Taking .05mg finasteride effective with fewer side effects?

[Desmond84]

With regards to what dose should be sufficient here's a few graphs that shows what happens to DHT at different doses! These are all from Merck's trial results submitted to FDA and is now available through freedom of information act! Sorry about the size btw, I'm not sure why they came out so small!

[Desmond84]

Now, the trouble with 0.05mg is that there's still some amount of DHT roaming around in your blood and might bind to your hair! So, it may not be as effective as 0.2-1mg. Nevertheless, 0.05mg would most definitely slow down your hairloss to a great extent.

On a side note though, as you all would agree we are all different. Some will experience sides and that's just a fact of life. So, if you're one of the ppl that have experienced sides already while on propecia, I beg you not to try and reduce the dose just to prevent side effects. I have seen ppl attempting it before and ended up getting very nasty sides (prostatitis) for up to 6 months. So please think about the risks. Unfortunately, because of the pharmacological properties of this drug, it is almost impossible to play with the dose. You will experience sides no matter what dose you take and that would only put your health at risk! So please guys, the only reason I'm here helping you out is because I personally believe that the dose Merck is putting in propecia is incredibly high and unnecessary. So, if you wanna cut down the dose and frequency just to save money and give your body a break, you can do so. That's all.

and to all the guys who HAVE experienced sides, don't worry. It's NOT ALL OVER In feb 2013, Aderans will be releasing their final results for Phase II trials. If its positive, it means we have managed to make hairs DHT resistant making Propecia obsolete. Not only that, they can grow a significant amount of hair back. So, let's keep our fingers crossed and don't throw in the towel YET

Cheers

[freddiegemini]

thank you for your info/help Desmond

[Desmond84]

So just to clarify though, If I were to take fin 1mg say 3-4 days a week instead of everyday, It would still have the same effect? or is it a lesser affect?

Hey rdawg,

It would have exactly the same effect I have a few patient's that have been doing it for over 2 years and their hair is still the same!
I mean, worse comes to worse if you did have an aggressive case of MPB and your hair started shedding again you can always go back on to once daily again

[freddiegemini]

Desmond but here ppl are talking about the halflife being 24hrs...? http://www.baldtruthtalk.com/showthr...?t=4809&page=3

[Desmond84]

Desmond but here ppl are talking about the halflife being 24hrs...? http://www.baldtruthtalk.com/showthr...?t=4809&page=3

Yeah, there's a lot of confusion about the difference between plasma half-life and biological half-life:

Plasma half-life is the rate of elimination of a drug from the body by your kidney and liver. For Finasteride that is approximately five to six hours in men 18 to 60 years of age, and eight hours in men more than 70 years of age.

Biological half-life however refers to how long the pharmacological effects of a drug remain before another dose is required. Now, finasteride is an irreversible inhibitor of 5-Alpha reductase, meaning until your body produces more 5-alpha reductase, DHT levels remain low. The body generally takes 3-5 days to form sufficient amounts 5-alpha reductase to start converting Testosterone to DHT and damaging your hair again. So as long as you dose yourself before the third day, you should still be keeping your DHT levels pretty low.

[Benzzro]

Yeah, there's a lot of confusion about the difference between plasma half-life and biological half-life:

Plasma half-life is the rate of elimination of a drug from the body by your kidney and liver. For Finasteride that is approximately five to six hours in men 18 to 60 years of age, and eight hours in men more than 70 years of age.

Biological half-life however refers to how long the pharmacological effects of a drug remain before another dose is required. Now, finasteride is an irreversible inhibitor of 5-Alpha reductase, meaning until your body produces more 5-alpha reductase, DHT levels remain low. The body generally takes 3-5 days to form sufficient amounts 5-alpha reductase to start converting Testosterone to DHT and damaging your hair again. So as long as you dose yourself before the third day, you should still be keeping your DHT levels pretty low.

Do you even think taking .25 EOD can work? I've started this week, in hopes my slight weaker erections will come back. Or is it a waste of time.

[Desmond84]

Do you even think taking .25 EOD can work? I've started this week, in hopes my slight weaker erections will come back. Or is it a waste of time.

Benzzro to be honest with you, it is more than likely to still affect your erections. My personal opinion is that weaker erections and libido problems which is generally reported with Propecia is most likely due to its potential to cause prostatitis.

In some ppl, its a very mild case, so they only complain of weaker erections, while in more severe cases ppl have difficulty urinating, pain during ejaculation and testicular pain. It is a prostate drug after all.

[Benzzro]

Benzzro to be honest with you, it is more than likely to still affect your erections. My personal opinion is that weaker erections and libido problems which is generally reported with Propecia is most likely due to its potential to cause prostatitis.

In some ppl, its a very mild case, so they only complain of weaker erections, while in more severe cases ppl have difficulty urinating, pain during ejaculation and testicular pain. It is a prostate drug after all.

Is there danger to continue usage? Because I can deal with it since it's only effected my erections by like 10%.

Thanks for the reply btw!

[Dan26]

Hey Desmond what do you think about dissolving the fin tablet in an alcohol? Also, could a 1mg fin pill be cut 8 ways by a pill cutter? I may just take little bites off the pill, I recall a member saying he still got mild sides from doing that. For me, as long as I take between 0.05-0.2 mg every 3-5 days I would be good. Im using RU on the front of my scalp and hairline so all I am really hoping for with fin is some stability in the crown and to knock my DHT down a little.

[StayThick]

Dan, to answer your question that you asked earlier in this thread...I took FIN at the recommended 1mg dose for 8 months and then lowered it to 0.5mg once the sides became noticable and unbearable. I lowered it to 0.5 mg before I cut myself off completely during my 11th month.

[JJacobs152]

Dan, to answer your question that you asked earlier in this thread...I took FIN at the recommended 1mg dose for 8 months and then lowered it to 0.5mg once the sides became noticable and unbearable. I lowered it to 0.5 mg before I cut myself off completely during my 11th month.

How was the hair progress during those 11 months? Did you notice any changes?

Secondly, fellas I've had a question for those who have been on propecia for quite sometime. Is this a pseud-ED in the sense that it takes more arousal for you guys to get erect, or it's just not physically possible. I'm hoping it's the former and not the latter. Just curious, as to how a naked woman may be in front of you and still not possible to get erect.

[dex89]

How was the hair progress during those 11 months? Did you notice any changes?

Secondly, fellas I've had a question for those who have been on propecia for quite sometime. Is this a pseud-ED in the sense that it takes more arousal for you guys to get erect, or it's just not physically possible. I'm hoping it's the former and not the latter. Just curious, as to how a naked woman may be in front of you and still not possible to get erect.

When I had it, I wouldn't get erection if the girl was naked. She had to make out with me or rub me out to get it up. Even then I had to put on the condom quickly before my penis became numb and start with the intercourse. Sometimes I couldn't ejaculate and we will be having sex for an hour or two and nothing, it got limb. The girl would trip out and question me "am i not good for you or what?" Then I replied, did you cum? and she reply Yes and the I told what the **** is the problem then? lol it happen to me with 3 different girls and eventually I never heard from them again because of it. I had it the first 4-5 months on fin...

[unk]

Well that sucks Dex, sorry to hear that man.

I've taken fin for over a year now JJ. I actually had a dream last night that me and a girl were getting freaky, but every time she wasn't all over me I was losing wood. But hey, that's what visiting the forums does to you lol, as fortunately that's never happened.

Based on what i've read, and my own situation, I'm going out on a limb and saying maybe you can guestimate how lowering your DHT, and thus your libido/erectile function will effect you, based on how you are right now, without fin. But hey, this is just inductive. Pre-fin I got dozens of spontaneous erections per day, morning wood every day, got hard kissing a girl without fail, didn't lose wood after ejaculation so often just had marathon sex sessions. You get the idea.

Now I get morning wood rarely, don't really get spontaneous erections (these points seems a convenience bonus), but any types of getting freaky works, sex works, a naked girl works. The same correlation goes with maintaining an erection, it's not AS easy, but with a girl there's no problem. Essentially I went from hyperactive to possibly relatively normal?

Funny story, 2 months ago I went on holiday for 14 days, but forgot my finasteride. I'm a calm guy, but from what I knew I was taking finasteride every day without fail, this is all I knew. So I google'd around about it to see if it was alright and stuff, and came across propeciahelp, which told me my whole shit was gonna crash imminently, and my body was pretty much screwed. I wasn't happy with that answer, so I scoured past baldtruth podcasts hoping spencer mentioned something. Sure enough one episode he said he takes his just whenever he wants, once a week or something, but he's been without it for probably up to 2 weeks before based on the half-life, and no problems. It was a huge sigh of relief, but that didn't ensure I was going to be free from this crash. The point of my story was actually that during those 2 weeks without finasteride, my hormones were raging. I was getting spontaneous erections dozens of times a day, and no way to control them. One day I went in the pool for a swim. Got an erection and it wouldn't go away. I couldn't get out of the pool, so I waited it out, with my arms on the side so no under water swimmers could see - there was kids around. It took close to 2 hours I'd say for it to subside. Oh boy what a 2 weeks of hormones that was. First day back I jumped straight back on through fear of my hair, and It's back to the way it was before.

[JJacobs152]

Interesting input unk. I'm going to fill my generic fin prescription today. Figure it's the start of the month, and also need to purchase a new bottle of minox as well. Money constantly flying out of the wallet. I think that grey area between bald and full set of hair, is extremely expensive.

I'm thinking of starting with 1mg daily. I won't lie, I'm pretty desperate in my hair thickening up. Turning 28 next summer, I'm starting to see this effect my self-confidence. Fortunately for me, I've also lost about 40lbs (non-intential) so that's offset the hair loss, but yeah - I want that thick bushy type of hair on my scalp.

I'm hoping that starting with 1mg/daily won't lead me to any regrets. What do you think?