I have been taking the 1mg Finasteride (Propecia) and have the option of cutting a 5mg Finasteride (Proscar) in half to total a 2.5mg dose at HUGE monthly savings. Is there anyone out there that might be doing the same thing? Have you seen any adverse side affects? My doctor says there will be none but I wanted to check it out first.

Thanks...

actually, you will save more by cutting it into 1/4's; this averages out to 1.25 mg, which is approximately the equivalent of 1 mg of Propecia; studies have shown that taking more than 1 mg/day is no more effective than 1 mg/day; so in summary, 2.5 mg/day will not be superior; save more money by cutting the Proscar into 1/4's--taking 1/4 per day.

proscar is same as propecia?? it is not worse than propecia? does the same effects n stuff? plz advise

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Propecia .5mg
1/2 tablet of hairscript formula

proscar and propecia both contain finasteride:

one proscar tablet=5mg finasteride
one propecia tab=1mg finsasteride

Therefore by splitting the proscar into 1/4's you achieve approximately 1 mg of finasteride, the equivalent of taking propecia; note: it is difficult to split a proscar tab into 1/5's so people usually just split it into 1/4's

what about the sided effect of the proscar?
would it be same as propecia?

Coz it may not safe enough to be use as a daily drug...

since they both have finasteride and you are spliting the proscar pill in 1/4's to get approx. 1mg of finasteride per/day the side effects will be identical; I myself have not experienced any side effects.

Same drug, same side-effects. Naturally Merck would prefer to sell you Propecia at about the same cost per tablet. Thus, Proscar tablets are very small and irregularly-shaped to discourage quartering.

However, the dose-response curve for finasteride is very flat--- a little works about as well as a lot. Combine this with the fact that finasteride forms an almost unbreakable bond with type-2 5-AR. I.e., though the blood half-life is only eight hours or so, synthesis of new enzyme is required to restore activity. This takes several days. This means the amount you take in any one day is almost irrelevant, within limits. So quarter the tablets as well as you can and don't worry. On general principles, I suggest skipping treatment every 5th day more or less, so that the averaged dose is 1 mg per day.

Peter H Proctor, PhD,MD

Dr. Proctor.
Perhaps you can help clarify an uncertaintly for me since you may be more knowledgeable on the manufaturing side of things. Can we assume in the manufacturing process that the drug is distributed equally in the tablet. I have heard from prior meetings that there is always the possibility when quartering tablets that you could get inconsistent dosages, for example we assume if we quarter a 5mg tablet that we get 1.25, 1.25, 1.25 1.25 mg. However, I have heard, you may get 3, 0,0 , 2 or 5, 0,0,0 etc etc. Is there any basis for this? The concern has been that you may not be getting the proper daily dosage to provide the necessary effect. I also recognize that this would be an advantage for Merck if we did believe the inconsistent dosage philosophy. I am also not aware if anyone has actually done a sample on quartering and measuring the actual concentrations. ANy thoughts on this?
Ricardo Mejia MD
Hair Transplant Network Physician

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Ricardo Mejia MD, FAAD
Jupiter FL
Hair Transplant Network recommended physician; photos

Thanks for that, this puts any further questions I had about Finasteride on ice.

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My hair is a man made disaster.

Dr. Mejia,

I have heard the same thing as you have and it would be nice to have some "official" confirmation on this. From my understanding finasteride is NOT evenly distributed in the Proscar tablets. Taking 1/4 of a Proscar pill per day therefore will contain varying quantities of finasteride.

From my understanding also, I have heard that finasteride may stay in the blood stream longer than 24 hours (which is what has built the premise of taking 1mg every other day) in which case a greater dosage one day would make up for a lesser dosage the next. As to a verification in these statements, I too would like to know.

Bill

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