About to start finasteride - advice?

[Be oaf]

I just got my doc to prescribe finasteride and will cut the 5mg pill in quarters for daily dose (he knows). I have some crown thinning and some frontal receding. I think I'm about a Norwood 2 or 2.5. 43 years old. I use rogaine once at night. I have been using t-fal shampoo with success in controlling itching/flaking.

I'm a bit nervous, having read some finasteride horror stories.

Any words of advice or success stories??

[rdawg]

Been on it about 4 months now, definitely a useful product and the best there is on the market.

It'll halt or slow your loss at worst(barring rare cases) and there's a chance itll give you some regrowth/reinforcement as well.

I have had no side effects so far while on it, and I will continue to be on it until a better product comes out! definitely reccomend it!

[Ted]

It helps your hair and ruins your brain. If your 43 years old I think that you would get more from trying to boost your self esteem than from ****ing with your hormones. I dont think people over 30 cares much about if other people are loosing hair. They care more about if other people are secure in themselves.

I took finasteride for two years and it was the biggest mistake I have done. Still got sides

[dex89]

It helps your hair and ruins your brain. If your 43 years old I think that you would get more from trying to boost your self esteem than from ****ing with your hormones. I dont think people over 30 cares much about if other people are loosing hair. They care more about if other people are secure in themselves.

I took finasteride for two years and it was the biggest mistake I have done. Still got sides

Which side are you referring too?

[Ted]

Which side are you referring too?

The once who I got left are mainly sexual. Stopped taking the pills 1.5 years ago

[dex89]

The once who I got left are mainly sexual. Stopped taking the pills 1.5 years ago

Sorry to hear that, hopefully everything goes back to normal for you. I hope, I don't have these side effects. For some reason I feel like I can't perform like I usual do anymore after going up 1.25mg with proscar. I would test myself tonight, a female friend of mine is coming over to spent the night wish me luck!

[BaldinLikeBaldwin]

Sorry to hear that, hopefully everything goes back to normal for you. I hope, I don't have these side effects. For some reason I feel like I can't perform like I usual do anymore after going up 1.25mg with proscar. I would test myself tonight, a female friend of mine is coming over to spent the night wish me luck!

good luck broski

[unk]

haha, you'll be fine Dex!

Be Oaf, I must preface, i'm a relatively new member, and I am not an expert, however I feel I've acquired a modest foundation from Spencer's weekly radio show in this time (you can find it on this site), and I would really advise his show if you are looking for objective advice, or like me you may also find it therapeutic.

I will assume that you haven't read up on finasteride for the purpose of my explanation. The drugs pharmacological action (correct me if i'm wrong) is by inhibiting the enzyme which converts testosterone to dihydrotestosterone (DHT). DHT is a hormone, with roles in libido and erectile function (and others), and is found to be a primary contributing factor in mens hairloss when combined with MPB gene. So, finasteride lowers DHT, thus preventing its negative effect on hair follicles.

You may or may not know that the dose-response curve of finasteride is "flat" after a dose of around 0.2mg, meaning that the inhibition of DHT from a dose of 0.2mg-5mg is negligible (ranging from ~60%-70% inhibition range dependent on dose). I can't find the graph right now but it might benefit you to find that.

From a subjective point of view, everyone's testosterone and DHT levels vary, and unfortunately (due to a lack of drug personalisation and perhaps research) finasteride cannot promise a one size fits all, as a 70% fall in DHT could drastically differ from you to me, if you catch my drift.

The number of reported "side effects" with finasteride are a very small minority (I don't have the percentages at hand), and my personal (perhaps controversial) opinion as a scientist myself, is that the majority of those even are perhaps psychosomatic. I should mention that these "sides" relate to a reduction in DHT's normal function in the roles I mentioned above.

Now, I feel this specifically relates to you. There has been speculation from several guys on the forum that incidence of reported side effects MAY be correlating with those with slowly progressing hair loss (i.e. those with marginally high DHT levels above norm that are killing their DHT levels by an unnecessary 70% with finasteride).

(I need someone with more knowledge here). Due to the half-life of finasteride, and it's pharmacological effect on DHT, many recommend a lower dose than 1mg/day, and many are now also advocating an intermittent dose, such as every other day, or every 3-4 days for example, rather than daily. But if you read what I said, a dose of 0.2mg will have a very similar inhibitory effect on DHT as a dose such as 1mg, and here stands the problem, though it's important to note that much more side effects are reported at higher dose (they aren't sure exactly why - perhaps that 5-10% more inhibition made all the difference to healthy function).

It is recommended that you request test/DHT levels done from your GP before you start taking finasteride, so that a later re-test can allow you to monitor the effect finasteride has had on you PERSONALLY, thereby personalising the drug.

My personal advice would be to (in accordance with your GP), try and be prescribed 1mg finasteride, so you can attempt to dose at 0.2mg or lower, perhaps every other day, for a few weeks or months as you monitor your reaction to the medication.

Failing all of the above, and if you take 1mb per day, you haven't had your test/DHT levels checked, IF you do experience any side effects, it is best to monitor them for a week or two before deciding whether to stop taking the drug, unless they get worse. This is due to the fact that they might pass and you may never experience them again. For what it's worth, I take 0.5mg daily, I had dull ache's in my testicles for the first week and then it subsided.

I apologise for the lengthy message, and I hope you can gain something from it.

James

[Soxfaninfl]

Sorry to hear that, hopefully everything goes back to normal for you. I hope, I don't have these side effects. For some reason I feel like I can't perform like I usual do anymore after going up 1.25mg with proscar. I would test myself tonight, a female friend of mine is coming over to spent the night wish me luck!

I'm going to stay on propecia. I've been on it for 7 months with no sides. I'm was worried about sides if I up my dosage from 1mg to 1.25mg (cutting proscar into quarters. My doc gave me a prescription for proscar to save money since propecia costs me 87 dollars for a 1 month supply.

[Ted]

Good luck dex!
Most of my sexual sides got bad after I quit finasterid. It seems to be the case for most people with persistent sides

[frankJ]

I've taken finisteride off and on for more than 15 years. I don't believe I've experienced any side effects. If I have they've been too minor to notice. If you compare side effects reported from Propecia to those reported by patients taking placebos,the results don't seem very significant.
I have no idea why some people say it might muddle your brain or what ever, but i don't think that's a reasonable concern. Eunuchs and sex change patients don't seem to have cognitive problems due to lack of DHT, so I don't see why other men should.
By the way, I'm 41 and I'm sure I'll be taking it when I'm 43. I'm sure its nice to have hair even when you're in your 40s and 50s.

[Be oaf]

Thanks James for that really good run-down.

I think I had a baseline DHT at some point in the last year and I am going to try to run it down before I start. And then think about .5mg

[unk]

No problem at all. I found some of the relevant graphs, courtesy of spex: http://www.**********************.co...art-topic.html

James

[Marshmalo]

Thanks unk/James thats a very interesting read, always good to have someone with a scientific mind on these boards! I am only 5.8 Feet tall, weigh 9 stone and have slow hairloss on my front/crown area so I sound like an ideal candidate for a lower dose than the 1mg norm. I'll be starting off on 0.5 daily and see where to go from there.

For some reason that link you posted seems to have been censored though?

[unk]

http://67.227.210.96/showthread.php?p=28245 It seems I can't link from that website, though I found the dose-response curve on this forum, seems that works!



Once you can see them, the differences in dose are marginal, it's up to you to make an informed decision. Don't get me wrong, personalisation makes sense, but it is purely recent anecdotal speculation as far as I know. I still recommend consulting a doctor/dermatologist who will be able to do test/DHT testing. It was only a few weeks ago I asked on the forums for help to get this done in the UK, as i've seen a few GP's who turned me away knowing nothing about hair loss.