Senior Member brentipold Posted June 11, 2009 Senior Member Share Posted June 11, 2009 hey guys, im wondering if anyone has expereinced what I am experiencing.. I took propeica for about 8 months, had mild sides.. decided to stop taking it...and was back to normal within a week.. maybe 2.. While being off it for about 3 weeks, I decided I would try it again with a lower dose.. .25 everyday instead... I started on Monday and had sides by saturday.. so I stopped and now it is taking a lot longer to get back to normal.. its been 4 weeks now.. I can get an erection, althougth i would say my libido and my sex drive are still very low.. im starting to worry a little bit and am trying not to but if anyone has any advice for me, I'd appreciate it.. or if anyone has been in the same situation.. thanks B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member brentipold Posted June 11, 2009 Author Senior Member Share Posted June 11, 2009 hey guys, im wondering if anyone has expereinced what I am experiencing.. I took propeica for about 8 months, had mild sides.. decided to stop taking it...and was back to normal within a week.. maybe 2.. While being off it for about 3 weeks, I decided I would try it again with a lower dose.. .25 everyday instead... I started on Monday and had sides by saturday.. so I stopped and now it is taking a lot longer to get back to normal.. its been 4 weeks now.. I can get an erection, althougth i would say my libido and my sex drive are still very low.. im starting to worry a little bit and am trying not to but if anyone has any advice for me, I'd appreciate it.. or if anyone has been in the same situation.. thanks B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member xxy Posted June 12, 2009 Senior Member Share Posted June 12, 2009 I've heard it can take a month to a month and a half. It's scary, right? Let me know how it works out as I'm also considering re-trying it on a far lower dose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member brentipold Posted June 12, 2009 Author Senior Member Share Posted June 12, 2009 yea im starting to get pretty worried.. just went on propeciahelp.com.. uh not a good idea..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member greenmud Posted June 12, 2009 Regular Member Share Posted June 12, 2009 hi brentipold, yeah thats definitely not a site you want to visit if you are concern with your sides. give it some time i guess and like you told me just think positive and not focus on it as much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member brentipold Posted June 12, 2009 Author Senior Member Share Posted June 12, 2009 I will definatly try.. how's you're situation green? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member greenmud Posted June 12, 2009 Regular Member Share Posted June 12, 2009 brentipold, Hard to say, somedays I think my body is getting use to the drug and things are going to normal and sometimes i think i might be having issues. well today will be my third week and i am going to go for another week on it and that take me to one month. I'm thinking of switching to EOD after that, but today I felt good. My erection felt strong like before propecia, so hopefully it stays that way and I am starting to get some morning wood back but its not that frequent and its not that strong. I also started to take multi-vitamins so maybe thats helping out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member T.C Posted June 12, 2009 Senior Member Share Posted June 12, 2009 I had bad sides on 1mg a day so now take .5 eod and have been for 5 months and my hair thickness has improved.I saw a chart that showed .5mg was only 10% less effective than 1mg and the dose curve for 48 hours was virtually a straight line so why take it every day ??.Lots of guys take it eod with success so if you cant tolerate the recommended (not neccessarily the best) dose tinker around with it because it is a strong drug and can work wonders for thin hair.Also one dose although with a half life of about 6 hours in your blood keeps DHT lowered for 72 HOURS to a week from the reports I have read. HT 2006/7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member brentipold Posted June 12, 2009 Author Senior Member Share Posted June 12, 2009 yes but you must understand that doesnt work for everybody as I just said i took .25 and still had sides.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member brentipold Posted June 12, 2009 Author Senior Member Share Posted June 12, 2009 and green i dont mean to sound like a broken record, but I to had the same effects through the first month as you already know.. if you are thinking of lowering dosage after a month, i wouldnt stop for 3 weeks like I did. just continue with the lower dosage mwf.. maybe even try .25 at first.. that way if you dont expereince sides you kn you're safe.. i suppose.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member xxy Posted June 13, 2009 Senior Member Share Posted June 13, 2009 So are you trying to push through and adjust, Brentipold? Or you gave up completely the second time, too? Are you back to normal yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member brentipold Posted June 13, 2009 Author Senior Member Share Posted June 13, 2009 no xxy, i havn't taken the drug for 5 weeks now.. and have still not gone back to normal... and the first time i quit i went back to normal within a week Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member xxy Posted June 17, 2009 Senior Member Share Posted June 17, 2009 Are you getting better at all, though? Hope things get better for you. I was considering re-trying Fin, but I'm having second thoughts now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Ceasar08 Posted June 17, 2009 Senior Member Share Posted June 17, 2009 I've been through all of this. Here's what I believe... There is no set time period for getting back to normal. I think a person's body tries to adjust when you take the drug, and it also tries to adjust when you go off the drug. It can go back and forth before your body finds equilibrium. I do believe, for a small number of people, the body does not readjust after quitting. It is way way too early to worry. I have heard many people who took months to get back to normal after quitting, and it took me the better part of a year. And yes... it was scary as hell, but I got back to normal. Please do not read Propeciahelp.com. While I believe everyone on there is perfectly legit, they are a small minority and by reading the board you will only scare yourself to death. I tried taking the drug EOD and cutting the dose before finally quitting. Nothing worked. Things went in waves while I was on the drug and once I went off. Some days I had zero libido, some days I had an unnaturally high libido. It was a rollercoaster ride, and I never felt quite right. Even after going through hell with the drug, I still thought about trying again years later. I was that desperate to keep my hair. The fact that I never went back on Propecia is a testament to just how powerfully the drug affected me when I took it. Having to decide whether or not to quit the drug was one oft he toughest choices I ever had to make. It was horrible knowing that I'd lose my hair by going off Finasteride, but I just had no choice. I totally feel for everyone who is in this situation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member xxy Posted June 17, 2009 Senior Member Share Posted June 17, 2009 Caesar - do you think if someone gets sides, they're going to get sides no matter how small the dosage? Like it's an all or nothing thing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Ceasar08 Posted June 17, 2009 Senior Member Share Posted June 17, 2009 xxy -- I've asked that question to so many people over the years... I've asked it to doctors and people who have experimented with different dosages and dosing schedules. I'm firmly convinced that there is just no easy answer. Some people cut the dose and seem to do better, and some people take it intermittently and avoid the side effects. I have read probably an equal number of people who had sides no matter what they did. It's complicated in that the drug has what is called a "flat dose response" curve. This means that 5mg of Finasteride only inhibits DHT a little bit more than .25mg. The people at Merck who came up with a 1mg dose for everyone seem to have done so rather arbitrarily. Interestingly enough, I believe that Propecia is available in Japan in a 1mg and a .20mg dose, which acknowledges that even a small amount should have an effect. Anyway, to answer your question, it seems like it's fifty fifty, where some people have been able to eliminate the sides and some people have not. I've always wondered whether a low dose would be more tolerable if one started with it. In other words, when I started playing around with the dosing, I'd already been on 1mg for awhile, so my DHT had been low for a prolonged amount of time already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member brentipold Posted June 18, 2009 Author Senior Member Share Posted June 18, 2009 ceasar thanks a lot for you're reply.. it put me in a much better mindset.. So do you think that taking .25 prop once a week would have any results? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Ceasar08 Posted June 18, 2009 Senior Member Share Posted June 18, 2009 Hey brent -- My best guess (I'm obviously not a doctor) is that .25 a week might be too little to have an affect. I'm pretty sure with the half life of the drug, your DHT wouldn't be suppressed for long enough. I know that in studies the smallest therapeutic dose was .20 a day. That means, in theory, that you would want to average that in your bloodstream. Obviously, it's probably much more complicated than just averaging it out. I know that once they went below .20mg that hair counts no longer increased or even maintained. I once had a brief exchange on a thread on this forum with Dr. Cooley. He seems to know a lot about the drug, and he was very helpful in discussing information about it. I believe he tells patients that they can take 1mg 2-3 times a week if they wish. There are some people who had terrible sides on Propecia who actually had zero sides on Avodart. I know it makes absolutely no sense in theory. It's possible that it has something to do with the pharmacology of Avodart or that such a severe decrease in DHT has led those people to have a more profound rise in testosterone and compensate for it. I personally have never gone near Avodart, and I am quite afraid to do so. It's a very powerful drug and there are many reasons why I fear if it's safe to take in the long term. In my humble opinion, the mistake that a lot of people on Propeciahelp.com made was running to a doctor too quickly. Once they started taking other things that affected their hormones, I would wonder if that complicated the situation and confused their bodies even more in trying to return to normal. I have a good friend who is a psychiatrist. He once told me that he had many patients on the old classes of anti-depressants who experienced sexual sides, and who took close to a year to return to return to their old selves after quitting. The drug had been long out of their systems, but it took a lot of waiting until the body finally balanced itself out and got back to where it was previously. Hope all of this helps. Let me know if I can offer any more info. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member brentipold Posted June 18, 2009 Author Senior Member Share Posted June 18, 2009 Yea I kinda figured it wouldn't be enough.. I guess some people just can't handle this drug. I too, am to scared to try avodart, it's just not worth it to me. I just hope I return to normal sooner then later.. it pretty much feels like im on a roller coaster right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Acrobaz Posted June 20, 2009 Senior Member Share Posted June 20, 2009 Caesar08 always provides a balanced and well informed perspective on the risks of propecia. His advice is unassailable. 17 Feb 09 - 3,200 FUs by strip surgery (Dr Feller) My Hair Loss Website Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Ceasar08 Posted June 20, 2009 Senior Member Share Posted June 20, 2009 Thanks for the kind words Acro. Brent -- I know exactly what you are going through with the whole "rollercoaster." It's hard to explain to people who haven't been through it, and there are days when you feel like you're going a little nuts from all of it. I also remember how frustrating it was when it felt like things were normalizing for a few days or weeks, only to watch them regress again. Keep us updated. If things aren't going quickly enough, I can tell you a few supplements I tried that may have helped a little. Difficult to say. Definitely wait it out... the odds are way in your favor that you'll recover. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member xxy Posted June 21, 2009 Senior Member Share Posted June 21, 2009 I got 3 boxes of proscar to send overseas to my brother. I was thinking about keeping one and trying it again in a tiny, tiny dose... but you guys have scared me out of it. My sides came on, then went away and I've been pretty stable since. I'm worried if I try it again, whether it works and I stay on or not, I might be struck by the inability to get wood, suddenly when it really matters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member JMan0067 Posted June 21, 2009 Regular Member Share Posted June 21, 2009 Hey guys, just wondering if anyone knew if you regrow the hair that you lose during the "shedding" phase while taking Propecia? Has anyone else experienced this? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member brentipold Posted June 25, 2009 Author Senior Member Share Posted June 25, 2009 jman i would believe so bc its a shedding phase. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member greenmud Posted June 25, 2009 Regular Member Share Posted June 25, 2009 brentipold, how are things going with your recovery? I am still on propecia and things have gotten better for me, erections are back to normal at least i think they are and I do have morning wood which in the beginning they were non-existant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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