Overcoming Side Effects

[Mr S]

Has anybody got any sucess stories on this subject ?

 Also, has anybody gots sides from Finasteride but no sides with Dutasteride or vice versa. 

If so please share your experiences below. 

Edited June 13, 2019 by Mr S

[hairman22]

you cant overcome side affects on fin.

 

Just stop taking the drug.

 

Reducing dosage will reduce them for a while but they will most likely come back.

[LaserCap]

If you are truly experiencing side effects, here is a few things other patients have tried.....

Start taking it every other day.....

If you are splitting, change to the brand name and vise versa.  This is a bit more important than most realize.  Consider that the pill does not come pre-scored.  That means not every day you will have equal portions.  Some days you'll be getting more medication than on others. Could this have an overall impact? Perhaps.

Many believe that the side effect with the medication is less than 1 percent at 1mg.  By taking a 5mg tab, (changing to Dutesteride), you are increasing the chance of the side effect by 5 fold.

Fortunately, and enhancing what hairman 22 indicated, there are other modalities you can start using if you do decide that Propecia/Finasteride is not for you.

 

[Lennney]

16 hours ago, LaserCap said:

If you are truly experiencing side effects, here is a few things other patients have tried.....

Start taking it every other day.....

If you are splitting, change to the brand name and vise versa.  This is a bit more important than most realize.  Consider that the pill does not come pre-scored.  That means not every day you will have equal portions.  Some days you'll be getting more medication than on others. Could this have an overall impact? Perhaps.

Many believe that the side effect with the medication is less than 1 percent at 1mg.  By taking a 5mg tab, (changing to Dutesteride), you are increasing the chance of the side effect by 5 fold.

Fortunately, and enhancing what hairman 22 indicated, there are other modalities you can start using if you do decide that Propecia/Finasteride is not for you.

 

I agree that sometimes it's the brand. I know several women who liked a birth control pill. Their pharmacy gave them generics, and they felt the difference. Even though it was the same chemicals, there was a noticeable difference. 

[Mr S]

1 hour ago, Lennney said:

I agree that sometimes it's the brand. I know several women who liked a birth control pill. Their pharmacy gave them generics, and they felt the difference. Even though it was the same chemicals, there was a noticeable difference. 

To be fair i used a generic from boots (the largest uk pharmacy) for the first month no issues. Then orderd 3 months more from the same pharmacy. They messed my order up and gave me the branded propecia by mistake wish i was pretty cuffed with as i only paid for generic. Took that or the 3 months was fine (actually had sombody say my hair was looking thicker and they had no idea i was taking it) then i found out i could get generic online(actavis brand) for a fraction of the cost of the boots generic... took that again for another 3-4 months noticed more shedding although this may have been in my head because i was never one to count hair fall until this point. As i still felt no sides and thought i was losing ground started adding some dutasteride twice a week felt some ache and and stopped after just 2 tablets of dutasteride. Carried on with the generic (actavis brand) sides started to creep up...

 

the may all be in my head but it does seem strange none the less

Edited June 15, 2019 by Mr S

[Lennney]

2 hours ago, Mr S said:

To be fair i used a generic from boots (the largest uk pharmacy) for the first month no issues. Then orderd 3 months more from the same pharmacy. They messed my order up and gave me the branded propecia by mistake wish i was pretty cuffed with as i only paid for generic. Took that or the 3 months was fine (actually had sombody say my hair was looking thicker and they had no idea i was taking it) then i found out i could get generic online(actavis brand) for a fraction of the cost of the boots generic... took that again for another 3-4 months noticed more shedding although this may have been in my head because i was never one to count hair fall until this point. As i still felt no sides and thought i was losing ground started adding some dutasteride twice a week felt some ache and and stopped after just 2 tablets of dutasteride. Carried on with the generic (actavis brand) sides started to creep up...

 

the may all be in my head but it does seem strange none the less

By the way, it is fairly well documented that fin has a scheduled shed at the 3-4 month mark. If you're concerned, it is all "normal" and expected.

I've commented on this a few times, but even the trials of fin had control (placebo) groups which experienced ED. My point is: focus on the issue will feed into the issue. 

I hate saying that there's no such thing as fin side effects, because there are. But I will say that the odds of side effects are low (quite possibly lower than the ~1% that floats around). I always think: I'm not that special. I'm fairly average in basically every measurement. It's unlikely that I will experience side effects with fin. I've only felt ED after I focused in on it and became paranoid. I still get ED when I start asking questions of my body. When I just chill and don't think about it, everything works.

 

Edited June 15, 2019 by Lennney
Clarified my probability of side effects

[HLPToronto]

@LennneyHi Lennney,

Just curious as you said Finastride will also contribute towards shedding during first 3/4 months ? ?? 

I am taking finpecia brand 1 mg per day as sold by Dr Bhatti's clinic ( for 6 months ) and then I will buy Propecia ( FDA approved North american brand) 

I always thought Minoxidil only contribute towards shedding and all brands of Finastride simply wouldn't 

 

[Lennney]

57 minutes ago, HLPToronto said:

@LennneyHi Lennney,

Just curious as you said Finastride will also contribute towards shedding during first 3/4 months ? ?? 

I am taking finpecia brand 1 mg per day as sold by Dr Bhatti's clinic ( for 6 months ) and then I will buy Propecia ( FDA approved North american brand) 

I always thought Minoxidil only contribute towards shedding and all brands of Finastride simply wouldn't 

 

https://www.belgraviacentre.com/blog/is-there-such-a-thing-as-finasteride-shedding/

I too didn't hear much about the fin shedding. For me, it would coincide with my ugly duckling phase so it never produced noticable shedding for me. 

I am actually saving those 1mg pills from Bhatti for travel, as I've bought Mexican brand fin when I visited. I bought Mexican brand 5mg which I cut into 1/4s for a 1.25 dose. This increased dose didn't give me any side effects either. I don't want to worry about cutting pills when traveling, so a nice, packaged pill pack will be ideal when I'm away from the house.

I too have heard about minox shedding. I don't think I've had much success with minox, but treated the dose as a post care mandate from Bhatti, and everything seems to be coming together. I figure he knows what he is doing, so follow an experts advice. I don't know if I will keep applying minox daily after 6 months. I feel like I'll slowly go down to once every other day with minox after 12 months or so. I've had no ill effects with fin, so I will continue to use it indefinitely. 

[HLPToronto]

20 minutes ago, Lennney said:

https://www.belgraviacentre.com/blog/is-there-such-a-thing-as-finasteride-shedding/

I too didn't hear much about the fin shedding. For me, it would coincide with my ugly duckling phase so it never produced noticable shedding for me. 

I am actually saving those 1mg pills from Bhatti for travel, as I've bought Mexican brand fin when I visited. I bought Mexican brand 5mg which I cut into 1/4s for a 1.25 dose. This increased dose didn't give me any side effects either. I don't want to worry about cutting pills when traveling, so a nice, packaged pill pack will be ideal when I'm away from the house.

I too have heard about minox shedding. I don't think I've had much success with minox, but treated the dose as a post care mandate from Bhatti, and everything seems to be coming together. I figure he knows what he is doing, so follow an experts advice. I don't know if I will keep applying minox daily after 6 months. I feel like I'll slowly go down to once every other day with minox after 12 months or so. I've had no ill effects with fin, so I will continue to use it indefinitely. 

But i heard if you cut pills, it looses its effect on scalp to some degree. So 1 mg pill holds more strength as per some research. Anyways, your body knows what's the best way to react to different things and these case studies are not done per person but thousands of ppl. 

for minoxidil, i think we should rather start applying twice daily as most ppl recommend, its 3 months for me and i know Dr Bhatti said apply once per night upto 6 months, but I think i will start morning too. Only then it should produce some significant results as recommended by Minoxidil makers themselves, it say apply TWICE  

[Lennney]

1 hour ago, HLPToronto said:

But i heard if you cut pills, it looses its effect on scalp to some degree. So 1 mg pill holds more strength as per some research. Anyways, your body knows what's the best way to react to different things and these case studies are not done per person but thousands of ppl. 

for minoxidil, i think we should rather start applying twice daily as most ppl recommend, its 3 months for me and i know Dr Bhatti said apply once per night upto 6 months, but I think i will start morning too. Only then it should produce some significant results as recommended by Minoxidil makers themselves, it say apply TWICE  

I've thought about the efficacy of pills when they're cut, and I tend to believe it doesn't lose much. It's not a capsule pill (the container looking ones), so it gets digested exactly the same way as the uncut alternative. I'm positive that the presses pills we take aren't affected, at least I can't think of a logical reason the pill needs to stay intact. I've been cutting pills for as long as I can remember. Ibuprofens and prescribed medication. I didn't break 100lbs til I was in high school, I was always light, so I always had to tailor doses to my size. I've also spoken to the potency of taladafil, and I take 7-10 bites of the 20mg pill with positive results.

As far as minox, I agree with the multiple times a day. I apply it after my hair dries from the shower and don't reapply til the next shower 24 hours later. I do notice scalp itchiness and slight irritation when I over apply or apply too frequently. I want to itch it, and when I do, I make it snow with the dandruff (which I don't normally experience). 

[Nebulosity]

Hello @Mr S, I am on finasteride at the moment and I have side effects. Mainly I have no sex drive and my balls ache occasionally. No other real side effects.

I’ve done a lot of reading on finasteride. The sexual side effects are real. Consider that in the literature, what they mean by erectile dysfunction is different from erectile dissatisfaction. Occasionally I have erectile dissatisfaction while on finasteride. But it doesn’t really matter because the stuff kills my sex drive anyway.

Anyway, the reason I’m replying is that I learned one very important thing in my reading. Men who experience side effects and stop taking fin within 6 months usually fully recover. I don’t remember the numbers, but men who experienced side effects and continued using it longer than around six months were more likely to have persistent side effects (although still, most don’t). So, since six months is enough time to take it to minimize shock loss after a transplant, I urge you to consider ceasing use of finasteride after 6 months of use. Then, according to my experience in the past, you’ll be back to normal within around 3 months. It’s not something you can really continue using if you have side effects and want to continue being a man.

Sorry I don’t have citations. If I find the paper where I learned about the important fact I mentioned above, I’ll reply to this thread with details.

Edited June 18, 2019 by Nebulosity