Studies indicate that 0.25mg provides about 80-90% of the full benefit when compared to anything else above it. In fact, 0.05mg would give the same impact. This tells me that the limiting agent is the testosterone enzyme in the blood serum which is part of the plasma. Therefore there is an excess amount of finasteride resides in our plasma. In order to prevent excessive build up, I chose the 0.25mg. The best thing to do is to check your testosterone % in serum and testosterone/DHT ratio before taking it and then after to ensure its still in the safe zone.
I think all of my side effects were simply the nocebo effect. I have read one too many horror stories and it psyched me out. Even if they were accurate representations, or not, I simply stopped taking it after a few weeks; even though I suspect everything was fine physically and moreso general anxiety about the "what if."
See this link for the study I mentioned
https://www.hairguard.com/finasteride-dosages/