One of the hardest choices...

Sebastien

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As of today, I want to stop taking finasteride 1mg a day. I have been on the drug for 4,5 months without any (noticable) side effects. Ever since I read about the possible permanent side effects like 2 months ago, I can't stop worrying that I might become a victim. Emotionally hairloss is the hardest thing I ever had to deal with and even though finasteride has brought me some succes I can't imagine it being worse than the things claimed by several permanent side effects sufferers.

My plan has been to stop taking the drug as soon as I started noticing possible side effects, but with stories that suggest that people got screwed over after quitting (hormone crash?), this strategy is no longer an option.

I am here to ask about the best way to quit finasteride, as I fear that something bad may happen once I quit.
 

TheGrayMan2001

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Stop worrying about it. Propecia help has like 1500 registered users over 7 years. It's not as common as people WANT to believe.
 

Ende

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Don't worry. People who crash after quitting the drug already suffered from severe side effects when they quit. We've discussed this in another thread recently. If you want to quit, just quit. You'll be fine. Some would suggest tapering off the drug slowly, but you do what you think is best. There is no reason your endocrine system should crash, when you're not suffering from any side effects.
 

messedup

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You should be okay, but I wouldn't dismiss 1500 members at propecia help. It's not like everyone going through this even knows about that site or bothers to sign up for a membership if they do visit it, particularly with the doctors all telling sufferers "it's all your head" or "propecia can't do that."

I disagree with enden. I only had mild sides while on the drug. The most distressing ones showed up after I stopped. I know this to be the case for many people on that propeciahelp site as well.
 

Broken

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By the end of this month, I would have completed 4 months on finasteride (1 month on 1 mg daily, rest with 0.5 mg daily). And I want no more of this drug. It has shown results no doubt, but I just want to stop this now. So I guess we are in the same boat.

What I have thought is that I will slowly phase out finasteride to let the system be prepared to handle the extra DHT. So I will begin taking finasteride EOD for 1 week, then every 3 days for 1 week, then 0.5 mg twice a week for 1 week & then I'll pop the last pill in the last week.

What do you guys think of this approach?
 

messedup

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Broken said:
By the end of this month, I would have completed 4 months on finasteride (1 month on 1 mg daily, rest with 0.5 mg daily). And I want no more of this drug. It has shown results no doubt, but I just want to stop this now. So I guess we are in the same boat.

What I have thought is that I will slowly phase out finasteride to let the system be prepared to handle the extra DHT. So I will begin taking finasteride EOD for 1 week, then every 3 days for 1 week, then 0.5 mg twice a week for 1 week & then I'll pop the last pill in the last week.

What do you guys think of this approach?

It can't hurt. I would say 80-90% of the guys on that propeciahelp site quit cold turkey. Better be safe than sorry.
 

Ende

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messedup said:
I disagree with enden. I only had mild sides while on the drug. The most distressing ones showed up after I stopped. I know this to be the case for many people on that propeciahelp site as well.
What kind of side effects did you experience? Reduced libido and softer erections are severe side effects in my opinion.
 

Broken

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messedup said:
Broken said:
By the end of this month, I would have completed 4 months on finasteride (1 month on 1 mg daily, rest with 0.5 mg daily). And I want no more of this drug. It has shown results no doubt, but I just want to stop this now. So I guess we are in the same boat.

What I have thought is that I will slowly phase out finasteride to let the system be prepared to handle the extra DHT. So I will begin taking finasteride EOD for 1 week, then every 3 days for 1 week, then 0.5 mg twice a week for 1 week & then I'll pop the last pill in the last week.

What do you guys think of this approach?

It can't hurt. I would say 80-90% of the guys on that propeciahelp site quit cold turkey. Better be safe than sorry.

Why would you just quit cold turkey exposing your system to raised amounts of DHT without giving it enough time to prepare itself? I am sorry, I am confused here. Shouldn't I quit it slowly in say 2-3 weeks to smoothen the transition?
 

Machiavelli

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I used finasteride for a little more than one week and didn't experience any side effects quitting cold turkey. I believe if you dón't suffer from any serious side effects you are unlikely to get them if you quit cold turkey.

The reason I quit was that the thought of supressing a horman in my entire body for years didn't appeal to me and I feared potential long term damage. Also, the fina probably caused a major acne outbreak I didn't have for years.

All though I quit fina due to fear of side effects, I must admit that the more I read about fina side effects on this forum, the less I doubt about their frequency. If you look at the first page of the "Side effect section" you should notice that users that claim to suffer from side effects are small but post a lot, e.g. Vigaku (started 5 topics), I'm a Mess ( started 2 topics), He Bat (started 3 topics). Just an observation :innocent:
 

Vigaku

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Agreed with Broken and whoever made the first post. I agree with the opening thread post 100% and seemed like something I myself typed up (except I've been on finasteride for 2.25 years...though like you said, with only slight sides).

Also, do side effect threads like these pop up more often now (within the past month or two) than before? Because I would find it very coincidental, that the time I became scared and quit the drug was around the same time so many others were doing the same.

Heck, I even noticed the "Merck and Undisclosed Mechanisms" youtube video of propecia was uploaded THE SAME MONTH (August) that I quit the drug...what a coincidence indeed...

I think Merck soon will be forced to make an anti-propecia side effect drug. :hump:
 

Ende

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Vigaku said:
I think Merck soon will be forced to make an anti-propecia side effect drug. :hump:
The drugs are already available. Anyway, I think there will be a lot of trails in the years to come, if noone finds a solution to the problem. It wouldn't be the first time for Merck though. Just look up some information about Vioxx. The way they're dealing with Propecia now, makes you wonder how they really make their money.
 

Vigaku

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Machiavelli said:
I used finasteride for a little more than one week and didn't experience any side effects quitting cold turkey. I believe if you dón't suffer from any serious side effects you are unlikely to get them if you quit cold turkey.

The reason I quit was that the thought of supressing a horman in my entire body for years didn't appeal to me and I feared potential long term damage. Also, the fina probably caused a major acne outbreak I didn't have for years.

All though I quit fina due to fear of side effects, I must admit that the more I read about fina side effects on this forum, the less I doubt about their frequency. If you look at the first page of the "Side effect section" you should notice that users that claim to suffer from side effects are small but post a lot, e.g. Vigaku (started 5 topics), I'm a Mess ( started 2 topics), He Bat (started 3 topics). Just an observation :innocent:
1. I kinda disagree. I think some people just crash earlier than others while taking a DHT inhibitor. After all, I doubt a body can go 20 years of DHT destruction and not have any magnitude of effects. It's inconcievable.

2. same reason I quit, after being on it 2 years. Who knows what 5 years would have done...or 10. Definitely not Merck, who did a study of only up to 2 or 5 years, whichever one it was.

3. im not even suffering from side effects anymore...also, i think the majority of people (the ones with side effects and ones without) who take propecia don't post online.
 

He-Bat

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How can you taper off finasteride when 0.25mg does almost the same as 1mg? I thought the drug had a flat out response. How do you taper. Taking the drug every other day is even worsh than taking it everyday because you can cause serious disregulation.
 

TheGrayMan2001

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He-Bat said:
How can you taper off finasteride when 0.25mg does almost the same as 1mg? I thought the drug had a flat out response. How do you taper. Taking the drug every other day is even worsh than taking it everyday because you can cause serious disregulation.

I think that's false.

What the study says is that over a greater length of time .25 to .5 has almost as much effectiveness as 1 mg.

It would otherwise make no sense why people get less side effects by taking less.
 

He-Bat

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TheGrayMan2001 said:
He-Bat said:
How can you taper off finasteride when 0.25mg does almost the same as 1mg? I thought the drug had a flat out response. How do you taper. Taking the drug every other day is even worsh than taking it everyday because you can cause serious disregulation.

I think that's false.

What the study says is that over a greater length of time .25 to .5 has almost as much effectiveness as 1 mg.

It would otherwise make no sense why people get less side effects by taking less.
But I read that 0.5mg inhabits 80% of what 1mg inhabits??
 

TheGrayMan2001

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He-Bat said:
TheGrayMan2001 said:
[quote="He-Bat":25qtamrl]How can you taper off finasteride when 0.25mg does almost the same as 1mg? I thought the drug had a flat out response. How do you taper. Taking the drug every other day is even worsh than taking it everyday because you can cause serious disregulation.

I think that's false.

What the study says is that over a greater length of time .25 to .5 has almost as much effectiveness as 1 mg.

It would otherwise make no sense why people get less side effects by taking less.
But I read that 0.5mg inhabits 80% of what 1mg inhabits??[/quote:25qtamrl]

That would mean that if 1mg inhibits 80% of your DHT (I think the actual number is like 70%) then .5 would inhibit about 60%. Of course it varies per actual person.

This is how you get less side effects, but also not as good results. If most of us could inhibit 99% of our DHT with no side effects we'd reverse our hair loss, only very few who are extremely sensitive to DHT would continue to lose hair.

Someone here might have a link to the study, I think I've seen Brian post it before. Basically, for most people, you'll get almost the same results on .5 as you would on 1mg. The problem is the results you'd get in 6-7 months on 1mg might take a 12-14 months on .5 mg.
 

He-Bat

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I see what you mean. But wouldn't it be wise, if one is scared of possible side effects, to start slowly. Maybe start with 0.12mg for a few weeks, than 0.25 for a few weeks and so on.. That way you allow your body to adjust to the hormonal changes and it's less likely you'll experience a "shock" or "crash". I know this is the case with anti-depressants.
 

TheGrayMan2001

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He-Bat said:
I see what you mean. But wouldn't it be wise, if one is scared of possible side effects, to start slowly. Maybe start with 0.12mg for a few weeks, than 0.25 for a few weeks and so on.. That way you allow your body to adjust to the hormonal changes and it's less likely you'll experience a "shock" or "crash". I know this is the case with anti-depressants.

Nah, most people don't get any side effects or they're minor.

The FDA approved amount is 1 mg, and tons of people on here take 1.25 and have no side effects.

The biggest problem for some people is they have major side effects but don't reduce doseage or quit in time, that's when the few people who do have problems end up worse off.

One of the most anti-finasteride guys around is Mew, who runs or helps moderate over at PropeciaHelp, but he posts here too...even he admits he saw the warning signs earlier on but he didn't quit.
 

He-Bat

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TheGrayMan2001 said:
He-Bat said:
I see what you mean. But wouldn't it be wise, if one is scared of possible side effects, to start slowly. Maybe start with 0.12mg for a few weeks, than 0.25 for a few weeks and so on.. That way you allow your body to adjust to the hormonal changes and it's less likely you'll experience a "shock" or "crash". I know this is the case with anti-depressants.

Nah, most people don't get any side effects or they're minor.

The FDA approved amount is 1 mg, and tons of people on here take 1.25 and have no side effects.

The biggest problem for some people is they have major side effects but don't reduce doseage or quit in time, that's when the few people who do have problems end up worse off.

One of the most anti-finasteride guys around is Mew, who runs or helps moderate over at PropeciaHelp, but he posts here too...even he admits he saw the warning signs earlier on but he didn't quit.
But many people have minor problems and quit the drug and THEN the real problems begin (crash). And many say that the sexual sides can be temporary. SO I am confused.??
 

Ende

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He-Bat said:
TheGrayMan2001 said:
[quote="He-Bat":k59xnlfg]I see what you mean. But wouldn't it be wise, if one is scared of possible side effects, to start slowly. Maybe start with 0.12mg for a few weeks, than 0.25 for a few weeks and so on.. That way you allow your body to adjust to the hormonal changes and it's less likely you'll experience a "shock" or "crash". I know this is the case with anti-depressants.

Nah, most people don't get any side effects or they're minor.

The FDA approved amount is 1 mg, and tons of people on here take 1.25 and have no side effects.

The biggest problem for some people is they have major side effects but don't reduce doseage or quit in time, that's when the few people who do have problems end up worse off.

One of the most anti-finasteride guys around is Mew, who runs or helps moderate over at PropeciaHelp, but he posts here too...even he admits he saw the warning signs earlier on but he didn't quit.
But many people have minor problems and quit the drug and THEN the real problems begin (crash). And many say that the sexual sides can be temporary. SO I am confused.??[/quote:k59xnlfg]
TGM is right, it's all about taking care of the problem before it gets too bad. On the other hand, the leaflet which comes with propecia, encourage people to stay on the drug despite of side effects, because they usually subside by time - which isn't true in all cases. Same story for me, as for Mew.
 
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