Propecia (Finasteride) "Transition" Theory

[Int]

BUMP!

I was wondering if there are any other users who had sides during their first time on fin but managed to minimize their sides during their second attempt by slowly decreasing the dosage as described by Spex.

[Dan26]

Is there very much of a difference between the 1mg 1 day a week and .25mg 4 days a week and then upping to like .25mg 7 days a week (i know that doesn't exactly add to 2 pills) and so on and so forth until 1mg a day?

Or will that create.. turbulence with your hormones or something

This is not the most effective way to taper on to the drug. Taking 1mg once then waiting 7 days till your next dose is not wise. A single 1mg dose causes a very signifigant drop in DHT, and by day 7 your DHT will be nearly back to where it was. You don't want your hormones to fluctuate much, you want to reduce DHT at a slow/steady rate until your desired levels are reached.

So go with .25mg twice a week, then 3 times a week etc...as a single dose of 0.25 doesn't drop DHT by as much as a single dose of 1mg. And your DHT levels a couple days after that single 0.25mg dose will only be slightly lower.

[redy]

Is there very much of a difference between the 1mg 1 day a week and .25mg 4 days a week and then upping to like .25mg 7 days a week (i know that doesn't exactly add to 2 pills) and so on and so forth until 1mg a day?

Or will that create.. turbulence with your hormones or something

[BaldinLikeBaldwin]

This is all very interesting to me. I'm not on Finasteride currently but likely will be in the future. I was initially planning to take small doses after reading they reduce DHT levels almost as much as 1mg+. I realised however that due to the drugs short half-life after 24 hours I would not have enough of the drug in my body for it to reduce enough DHT. (?)

I then decided on this plausible transition theory even though I feel that maybe you should not really go on Fin if you're fearing or expecting sides. From what I understand now though 1mg every 5-7 days would have an equal effect in combating MPB as 1mg ED? How is this information not more "out there"? Surely some people must have tried this and we'd know whether or not it's as effective.

[Aston]

Philippe, you can:
#1 crush the pill into dust and divide the dust until you're satisfied. Just take note of the amount you got and after a few times you will naturally take the right amount without careful fractioning.

#2 Dilute a pill in pure vodka or ethanol, then use a plastic syringe to take the dose you want by considering the concentration.

Take note that according to many users Finasteride has a flat response curve. Doses as low as 0.2mg will basically have the same effect as 1mg, but will mantain the low level for less time in your bloodstream. I am pretty certain 1mg can keep your DHT decently inhibited for at least a week, for instance.

http://www.propeciahelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1170

[philippe]

@ victimofdht

i use proscar--been on it now for 11 months.

for the first 6 months i was talking one quarter of a 5mg tablet per day (1.25mg).

the sides we pretty bad so i dropped that down to .65mg a day for the last 5 months. however, the sides still remain.

just this week i decided to try .65mg every other day.

my question to spex or anyone else on this post is if there is a better method of actually making sure that when splitting pills (in this case into eight pieces) that one is really dividing the finasteide up "fairly" evenly?

i have a pill splitter but it ain't cutting a pill into 8 pieces ;-) i use a razor blade to cut them down but this is never perfect either. any tips out there?

[VictimOfDHT]

OK. So nobody here uses Proscar !!

[VictimOfDHT]

To those who are taking Proscar, are you guys taking 1/4 pill every day or every other day? Been taking 1/4 every other day since I got on it more than 12 years ago but I'm wondering if I should try every day instead of every other day.

[sausage]

23 days and counting, for the first week I took half a dose every day from then on its been the full 1mg everyday and I am fine, No sides.

Its all good in the hood.

[philippe]

@ Spex,

I've read so many conflicting things about how to take a lower dosage of Propecia and it makes me wonder how much discrepancy there can be? If it's true that Propecia's half life in the body is only a matter of hours (the time in which it is actively suppressing dht formation) then doesn't logic deduce that it makes more sense to take a lower dosage daily, then to take a slightly higher dosage every other day?

Like just about everyone else on this post I am lowering my dosage because of side effects-I am hoping to at least minimize the sides and still block some dht.

[Maradona]

Very good advice Spex.

I'll try this after replicel results.

[Folly]

Ok mate, will do. Cheers !!

[Spex]

I dont know if that would work, give it a go and let us know

[Folly]

Nice post Spex,

Sorry to change the topic slightly, but i was wondering about doing a similar thing with Minoxidil to prevent an 'initial shed'. Do you think something like the routine below is overkill to prevent an initial shed ?

Month 1 - Apply minoxidil once a week
Month 2 - Apply minoxidil twice a week
-
-
-
-
Month 7 - Applied once daily

Cheers.

[philippe]

hey chrisis--i have been actually cutting the 5mg proscar tablets into eight peices--this gives me roughly .60mg per daily dose. i have been doing this for a few months now and cannot say my sides are gone. i am thinking about taking .60mg every other day at this point.

i think if you can find the right dosage for your body's sensitivity level then you may be able to get the benefits and have no sides...but it is not an exact science getting there...just experimentation.