Is .5 of Propecia effective ?

[uspatriot16]

I am supposed to start my Propecia tomm and the Doctor prescribed 1mg. Reason for me doing this is the possibility of sides. I still have all my hair and some thinning at the vertex. please let me know what you all think , if its worked for any of you ? right now i use rogaine 5% 2x a day.

thx and goodluck to all of you!

 

[flimflam]

I think 0.5 is supposed to be 80% effective or something. Not sure. Don't sweat the sides though, you may initially get something like ball ache or whatever but they generally subside pretty quickly (did for me, anyway).

What is it exactly that you're worried about?

You could always use 0.5 for a month then step up to the full hit.

 

[uspatriot16]

Hey Flim! what worries me the most is having sexual side effects. i read so much about that on here. not to mention, the fear of not being able to have a kid. how long until you noticed Propecia was working for you?

thanks in advance!

 

[UK1]

Sides to that degree are very very rare, lots of people on here have experienced mild ones but apparently the majority experience none. My hair stabalized within a month of using finasteride, it was pretty aggresive at that point too, it started shedding mildly around month 3 but the nature of it is that it works in cycles, if hairloss is starting to affect your life then give it a try, it does work.

 

[kim jong il]

1 mg propecia/finasteride EOD every other day/alternating

I was on 1mg propecia for 6 years from late twenties through early thirties for maintenance and it worked perfectly. hair was perfect. absoF***inglutely

my pharmacist (who never believed i needed to be on it) suggested I try it every other day EOD "to see what happens". i stupidly submitted to his well intentioned experiment without doing any homework (i thought he knew what he was talking about when in fact he was clueless). Part of me honestly thought he may be right (the doubt grows as the years of success move on). Accordingly, i didn't pay any attention to any deterioration cause i figured all that would happen is the return of slow, progressive loss (ie. that I wasn't taking a big risk).

long story short, 20 months later it was Zap. 8 years of total catch up. hugely noticeable difference all round. quite shocking cause it really seems to happen overnight.

word to the wise - yes, DHT is apparently suppressed for more than 24 hrs (even though the drug is out of your system within 24 hrs), and yes the studies show that .5 mg/day "is almost as effective" as 1 mg.

Bottom line - in this instance, the reaction was equivalent to going off it altogether. If I had paid attention I would have caught the deterioration sooner. But that's not the point.

Be forewarned, if you can tolerate it, don't go below 1 mg/day. If you can't afford it, go generic. But don't reduce the dose (at least not without careful monitoring) if it's been working for you.

 

[Guest]

Holy Crap, it's Kim Jong Il!! Where's Farrel when you need'm?!?!

uspatriot,

Read the finmicro.pdf study that shows how varying dosages of finasteride responded. 0.2mg is up to 90% as effective as 1mg. They don't list 0.5mg but it's going to be better than 0.2mg.

It's under the propecia section here: http://www.hairlosstalk.com/resourcelibrary/

This page is accessed by clicking "Resource Library" on the home page.

I use 0.25mg myself as I split the finax into fourths, plus I used it EOD.

 

[kim jong il]

Yeah, i've seen those studies.

The complicating thing is that I made two changes to the regimen: 1) halving the dose and 2) taking it EOD. Maybe the latter made the difference. who knows.

Would you say my pharmacist was negligent, or was I merely one of the unlucky few? Would appreciate your opinion. Remember, he didn't do his homework before making the recommendation and didn't know anything about the drug's half life or duration of DHT suppression

 

[flimflam]

how long until you noticed Propecia was working for you?

well i'm just under three months in, so I suspect it isnt yet. I shed very very little everyday but I was like that before finasteride. The only way I'll know it's working is if I see regrowth

 

[buzzmenot]

Yeah, i've seen those studies.

The complicating thing is that I made two changes to the regimen: 1) halving the dose and 2) taking it EOD. Maybe the latter made the difference. who knows.

Hey Kim, during your reduced dosage did you experience any scalp itch or pain?

 

[The Dangerman]

Re: 1 mg propecia/finasteride EOD every other day/alternatin

Bottom line - in this instance, the reaction was equivalent to going off it altogether. If I had paid attention I would have caught the deterioration sooner. But that's not the point.

It sounds to me that as you were on it for 6 years, finasteride was naturally getting less effective for you, and by switching to EOD it was even less effective to the point it wasn't helping. Having said that though, even if you would have kept on taking it every day, you could well have started to see your hair deteriorate, although probably not as dramatically.

 

[Knendell]

Yeah, i've seen those studies.

The complicating thing is that I made two changes to the regimen: 1) halving the dose and 2) taking it EOD. Maybe the latter made the difference. who knows.

Hey Kim, during your reduced dosage did you experience any scalp itch or pain?

I too am wondering if anyone else has the scalp itch and hair actually hurting. When I was on 1mg it seemed to disappear and I had to go to.5mg because of sides and a few weeks later my scalp it on fire and is driving me insane.

 

[kim jong il]

No pain or scalp itch to be sure for the first 18 months. i only wish. would have alerted me that something was happening.

did itch though in the final two months as the new process (ie. sustained period of insufficient dht blockage) took hold. i do believe in the inflammation theory - that follicles are somehow being attacked via an autoimmune or other process. i honestly am quite sure that it was equivalent to going off it altogether (i lost so much it's hard to imagine more would have come out if i had completely discontinued the drug).

i know that people talk about how propecia loses its effectiveness. to be sure, the bombardment that takes its toll over all those years (ie. the 30% of DHT that isn't blocked) would certainly affect many people. In my instance though, i don't buy it. it was working perfect. I shouldn't have switched to EOD and shouldn't have chopped the total amount consumed in two. bad idea.

does anyone think my pharmacist was grossly negligent for making the suggestion, or was it a reasonable experiment given that even i had some doubt of whether i needed to be on it? would love to hear thoughts.

 

[lunarjm]

I've been taking .25 mg Finpecia (Cipla) for about 2 months now and it seems like my scalp is extra dry, even though I use conditioner. Also...I may be going crazy, but I seem to be experiencing a lot of tension in my neck and my head sometimes seems a little fuzzy? I'm wondering if these are tied to the finasteride because they are fairly new symptoms or are unrelated?

Anyone else experiencing any of these issues?

 

[bobisback11]

I've been taking .25 mg Finpecia (Cipla) for about 2 months now and it seems like my scalp is extra dry, even though I use conditioner. Also...I may be going crazy, but I seem to be experiencing a lot of tension in my neck and my head sometimes seems a little fuzzy? I'm wondering if these are tied to the finasteride because they are fairly new symptoms or are unrelated?

Anyone else experiencing any of these issues?

but has it helped your hair

 

[Guest]

I've been taking .25 mg Finpecia (Cipla) for about 2 months now and it seems like my scalp is extra dry, even though I use conditioner. Also...I may be going crazy, but I seem to be experiencing a lot of tension in my neck and my head sometimes seems a little fuzzy? I'm wondering if these are tied to the finasteride because they are fairly new symptoms or are unrelated?

Anyone else experiencing any of these issues?

Never heard of these issues, do you take finasteride at night or in the morning?

 

[lunarjm]

I've been taking .25 mg Finpecia (Cipla) for about 2 months now and it seems like my scalp is extra dry, even though I use conditioner. Also...I may be going crazy, but I seem to be experiencing a lot of tension in my neck and my head sometimes seems a little fuzzy? I'm wondering if these are tied to the finasteride because they are fairly new symptoms or are unrelated?

Anyone else experiencing any of these issues?

Never heard of these issues, do you take finasteride at night or in the morning?

I take it in the morning.

I may be paranoid, but Cipla has a good rep don't they? Does anyone really know if they are mixing the right ingredients in their meds since they are not privy to the patented formula?

 

[Guest]

Trying taking it at night to alleviate the fuzzy head issues and perhaps other sides. I mean you don't care about sides while you're sleeping right?!

Cipla is reputable.

 

[lunarjm]

Trying taking it at night to alleviate the fuzzy head issues and perhaps other sides. I mean you don't care about sides while you're sleeping right?!

Cipla is reputable.

I think that would only work if you experience sides 12-16 hours after you take the pill...once you're on the regimen the sides will be there sleep or no sleep.

 

[Guest]

lunar,

Might not necessarily be the case. If you're sides are due to the chemical finasteride itself than if you take it at night you might mitigate these. The drug itself has a half-life of 6 hours. So take it night, when most people aren't doing much but relaxing and watching TV, etc. By the time you wake up you'll have 75% less finasteride in your bloodstream.

Hey it's worth a shot and can't hurt to try right?

 

[blakes30]

No pain or scalp itch to be sure for the first 18 months. i only wish. would have alerted me that something was happening.

did itch though in the final two months as the new process (ie. sustained period of insufficient dht blockage) took hold. i do believe in the inflammation theory - that follicles are somehow being attacked via an autoimmune or other process. i honestly am quite sure that it was equivalent to going off it altogether (i lost so much it's hard to imagine more would have come out if i had completely discontinued the drug).

i know that people talk about how propecia loses its effectiveness. to be sure, the bombardment that takes its toll over all those years (ie. the 30% of DHT that isn't blocked) would certainly affect many people. In my instance though, i don't buy it. it was working perfect. I shouldn't have switched to EOD and shouldn't have chopped the total amount consumed in two. bad idea.

does anyone think my pharmacist was grossly negligent for making the suggestion, or was it a reasonable experiment given that even i had some doubt of whether i needed to be on it? would love to hear thoughts.

well---it sucks that happened to you---have you started back on it yet? Negligent? probably not---probably more just like ignorant--remember---you are supposed to be following the advice of your doctor, not a pharmacist

i did something similar by the way---i stopped propeica cold turkey for 3 months after being on it for 8 years and I noticed considerable hair loss about 3 month out

i think cutting back to EOD instead of every day was a much bigger cause than cutting the Propecia in half, b/c the last 3 years, i have cut back to 0.5mg/day instead of 1 mg/day and did just fine (until i stopped altogether for 3 months)