Thanks to stringent regulations from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, commercials that highlight the benefits of medications must also contain information about their side effects. Those warnings delineate several concerns regarding nearly a dozen different side effects for testosterone products, including AndroGel and Androderm.

Researchers who published their findings in the Journal of the American Medical Association for Internal Medicine noted that the number of men taking low testosterone treatments has jumped in recent years, and questions have emerged. Symptoms of “low T” such as depression or lack of energy may not actually be caused by an imbalance.

Doctors who have studied low testosterone treatments say that many men are being prescribed products like AndroGel, and prescriptions for these testosterone gel and testosterone cream products are three times higher than it was just 10 years ago. While these testosterone treatments make sense for men who have low testosterone levels and issues related to sexual dysfunction, many doctors say that screening and tests should be used to confirm that an issue exists.

However, many medical professionals are simply writing prescriptions based on symptoms that could be caused by other conditions, including the naturally-occurring drop in the hormone as men age. Using it otherwise opens up the risk for significant health problems like heart attack, stroke and even death, according to recent research on testosterone side effects.

It is also unclear whether or not there are additional testosterone side effects. The surge in usage of the treatments has not been accompanied by a significant increase in medical studies regarding other potential risk factors. Recent data chiefly focuses on its use by high-level athletes such as baseball players or mixed martial arts fighters who rarely have other existing health issues. Problems for older men with cardiovascular issues could lead to an uptick in heart attack side effects.