroke
- Results in range, where something else is driving the symptoms
If you're not a candidate, your doctor will say so and explain what to investigate instead. That is a useful outcome, not a wasted consult.
Why one number isn't the answer.
Total testosterone is everything circulating in your blood, most of it bound to proteins and unavailable. Free testosterone is the fraction your tissues can actually use, and symptoms track it more closely. SHBG is the protein doing most of the binding, and it is what makes the two diverge.
Normal total, low free
High SHBG binds more of your testosterone, so a total result can look reassuring while very little is actually available. This is one of the more common reasons men are told they're fine and still feel terrible.
Low free alone isn't a diagnosis
It warrants a proper look at SHBG, medications, weight, thyroid and other causes. On its own it doesn't automatically mean treatment is appropriate, and a good doctor will say so.
Replacement, not elevation
The purpose is restoring a confirmed deficiency to a normal physiological range. Adding more hormone to levels that are already adequate pushes them above what the body would produce naturally, which is a different thing entirely and carries different risks.
How to make the test worth doing.
Testosterone moves through the day and responds to sleep, illness and alcohol. A badly timed sample is the most common reason a result misleads in either direction.
Morning, fasted
Testosterone peaks early. Give your sample between 7am and 10am after an overnight fast, which also makes your glucose and lipid results usable. Shift workers should ask for specific timing advice.
After a normal night
A result taken after a run of bad sleep, a big weekend or during an acute illness can read artificially low. If that's your week, wait.
Expect a repeat
A single low or borderline reading is often confirmed with a second sample taken the same way. International guidance recommends it, and it's what separates a diagnosis from a snapshot.
Declare everything
Current medications, supplements, recent illness and any past or present hormone or steroid use. All of it changes how the result should be read. Never stop a prescribed medicine to influence a test.
Guidance on diagnosis and monitoring is drawn from the Endocrine Society Clinical Practice Guideline on hormone treatment in men with hypogonadism (2018), the European Association of Urology guidelines on male hypogonadism, and the British Society for Sexual Medicine guidelines on adult testosterone deficiency (2023).
Already on something you didn't get from a doctor?
Plenty of men have. Gear from a gym contact, an underground lab, an overseas site. Tell us. You will not be lectured and you will not be turned away for being honest, and we would far rather help you move onto something monitored than have you carry on alone.
Your baseline needs a clear run
While you're taking an external hormone, a blood test measures what you've injected, not what your body makes. Establishing a true untreated baseline generally means a stretch of months off it first. Your doctor will tell you what that looks like for you.
Bloods are still worth doing now
Even if they can't establish a baseline, they show what matters for safety today — haematocrit, lipids, liver and kidney function, blood pressure. That's the part that catches problems early.
Don't self-manage the transition
Don't change doses or add anything to influence a test result. If you develop chest pain, significant breathlessness, collapse or new neurological symptoms, that's 000, not a booking form.
A marathon, not a switch.
Improvement is gradual and builds. Anyone promising a transformation in a fortnight is selling something. Individual response varies considerably.
Weeks 1–4
Mostly adjustment. Some men notice slightly better sleep or energy; many notice nothing yet. That is normal and not a sign it isn't working.
Weeks 4–8
Where change usually becomes noticeable. Mood, motivation, mental clarity and libido are typically the first to shift. Physical changes lag behind.
The 8-week review
Repeat bloods and a review with your doctor. Levels and safety markers are checked, and the dose is adjusted if it needs to be. This checkpoint is the point of supervised treatment.
Months 3–6 and beyond
Body composition and strength respond slowest. Results compound when treatment sits alongside consistent training, nutrition and sleep rather than replacing them.
The risks, said plainly.
Supervised hormone treatment is well established and considered safe for men with diagnosed low testosterone. It still has real effects that have to be watched, and any clinic telling you otherwise is selling.
What can happen
- Red blood cell count can rise, which matters for clotting risk
- Some testosterone converts to oestrogen, occasionally causing fluid retention, mood change or breast tenderness
- Acne or oilier skin, usually early and usually manageable
- Your own production is suppressed, which is why treatment is generally long-term
- Sperm production can be reduced, which matters if you want children
Hormone treatment does not cause prostate cancer, but it isn't prescribed where prostate cancer is active or suspected, and PSA is monitored throughout.
What gets monitored
- Total and free testosterone
- Oestradiol
- Haematocrit and haemoglobin
- PSA
- Liver and kidney function
- Lipids and glucose
The men who run into trouble with hormones are almost always those self-administering without bloods. Monitoring is what makes it medicine rather than a gamble.
Why your GP may have said you don't qualify.
For subsidised treatment under the PBS, total testosterone generally has to sit at or below 6 nmol/L, measured on two separate occasions. Most clinical guidelines put the threshold for hypogonadism considerably higher, commonly in the 8 to 12 nmol/L range.
That gap is where a lot of men end up. Genuinely low, clearly symptomatic, and still outside the subsidy criteria. A private clinic assesses you against clinical need rather than a subsidy threshold, and the trade-off is that you pay for it yourself. Standard GP panels also frequently test total testosterone alone, leaving out free testosterone and SHBG, which is why some men are told everything is normal when the fuller picture says otherwise.
Who it's for
Men who want a straight answer about their hormones before they spend another year feeling average.
Pay for what you use. Nothing else.
Most men's hormone clinics put you on a monthly membership that bills whether you need them that month or not. We charge you when you actually see a doctor. Your bloods are $229, or free if your GP's recent results cover it.
What it costs
If your GP has run a recent panel covering the markers we need, you don't pay for bloods at all. If you do need ours, it's $229. A cycle runs 3 months, then you see your doctor again to continue. Medication is only prescribed if you're eligible and is priced against your protocol, with injection supplies included.
OPTIV vs a subscription clinic
The right-hand column describes how subscription-based treatment clinics generally operate, not any particular competitor. Check any clinic's current terms before you sign up.
Questions, answered.
Stop guessing. Get the number.
Start with a free 15-minute call. If you want to go further, your bloods are $229 if you need ours, and your doctor's consult is $150. A real consult, a protocol built on your own numbers, and nothing recurring or waiting to be cancelled.
Book my free callAustralian residents 18+. Treatment is only prescribed where clinically appropriate following a consultation.