[Finasteride] Lowering dose from 1.25 mg to 1 mg

[alex1985]

Since 2003 I take 1.25 mg Finasteride per day, with satisfying results! Today I received a call from my GP (I have a new one, because I moved to a different city), she is not willing to prescribe me 5 mg Proscar anymore (or 1 mg Propecia). Finasteride causes hormonal imbalance and is bad for my prostate, was her explanation. I told her I've been using Finasteride for more than 17 years without any (significant) side effects. Nonetheless she won't prescribe it anymore.

It really freaks me out, I just got a hair transplant (3 weeks ago) to restore my hairline and using Finasteride is really important to keep the hair that I have. I can go to another GP but I am afraid I will get the same answer. It is not as easy anymore to get Finasteride prescribed in the Netherlands (Amsterdam).

I told her she forces me to buy Finasteride on the 'black (generic) market'.

Question: Because it is a bit of a hassle to break the 5 mg pills in quarters, I think this is a good moment to switch to the 1 mg variant (dr. Reddys - Finax). Do I risk losing hair, if I lower the dose with 0.25 mg (after 17 years using 1.25 mg)?

[TorontoMan]

Go to another GP and get a prescription lol? don't understand your problem. Are you afraid to get turned down by another doctor or something or is finasteride not legally prescribed in the Netherlands? You're clearly a candidate for it if you've already been taking it for 17 years. and the jump from 1.25 to .25 isn't entirely significant, but if you were already at 1.25 why go down.. just go get another GP 

[ciaus]

On 11/5/2020 at 2:23 PM, alex1985 said:

Finasteride causes hormonal imbalance and is bad for my prostate

Uh, actually finasteride was originally invented to help a bad prostate, not cause it to go bad. Like TorontoMan said, unless she has some medical tests you took backing it up I'd drop her and replace with a male doctor if possible. One mom is more than enough for any man

 

[Rossybop]

What age are you out of curiosity, if you've been on it 17 years? 🤔

[alex85]

Almost 36.

[Rossybop]

Ah I see. That makes sense because apparently it can be less effective in patients aged 40+. You were very very young when you started it.

What kind of a result has finasteride had for you? I'm curious because I just started using it myself. Some sources say it is only effective for 6 - 8 years. Also, I think some sources even say that for certain individuals it can lose efficacy after 2 years, then the dose needs to be increased, then it lasts another two years and the dose is increased again, and so on.

My own hair loss first became apparent when I was 19, but I only started using finasteride 3 months ago. I am 30 now.

[ciaus]

The way to think about finasteride: hairloss is a loaded gun, and finasteride is taking DHT bullets out of the revolving chamber -up to around 70% depending on your genetics/physiology.

That means there's still around 30% or more of the bullets floating around in your bloodstream that can potentially latch on to your hair follicle receptors and thus contribute to furthering your loss. The sooner you start taking it the less of an onslaught your hair follicles will have to deal with over the course of your life. And depending on how sensitive your hair follicles are to DHT, that can buy you anywhere from a couple of years to hopefully more than a couple decades.

1mg a day is the optimal for hairloss benefits, increasing dosage is not going to accomplish anything, any 'pauses' in the visual loss that you notice after a dosage increase are coincidental, actually just periods where there hasn't been enough additional accumulated DHT damage to take out the next vulnerable hairs.

[Al - Moderator]

Finding a new Dr seems like a simple and easy solution. The female Dr you found doesn't seem to care about mens issues.

[Curious25]

4 hours ago, BeHappy said:

Finding a new Dr seems like a simple and easy solution. The female Dr you found doesn't seem to care about mens issues.

Or she cares even more about men’s issues. 

[deitel130]

On 11/15/2020 at 5:07 PM, Rossybop said:

Ah I see. That makes sense because apparently it can be less effective in patients aged 40+. You were very very young when you started it.

What kind of a result has finasteride had for you? I'm curious because I just started using it myself. Some sources say it is only effective for 6 - 8 years. Also, I think some sources even say that for certain individuals it can lose efficacy after 2 years, then the dose needs to be increased, then it lasts another two years and the dose is increased again, and so on.

My own hair loss first became apparent when I was 19, but I only started using finasteride 3 months ago. I am 30 now.

Interesting, I've heard this from someone else as well. Have there been studies on this? I've been on it for over a decade and was working quite well until last year I started losing native hair and it was also the same time I started weight lifting. I was not on any performance enhancers.