Propecia/Fin - 3 months in and side-effects

[darren smith]

if youre young and just starting to bald, i'd say cut the pills into 1/4 and take one everyday.. If you see improvement after 3-4 months then u know its working. Or just take 1mg, odds are u probably wont have side effects, and if u do then quit taking the drug till you go back to normal... then try .25mg..

 

so if i take the 1 mg tab just take one say on a monday and every monday after just 1mg a week

[brentipold]

No Darren, you'd have to take it every other day. I believe it only stays in your system for 24 hours, taking 1mg every week will do nothing for you.

[floridascientist]

I don't think that's true. If you look at the second link I posted in my message above, you'll see that it takes about 5-7 days for plasma DHT levels to return to normal after just 1 dose.

 

That was one of my major points - not only is the dose way too much, but the frequency is too often. This is something people seem to be confused about. Even though the half-life is short and technically the drug will be out of your system after a day or two, the effects last much longer.

[floridascientist]

Well, I just picked up my first Propecia prescription and decided to see how easily they can be broken down into smaller doses. As per my earlier message, I'd ultimately like to break them up into doses of 0.05 mg, or 1/20 of a pill.

 

Knowing that finasteride is supposed to be somewhat soluble in ethanol, I tried dissolving 1 pill in a very small amount of vodka. My idea was to then titrate out doses of 1/20 using an eye dropper or something similar. Well, as it turns out, finasteride is only SPARINGLY soluble in ethanol, and I'd have to use more ethanol than I'd like to dissolve it (I don't want to have to get drunk in order to take my propecia).

 

Trying to cut a pill up into sections smaller than 1/4 has proven to be equally tricky. Using a razor blade, I can achieve fairly consistent result by cutting them into quarters. Trying for anything less has proven to yeild irregular shapes and sizes. Anyone else have any success cutting them into fifths or even sixths? I'd love to hear how you did it.

 

I'm still trying to decide how often to take it. Even though I know it's unlikely that I'll suffer negative long-term consequences, the horror stories are scary enough to give me pause. According to the research, once a week is probably enough to yield some results, while minimizing the risks. But then that vanity kicks in and I look at my thinning hair and think maybe I should just risk it all and take it daily. This is the dilemma I'm currently wrestling with.

[brentipold]

You don't want to keep shocking your endocrine system by giving it FIN and letting your body adjust to it every time. It may mess with your ES and you'll end up like me. I'd really stick to taking a dose every day, and even more importantly the same dosage everyday. That could become a problem when you start cutting the pills smaller and smaller. The endocrine system is something you really dont want to fuck with, I'm going to be posting a link soon on the hairloss drug topic. I suggest you listen to it. As far as cutting the pills into 5ths and 6ths, if you really want to cut them down that far you can go to the drug store. Bring 3$ with you, and buy a pill cutter. You'll find that it is very easy to cut them that way.

 

I'm not going to say that you're wrong about taking .05th of a pill being effective enough, but i'm interested to see if you do get some benefits from it. Please keep me updated on your hairs progress throughout, but I will add that I am skeptical you will see any benefit. Id also recommend taking this pill on an empty stomach with just water because I would think taking a pill that small would have a hard time getting absorbed...

Edited December 23, 2010 by brentipold
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