Regular Member auteur55 Posted April 2, 2011 Regular Member Share Posted April 2, 2011 Hello, my first post on this forum as I just joined. Good to know there is a helpful community out there. I am about 4 months into generic finasteride. I am taking the 5 mg of finasteride that I had to convince the doctor to prescribe for me as I can't afford the 80 plus dollars of propecia a month. I cut the finasteride into 4's so the pill I take each day is pretty small. My hair started receding when I was 24 and now I am 32 and it seemed to be slowing quite a bit but my temples had gotten bad and I'd lost the thickness. About 5 months ago I noticed I was a little further back on the temples so my friend told me about the cheap finasteride. About 2 months after taking it the front of my head got way worse. I was shocked to watch such slow hair loss suddenly be so noticeably different right after taking a hair loss pill. I did some research and found out about the shedding phase so tried to fill a little better but honestly now 4 months in it hasn't stopped and I can't believe how much hair I lost in 4 months. I never had a problem covering my whole head but now the temples are so far back it's radically different. I'm starting to panic and am thinking this pill is killing my hair. Is there a problem quartering the pills? Should I start cutting it into 3's to be sure I'm getting what I need? I thought the shedding phase would be done by now and I can't imagine any postive change happening in 2 months which is when your supposed to see results. I almost wish I'd done nothing as this experience has been traumatic and my hair wasn't nearly as bad as it is now. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Dutch Posted April 2, 2011 Senior Member Share Posted April 2, 2011 Howdy. Is this the proscar tablet you're referring to? No, I wouldn't cut it into 3s. A quarter is already a 1.25mg of finasteride dosage. Stick it out to 6 months and you shouldn't see any more shedding. Maybe you were going to lose this hair because it was on the way out. I use propecia. I used to lose so much more hairs before using it. Then used it & was shedding for a while before things stabilised http://www.hairtransplantnetwork.com/blog/home-page.asp?WebID=2329 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member bonkerstonker Posted April 2, 2011 Senior Member Share Posted April 2, 2011 If you're using nizoral don't use it it's bad news. And start using minoxidil that should help a bit. Bonkerstonker! http://www.hairtransplantnetwork.com/blog/home-page.asp?WebID=1977 Update I'm now on 12200 Grafts, hair loss has been a thing of my past for years. Also I don't use minoxidil anymore I lost no hair coming off it. Reduced propecia to 1mg every other day. My surgeons were Dr Hasson x 4, Dr Wong x 2 Norton x1 I started losing my hair at 19 in 1999 I started using propecia and minoxidil in 2000 Had 7 hair transplants over 12200 grafts by way of strip but 700 were Fue From Norton in uk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member auteur55 Posted April 3, 2011 Author Regular Member Share Posted April 3, 2011 I'm not taking Proscar I'm taking what I believe to be generic proscar which is 5 MG of Finasteride. Sorry but I can't believe for a minute that its juat a coincide that right after I start taking this hair pill the front of my hair starts falling out excessively. My hairline was receding really slow until right when I got on this pill. Is this still a shedding phase 4 months in? Will this hair grow back if it's a normal shed? This is horrible? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member RCWest Posted April 3, 2011 Senior Member Share Posted April 3, 2011 I believe that it's impossible for Finasteride to "kill your hair". You need to take 1/4 of a 5 mg. tablet daily for a full year before assessing things. Finasteride 1.25 mg. daily Avodart 0.5 mg. daily Spironolactone 50 mg twice daily 5 mg. oral Minoxidil twice daily Biotin 1000 mcg daily Multi Vitamin daily Damn, with all the stuff you put in your hair are you like a negative NW1? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member auteur55 Posted April 4, 2011 Author Regular Member Share Posted April 4, 2011 Thanks for the responses. My brother in law who is in pharmaceuticals told me something today that has me concerned. He said that if I am cutting the Finasteride pill into 4's that I might not be getting the proper dosage each day. He said most pills concentrate the mediciation in one part of the pill and don't guarantee that it's spread evenly througout the pill. This means I could go 2 days without getting any actual Finasteride and one day might get 3 mg and so forth. This could be screwing up. Can anyone confirm or deny? Also remember that I am not talking about Proscar but the generic proscar which is a different shaped pill. It's actually called 5 mg of Finasteride. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member TakingThePlunge Posted April 5, 2011 Senior Member Share Posted April 5, 2011 auteur55, You are correct that the medication contained in the pill is not necessarily evenly distributed throughout. However, it is highly unlikely that one quarter would contain no medication at all and another quarter would contain most of it. You have to remember that quartering a 5mg pill yields four 1.25mg doses on average. This is already .25mg higher than Propecia which is 1mg. All of this is to say that when quartering generic 5mg finasteride, you'll get a little less one day and a little more another day but it's just fine. It should not affect your results. Best of luck, David - Former Forum Co-Moderator and Editorial Assistant I am not a medical professional. All opinions are my own and my advice should not constitute as medical advice. View my Hair Loss Website Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Posrex Posted June 15, 2011 Regular Member Share Posted June 15, 2011 I am in a similar situation as auteur55, except that I've been taking quartered pillls of proscar. I am 6.5 months in and I am continuing to experience shedding and diffuse, particularly along m front hairline (which is where I was hoping to protect from recession by taking proscar in the first place). I've been reading posts and threads and I know the shedding is normal, but what concerns me is that it seems like I've been experiencing it regularly since about the first month of being on proscar. Six and half months from taking the medication and my hair is noticeably thinner in front than when I first started taking the medication. I am committed to riding it out the full year but am wondering if anyone has experienced a similar elongated period of shed while on finasteride. I am hoping and praying that the hair will grow back... I would appreciate an update from the original poster regarding his situation now. Thanks, -posrex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member auteur55 Posted June 16, 2011 Author Regular Member Share Posted June 16, 2011 Hello Posrex, I'm about 6.5 months now too. The shedding seems to have slowed but my hair doesn't look any better. My front and temples got really bad after starting Proscar. I'm very skeptical and a really frustrated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Posrex Posted June 17, 2011 Regular Member Share Posted June 17, 2011 Thanks for the reply auteur55. Looks like we're in the same sinking boat. I feel like I keep giving myself false hope by telling myself that today is the day the shedding will stop and that the hair will grow back... Have you thought about minox or rogaine? At the end of last year, before I started taking proscar, I actually did experience some minimal growth at the temples and front hairline when I was using rogaine foam for about 3 months. But I decided to stop because it was such a hassle. I'm considering picking back up again with it but feel like that would induce more shedding which would make it hard to determine which of the two (the proscar or the rogaine) would be causing the shed. Anyways, just thought you may want to consider rogaine yourself. Keep me updated if anything changes for you. I sincerely hope it does. -Posrex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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